Students at free alternative schools identify very strongly with their school, evaluate the student-teacher relationship as positive, and find learning meaningful both in content and method. These were the findings of a study carried out at Alanus University of Arts and Social Sciences in Bonn.

Cologne/Darmstadt/Berlin, July 21, 2016 – With over 500,000 euros, a diverse coalition consisting of the Software AG Foundation and 25 other partners are supporting community non-profits throughout Germany in their volunteer work with refugees. “Auf Augenhöhe” – meaning “At Eye Level” – is the name of the new investment fund, held under the umbrella of the GLS Treuhand bank and overseen by an initiative for community non-profits.

Ecological cattle farming is also financially advantageous, according to research on lifetime bull value conducted by Interbull.  Six breeding bulls from the “Lifetime Performance Bull Breeding” program – sponsored by the Software AG Foundation – have taken the top spots in an international ranking that calculates a bull’s lifelong breeding value on the basis of its female descendants.

Darmstadt/Berlin, 21.01.2016 – Oberfeld Farm in Darmstadt is one of three of this year's prizewinners in a national competition among organic farms. Among the well-wishers and speakers at the award ceremony, held during International Green Week in Berlin, were Prof. Dr. Jürgen Heß of the faculty for organic agriculture at the University of Kassel Witzenhausen, Heinz Gengenbach of the Landesbetrieb Landwirtschaft Hessen and Sebastian Bauer, project manager at the Software AG Foundation.

Sabine Koch, psychologist and dance and movement therapist, has been appointed Professor for Empirical Research in Arts Therapies at Alanus University. She was appointed by Dean Marcelo da Veiga. Arts therapies include art, music, theatre, poetry, and dance therapy. As a part of her professorship she will work together with the University of Witten-Herdecke to establish a research institute which will support research projects as well as offer a doctoral program.