Finally another celebration on campus. Last weekend, the graduates of the Deggendorf Institute of Technology (DIT) said goodbye to their university. As you would expect, ceremonially with gown and hat. But outside, with distance and hygiene concept.

But the event was no less festive for that. Spread over three days, students who graduated between March 2020 and March 2021 could have the campus all to themselves. With a DJ, bars and food, seating and a special illumination, the campus was prepared especially for them. But first there was the presentation of the certificates, speeches and the honouring of a total of nine graduates for their theses. Everything was done virtually and in the presence of friends and family who could join in via stream. The most beautiful moment, the hat toss, then followed open air. A total of 450 graduates said goodbye. For the first time, students of the degree programmes in Business Psychology and Nursing Dual were also present. The graduation ceremony was planned and designed by the DIT Alumni Department in cooperation with the Master’s students in Media Technology and Production. Their motto: “Glow up with us!”

On Tuesday, 20 July, the European Campus Rottal-Inn (ECRI) was pleased to receive a donation from the Bezirksverband der niederbayerischen Sparkassen to the ECRI’s Support Association. This will enable the campus to support projects and students in an even more targeted way.

Campus Director Prof Dr Horst Kunhardt, together with Dean Prof Dr Georg Christian Steckenbauer and Coordinator Georg Riedl, welcomed the two representatives of the Bezirksverband der niederbayerischen Sparkassen at ECRI. As chairman of the Bezirksverband, District Administrator Michael Fahmüller came to the campus together with the chairman of the Sparkasse Rottal-Inn, Martin Ruhland. In their luggage they brought a donation cheque for € 2,500 for the ECRI support association.

After the welcome, the visitors were given a brief overview of what is happening on campus and an outlook on the coming months at ECRI. At the moment, lectures are still held online or hybrid, but ECRI is trying to quickly switch back to face-to-face teaching despite planning uncertainties. This plan met with great approval from everyone involved. As Ruhland emphasised, ECRI contributes to the local economy and thus to the future of the region with its international campus, for which he is very grateful. Fahmmüller, who as the chairman of the Bezirksverband has particularly supported the donation of € 2,500, once again emphasised the importance of the campus in terms of manpower and cultural life in the region.

The ECRI support association has been active in supporting students in recent months, despite Corona. For example, the association supported the graduation ceremony or helped students who were in distress due to the pandemic.

One of five specific pilot regions in Bavaria and Austria, Braunau-Simbach is a partner in the "INTERREG Project AB291". As part of the project, the region held a workshop with the aim of developing ideas and approaches for the health tourism use of forests in Braunau-Simbach. The lead partner is the European Campus Rottal-Inn (ECRI) in Pfarrkirchen.

As part of a joint workshop, the five-member project team together with Georg Bachleitner from the Braunau-Simbach city, tourism and location marketing invited several stakeholders and experts from the fields of "forest, health and tourism" to the Simbacher LOKschuppen on Wednesday, 21 July. In addition to some local guests from Braunau-Simbach, workshop participants from supra-regional project partners and institutions were also welcomed, such as the Bavarian State Ministry in Munich, the State Forests Wasserburg or the Office for Food, Agriculture and Forestry in Pfarrkirchen.

With their local know-how as well as their many years of competence and expertise, the participants make an indispensable contribution to the joint development of ideas and approaches on how forest spaces can be used for health tourism in the specific context of the Braunau-Simbach pilot region. The premise of all joint considerations and efforts is always to be able to create added value for local providers and stakeholders as well as visitors and guests without damaging natural resources.

In joint presentation and discussion rounds as well as in targeted group work on various project topics, the 17 workshop participants gathered important insights and assessments on possible target groups, forest-related offer possibilities or necessary structures and partnerships that are fundamental for a sustainable use of forests in the future. The workshop was hosted by Prof. Dr. Christian Steckenbauer, Dean of ECRI and experienced tourism expert.

The results of the workshop will be used to take a further step towards deriving specific offers for the Braunau-Simbach pilot region, but also to make them transferable and applicable to corresponding destinations together with findings from the other four pilot regions. Georg Bachleitner also sees this as an important step for the future: "The sustainable, health tourism use of forests, especially in regions for which forest use seems commonplace anyway, will be a future-oriented challenge for destinations".

In this ambitious project, an interdisciplinary, cross-border project consortium consisting of a total of 14 renowned partners is approaching the topic of "forest, health and tourism" from different angles and is jointly developing sustainable approaches in five selected pilot regions (in addition to Braunau-Simbach, also Tennengau, Bad Birnbach, Neureichenau, Traunsee-Almtal) as to how local forest areas can be used for health tourism and to create added value.