2nd DHIK Technical Committee Meeting on mechatronics

The annual working meeting of the universities participating in the mechatronics degree programme took place earlier this year at Harz University of Applied Sciences in Wernigerode. Representatives from eleven universities involved in the mechatronics program shared their experiences and made plans for the coming year. Reports on the current status of the degree programme were a key focus, alongside planning for the export of teaching programs. A special item on this year’s agenda was the farewell to the former Mechatronics Program Coordinator for the CDHAW, Prof. Jürgen Minuth of Esslingen University of Applied Sciences, and the election of a new program coordinator. Prof. Minuth successfully led the mechatronics degree programme on the German side for eight years. The members of the program committee thanked him for his work and wished their colleague much success in his new role. Prof. Frank Worlitz from Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences was unanimously elected as the new program coordinator.

The multilateral CDHAW mechatronics dual-degree program has been running very successfully and steadily for twelve years: On average, about 65 students participate in the exchange program each year, spending half a year at one of the partner universities and another half a year in industry to complete their final dissertation.

The dual-degree program with Mexico began in 2013. The Mexican partner university is Tec de Monterrey (ITESM), headquartered in Monterrey, with an additional 30 campuses throughout Mexico. The program currently includes six degree programmes: electrical engineering, automotive engineering, information technology, mechanical engineering, mechatronics, and engineering management. In Wernigerode, discussions focused on the mechatronics degree programme, in which the universities of Bochum, Esslingen, Harz, Zittau/Görlitz, Mannheim, and Saarland participate.

Text: Stefani Maier, Jürgen Minuth, Frank Worlitz

The German University Consortium for International Cooperation (DHIK) is an association of over 25 universities in Germany that primarily coordinates multilateral dual-degree programs with international partner universities. The Sino-German University of Applied Sciences (CDHAW) is a largely autonomous institution within Tongji University in Shanghai, China. The DHIK’s partner universities participate both academically and through student exchanges as part of a dual-degree program.The Mexican-German University Cooperation (mdhk) facilitates a dual-degree exchange between the private ITESM university in Mexico and the DHIK’s partner universities.