The Graduate School “Performing Sustainability: Cultures and Development in West Africa” is a capacity building and research training network set up in collaboration between the University of Cape Coast, Ghana, the University of Maiduguri, Nigeria, and the University of Hildesheim, Germany. The project is funded by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). The overall objective of the Graduate School is the formulation of innovative research approaches in the fields of cultural studies with particular regard to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and issues pertaining to cultural sustainability. Within the time frame from 2016 to 2020, the Graduate School provides scholarships for twelve PhD and six Master’s students from Ghana and Nigeria as well as two short-term scholarships for post-doctoral researchers from Germany. Participants of the Graduate School meet in biannual workshops in Ghana and Nigeria to further advance research questions and topics and to develop practical and analytical skills. In this presentation I discuss the rationale of the Graduate School and highlight major activities undertaken in the years 2017 and 2018. highlighting selected projects by scholarship holders of the Graduate School, I will evaluate the work of the Graduate School and critically assess its conceptual and practical bases. This critical assessment will lead me to also address broader questions with regard to the dynamics, social relationships, and sustainablity of international research collaborations of this nature.