High quality and excellent career prospects

The Faculty of Mechanical Engineering is participating in the Maschinenhaus project of the German Engineering Federation (VDMA) e.V. through its bachelor’s degree programs in Mechanical Engineering and KIA Mechanical Engineering. The goal of this transfer project is to improve the quality of education by incorporating an outside perspective. The first of a total of four workshops on this topic took place recently.

“For the German mechanical and plant engineering industry to maintain its leading international position, we need not only excellent research but also excellent teaching,” emphasizes VDMA Education Officer Dr. Franziska Šeimys. To further develop teaching on campus, the VDMA, together with its partner, the HIS Institute for Higher Education Development e.V., and Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences, intends to analyze the current state of teaching, jointly develop goals, and devise concrete measures for improvement.Good engineers are required to address the major challenges of our time.

The mechanical and plant engineering sector is undergoing a period of technological transformation: Industry 4.0 is changing business models, giving rise to new innovations, and requiring companies to adapt their products and production processes. This calls for highly qualified employees with new knowledge and skills. This also requires an adjustment to the curricula. An outside perspective can help here: “By participating in the Maschinenhaus Transfer Project, we want to evaluate our ‘Mechanical Engineering’ degree programme and use the project team’s experience to integrate new approaches,” explains Prof. Bellair. “The Maschinenhaus Transfer Project is intended to help give prospective students the confidence that they will complete a mechanical engineering degree program of high quality with excellent career prospects .”

Uwe Krüger, a consultant at HIS-HE, has been supporting universities for many years in further developing the quality of teaching as part of the Maschinenhaus initiative. He is confident that he can provide the faculty with helpful insights through this proven approach: “In transfer projects, we often see how difficult it is for first-year Mechanical Engineering students to get started with engaged learning and active participation. Through our discussion sessions, we support the degree programme in further developing existing teaching units and measures, as well as in exploring new approaches. In doing so, we draw on many years of experience that will benefit the Mechanical Engineering degree programme at Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences.”

The partnership with Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences is the 61st transfer project that the VDMA has initiated nationwide since 2013. All participating universities are awarded the “Maschinenhaus Certificate of Participation” upon earning a degree and are thus admitted into the circle of transfer universities—the Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences will soon be among them.