"A great opportunity for a sustainable footprint."
Kick-off event for the design of the future learning location Oberlausitz
On July 15, 2022, the Vice President for Education and International Affairs, Professor Dr. Sophia Keil, hosted the kickoff meeting of the working group for the development of our “Oberlausitz Learning Center of the Future” in the Senate Hall of the Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences.
The goal of the “Oberlausitz Learning Hub of the Future” project is to create diverse and innovative learning spaces in the extracurricular sector with educational programs that are future-oriented and focused on regional development. Children and young people in particular, but also people of all ages, should be able to benefit from these opportunities. In terms of regional development, the goal is to increase the appeal of the Upper Lusatia region for families and young people. After all, comparable out-of-school learning centers—so-called “science centers”—have so far been concentrated in urban areas and are still very rare in rural regions.
“Of course, we want to use these central and decentralized educational venues to inspire future students at an early stage about the many exciting topics in our degree programs—such as the currently pressing energy issues,” said Keil.
"The children of today will shape our region in the future and we are creating the conditions for this among young people with the Oberlausitz future learning location." For Prof. Dr. Sophia Keil, extracurricular learning locations are a matter close to her heart.
”By December 2025, substantial investment funds—so-called PMO funds from the political parties and mass organizations of the former GDR—will be made available for this purpose. These funds will be used to strengthen the university’s connections with key stakeholders in the region and, above all, to introduce young people to the future-oriented topics of Upper Lusatia. Four areas of action have been defined and will be supported collaboratively through concrete projects:
Workspace on campus in Zittau and Görlitz
Creation of decentralized educational sites and mobile laboratories
Extracurricular learning location of the HSZG and CASUS in Görlitz
Extracurricular learning location of the HSZG and the Institute forLow CO2 Industrial Processes of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in Zittau
While action areas one through three are still very open-ended, the Junior Academy already has very specific partners and goals in place with the DLR_School_Lab at Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences: In the future, at the Mandauhöfe in Zittau, students of all grade levels will have the opportunity to gain hands-on experience with topics in aerospace, green engineering, nature conservation, environmental protection, and new technologies in a 350-square-meter facility.
Special thanks go to Franziska Schubert. The Upper Lusatian representative (BÜNDNIS 90/Die GRÜNEN) secured the 5 million euros for the “Zukunftsort Oberlausitz” project.
“The Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences plays a very important role in the region, especially in light of the challenges posed by structural change. We need opportunities for young people, and the university offers excellent prospects for this. I’ve been following its development for quite some time, and I’m pleased to see that this small university campus is being transformed with fresh energy and passion into an attractive educational hub in the far east of Saxony—or, as some might say, in the heart of Europe. With the ‘Zukunftslernort Oberlausitz’ project, it is proving this once again. The project has a supraregional impact and will be accessible to all young people in Upper Lusatia through both central and decentralized learning centers. The goal is to create extracurricular learning spaces that, among other things, prepare students for working life. This will also benefit businesses in the region,” said Schubert.
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