Gauck is impressed by the German-Chinese exchange, which has also been taking place at the HSZG for 12 years.
In March, German President Joachim Gauck traveled to the People's Republic of China on a state visit at the invitation of President Xi Jinping. The visit focused on issues relating to the further development of bilateral relations. President Gauck visited Beijing, Shanghai and Xi'an and held political talks with President Xi Jinping, Premier Li Keqiang and other high-ranking representatives of the state and government.
In Shanghai, he visited Tongji University and held talks with representatives of the Chinese German University of Applied Sciences (CDHAW). The CDHAW is an institution within Tongji University. The 26 German partner universities of the German University Consortium for International Cooperation, to which the Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences has also belonged since the founding of the CDHAW, participate in both subject-related and student exchanges as part of a double degree program. The CDHAW has a predominantly engineering focus, with a particular emphasis on interdisciplinarity and basic knowledge of economics. It currently offers four Bachelor's degree courses with the option of a double degree: mechatronics, building services engineering, automotive engineering/service and industrial engineering. Since January 2016, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Frank Worlitz, Director of our Institute of Process Engineering, Process Automation and Measurement Technology (IPM), has acted as Mechatronics Subject Coordinator China for the German university consortium.
During a guided tour of the Tongji University campus, the Federal President learned a great deal about the history of the university, which he also referred to in his subsequent speech. "[...] I would like to begin by paying tribute to those who have embraced a German heritage. Because the roots of Tongji University, I am not telling you anything new, are German. They lie in the German Medical School. It was a doctor, Erich Paulun, who once founded the school and built it up together with Chinese partners. It soon expanded to include engineering courses and contributed to the development of Chinese science and teaching. This history plays an important role today when we talk about Tongji University being an outstanding place of academic exchange between our countries."
In his speech, he particularly praised the German-Chinese exchange in teaching. "I am impressed by how intensively several thousand students at your university engage with Germany and also come to Germany for a few semesters, how open your university is to German students. But also how strongly Chinese and German companies are committed to endowed chairs at the Chinese-German University College, which your university set up together with the German Academic Exchange Service 18 years ago."
Following his speech, Gauck held talks with students and doctoral candidates at Tongji University, perhaps even one or two in German. Anyone interested in the German-Chinese bachelor's double degree in mechatronics can contact Prof. Dr.-Ing Frank Worlitz by email.
You can find the complete speech of the Federal President here: http: //www.bundespraesident.de/SharedDocs/Reden/DE/Joachim-Gauck/Reden/2016/03/160323-China-Universitaet.html