Partnership with the People's Republic of China
Thalia Doctoral Research Grants
Student exchanges through the EU ERASMUS Programme
Partnership with the People`s Republic of China
The Erlangen Book Studies department has a number of very fruitful connections with the People's Republic of China. The most significant of these are the institutional connections. In 2007 a partnership with the School of Information Management/Publishing Science at the University of Wuhan was established. This is one of the top ten universities in China, and the Department of Publishing Science (BA, MA, DPhil) is viewed as one of the best centres of education for Book Studies students and academics in the whole country.
Through this partnership we receive two Chinese Book Studies students each semester. Lecturers certainly are welcome too. Erlangen Book Studies students are most welcome in Wuhan. The partner institute issues one of the best-regarded journals in the field, the "Publishing Journal". Ursula Rautenberg is a member of the editorial board.
A student and lecture exchange programme has also been set up with the Tongji University of Shanghai. This offers outstanding Chinese German Studies graduates the chance to complete a Master (MA) at the FAU. To prepare the Chinese students for this, lecturers from the Erlangen Book Studies department hold seminars in the German faculty at the university in Tongji.
Even before these partnerships existed students from China chose to come and study in the Erlangen Book Studies department: Chinese Magister stude
nts Cao Weizhong and Yin Haitao recently completed their degrees and their theses can be found in the "Alles Buch" series.
Professor Rautenberg is an honorary research fellow at the Chinese Institute of Publishing Science (CIPS) in Peking. This is part of the publishing authority and delivers much of the 
world's data about the Chinese book market and indeed the world book trade. It is the most influential official book research institute in China.
In 2009 the "International Publishing Blue Book" about the world's significant book markets was published. The report concerning Germany was written by Ursula Rautenberg and Kerstin Emrich. Also that year the CIPS publishing house issued a partial translation of "Reclams Sachlexikon des Buches" with an extensive introduction written by Dr Volker Titel (Die deutsche Buchbranche. Einleitung, Lexikon, Glossar. China Book Press, Beijing 2009; edited by Ursula Rautenberg and Ulrich Jörg). Ursula Rautenberg also writes about current trends in the Chinese book market in "Börsenblatt" and in the FAZ (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung).
Thalia Doctoral Research Grant in Book Studies
The Thalia Universitätsbuchhandlung (Thalia West) supports promising young academics at the University of Erlangen-Nürnberg. A Book Studies doctoral student can receive a €24,000 PhD scholarship from the organisation. The Chancellor of the University, Professor Karl-Dieter Grüske, Book Studies lecturer Professor Ursula Rautenberg and the Thalia West executive Agnes Wieland signed a cooperation agreement defining the conditions of this grant scheme.
Outstanding Book Studies and Economics graduates may apply for the grant. To do so they must present an exposé detailing their academic work and achievements to date. A committee of Book Studies and Economics academics from the university will then decide on the recipient.
The Thalia University Book Shop belongs to Thalia Holding, a leading book trading organisation with 134 branches in Germany and a further 44 shops in Austria and Switzerland. Please direct questions about the Thalia grant to Professor Ursula 
Rautenberg at the FAU or Dr Gerlinde Leichtfried, manager of the Personnel and Organisation department at Thalia.
The recipient of 2010's Thalia Doctoral Research Grant was Simon Hiller, graduate of the Book Studies department at the University of Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU). The title of his research is: "The implications of the digital economy on the formulation of E-commerce strategies within the distributive sector of the book industry". His dissertation is supervised by Professors Ursula Rautenberg and Kerstin Emrich.
Hiller read Book Studies and Economics at the FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg; his Magister thesis, "The effects of the digital economy on the book trade – an analysis based on the developments in the music industry" will appear in abridged form in the online publication series "Alles Buch. Studien der Erlanger Buchwissenschaft".
Student Exchanges through the EU ERASMUS Programme
Erlangen Book Studies students have the opportunity to take part in an international exchange as part of the ERASMUS project. The aim of the programme is to offer students the chance to study abroad in a European country. In doing so, they will develop their language skills and significantly improve their employability.
The Erlangen Book Studies department has exchange links with the Università degli Studi di Roma I, "La Sapienza" (Rome, Italy) and the Rijksuniversiteit Leiden (Leiden, Netherlands). Every semester there is a space at each of these universities which can be filled by a student of the Book Studies department in Erlangen. Contact Kerstin Emrich for more information about the ERASMUS programme.