German and Polish universities are setting aside historical enmities and are concentrating on intensifying their cooperation.

Exchange programmes and joint academic ventures are already conquering the Polish-German border along the River Oder as Poland gears up to join the European Union in the first wave of eastward enlargement.

The rectors of Greifswald 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ in northeast Germany and of neighbouring Szczecin 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ in Poland signed a framework agreement in January that will extend ties and establish a joint centre for European development and cooperation.

The European 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Viadrina in Frankfurt an der Oder and the Adam Mickiewicz 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Poznan are a step ahead. This month, they opened the Collegium Polonicum, a teaching and research centre in the Polish border town of Slubice. The building is owned by the Polish government and was converted with Polish, European and German funds. Academic salaries are paid by the Germans, and it is managed by a joint board of representatives from both universities.

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Krzysztof Wojciechowski, director of the Collegium, said: "Twenty years ago, it would have been unthinkable to imagine German universities educating Polish students and vice versa. The Poles and the Germans have an unhappy history of enmity, but ventures such as ours are helping to break down the negative stereotypes. Our alumni will play a crucial role in both countries in the next few years."

Viadrina, the German university, offers Polish law for German law students at the Collegium, as well as postgraduate courses in the preservation of monuments, European studies and an MBA programme for people planning business careers in Central and Eastern Europe.

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Poznan offers political science, environmental studies and management of urban development. The Collegium is developing common programmes, from which students will graduate with double degrees from both universities.

Dr Wojciechowski said the co-operation benefits both universities. The Germans can learn from the Poles how to make their university system more efficient, while the Polish system can put its academic and research achievements on the international map after many years of isolation.

But he said that it was graduates who would benefit most, especially when Poland joins the EU. "Our alumni will have enormous chances in the next few years. There are already many job opportunities for business executives and lawyers who are familiar with both the German and the Polish systems," he said.

Polish students have been crucial to increasing the number of foreign students in Germany since the fall of the Iron Curtain. They are the fourth largest national group.

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Changes in German visa regulations have simplified the registration process. Dr Wojciechowski said Polish entry to the EU would help the Collegium "in terms of transfer of money, equipment and people. But we already try to practise a united Europe and operate as if there was no border."