30 years of "Neisse-Elektro"

The Neisse-Elektro electrical engineering Olympics took place for the 30th time on Saturday. Once again this year, 20 pupils from Poland, the Czech Republic and Germany were invited to take part in the STEM competition.

After the students completed a 90-minute exam in the morning at the level of a first semester invigilated (written) examination, the respective national winners, the best national team and the ten best participants were then chosen. The group victory clearly went to the Czech team from a school in Liberec. In total, eight of the ten best-placed teams came from this school. Seventh place went to a student from Luban in Poland, while Alexander Führer, a student from the vocational school center in Zittau, took tenth place.

The awards ceremony as part of the "Neisse-Elektro 2024" took place in the afternoon, as usual, in the Citizens’ Hall of Zittau City Hall. Minister President Michael Kretschmer also attended the ceremony. Following a welcome address by Thomas Zenker, the mayor of Zittau, the Minister President delivered a speech. Additional remarks were made by, among others, Cezary Przybylski, Marshal of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship, and Martin Půta, Captain of the Liberec District.

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Cezary Dzienis from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences presided over the awards ceremony. In addition to a certificate, the winners were delighted to receive select, sponsored prizes from the field of technology.

A Look Back at the "Neisse-Elektro"

The Neisse-Elektro Olympiad was founded in 1995 by Prof. Bernd Herzig and Dr. Wolfgang Menzel and has since developed into a major cross-border educational project in the field of electrical engineering. Behind the Neisse-Elektro stands a dedicated working group from the Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences, which organizes the competition in collaboration with teachers from Germany, Poland, and the Czech Republic—from regional schools, vocational schools, and high schools.

Last year, Prof. Dzienis from Poland took over as head of the working group. In addition, Ondrej Svarc, a Czech laboratory engineer at HSZG, joined the working group. As a result, the HSZG Neisse-Elektro team now comprises members from three different countries.

The Olympiad attracts international participants from Poland and the Czech Republic every year. However, the participant who traveled the farthest was a student who took part from New York. A teacher from the working group had transferred to a school abroad. Registration takes place online and is generally coordinated with the physics teachers at schools in the Neisse Euroregion.

Over the past 30 years, more than 1,300 students have participated in the Neisse-Elektro competition. Participants prepare through workshops at the university, additional courses at schools, and in-depth instruction. In some cases, training camps were even offered, featuring overnight stays in youth hostels, courses, field trips, and recreational activities.

The Saxon State Ministry of Science has served as the event’s patron for many years.

The Olympiad always takes place on a Saturday. The day’s schedule begins at 10 a.m. with an 90-minute invigilated (written) examination, followed by lunch. After an exciting intermission program for the students, the awards ceremony will take place at 3 p.m. in the festive Bürgersaal of Zittau City Hall. The invigilated (written) examination includes problems at the level of the first semester of an electrical engineering degree program, covering topics such as resistors, current, voltage, capacitors, inductors, transformers, magnetic fields, and electric fields.

The awards ceremony will begin with the announcement of the “Best State Team,” followed by the top three participants from each state, then places 4–10, and finally places 1–3.