Networks & Collaborations
At the Mercator Institute for Multilingualism and Language Education, we view language education in a multilingual society as a cross-cutting task that must be addressed collaboratively by various stakeholders in education. We therefore follow a co-constructive approach in our research, teaching, and knowledge transfer, working in close cooperation with schools and daycare centers. In addition, the Mercator Institute is connected to renowned research institutions within the educational sciences community as well as key decision-makers in educational administration, education policy, and education journalism. Our goal is to pool expertise and experience in the field of multilingualism and language education in order to improve educational offerings, deepen research, and communicate findings in a way that is tailored to the target audience.
Networks
The Mercator Institute is a member of the Leibniz Research Network on Educational Potential (LERN). This network brings together 29 research institutions to pool their expertise and increase the visibility of the Leibniz Association on educational issues among research funders, policymakers, education administrators, and the general public. In addition, the Mercator Institute is a partner in the Research Data in Education Network (VerbundFDB), whose goals include preserving and making data related to educational research accessible.
With the participation of the Mercator Institute, the “Education through Language and Writing” (BiSS) initiative and its successor, BiSS-Transfer, have been strengthening language education and promoting literacy among children and adolescents since 2013. Since 2020, the Mercator Institute has been responsible for the overall coordination of the federal-state initiative “Transfer of Language and Writing” (BiSS-Transfer), and since 2026, this has been coordinated by the BiSS-Transfer Coordination Center, which is also based at the Mercator Institute. The goal has been—and continues to be—to make language education resources available to all federal states and to strengthen the implementation of these resources in daycare centers, schools, and classrooms throughout Germany. The BiSS-Transfer Coordination Center will receive funding from the Federal Ministry of Education, Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women, and Youth (BMBFSFJ) through the end of 2027. More than 4,200 schools and daycare centers nationwide are now implementing the measures that were scientifically developed and tested as part of the initiative. More than 40,000 people—primarily specialists and teachers—have received continuing education through the BiSS blended learning programs.
The Mercator Institute is also involved in the ZMI—Center for Multilingualism and Integration, a collaborative institution of the City of Cologne, the Cologne District Government, and the University of Cologne. The ZMI’s goal is to work continuously toward establishing, continuing, and expanding joint activities related to multilingualism and integration.
The Mercator Institute for Multilingualism and Language Education is connected with renowned research institutions in the field of education, as well as with schools and daycare centers. The Mercator Institute collaborates with them on projects and pools their expertise to optimize language education. Its cooperation partners include, among others, the following institutions:
Overview of Cooperation Partners
The German Institute for Adult Education - Leibniz Centre for Lifelong Learning (DIE)
Funded by the federal and state governments, the institute conducts research on issues related to adult learning and teaching, continuing education programs, continuing education institutions, and the political and institutional context of lifelong learning.
Further Informations about DIE
The DIE collaborates with the Mercator Institute on the following projects:
DIPF |Leibniz Institute for Research and Information in Education
Through empirical educational research, digital infrastructure, and targeted knowledge transfer, the DIPF helps address challenges in the education system. The knowledge it generates about education supports academia, policymakers, and practitioners in the field of education. The DIPF is a foundation under public law and is funded by the federal government and the states of Hesse and Berlin.
Further Informations about DIPF
The DIPF is collaborating with the Mercator Institute on the following projects:
Leibniz Institute for Science and Mathematics Education (IPN)
The IPN's mission is to further develop and promote science and mathematics education through its research.
Further Informations about IPN
The IPN is collaborating with the Mercator Institute on the following projects:
Institute for Educational Quality Improvement (IQB)
The IQB supports the efforts of the states in the Federal Republic of Germany to continuously improve and ensure educational outcomes in the school system.
Further Informations about IQB
The IQB is collaborating with the Mercator Institute on the following project:
Institute for Quality Development in Schools in Schleswig-Holstein (IQSH)
The IQSH's primary goal is to support teachers and schools in providing students with the best possible support and challenges.
Further Informations about IQSH
The IQSH is collaborating with the Mercator Institute on the following projects:
ProDaZ - erman as a Second Language in All Subjects
The ProDaZ pilot project — German as a Second Language in All Subjects—is based at the Institute for DaZ/DaF at the University of Duisburg-Essen and is funded by the Mercator Foundation.
The goal of ProDaZ is to help teachers in all three phases of their professional education and training—that is, during their undergraduate studies, their teaching internship, and their professional careers—develop the skills needed to provide instruction that fosters students’ linguistic and subject-specific development consistently across all subjects.
Further Informations about ProDaZ
ProDaZ is collaborating with the Mercator Institute on the following projects: