Summer School - Sustainable Innovations and Engineering: Made in Germany

This year’s summer school covered topics under the heading of Technologies and Innovations for Environmental Protection and included lectures from various departments of the University, ensuring students gained holistic insights into the challenges and opportunities surrounding environmental protection. In the afternoon sessions, students undertook projects including collection and analysis of plastic waste, using Lego modeling to develop sustainable business models, machine learning, analysis, selection of sustainable materials and a bridge building project . These hands-on projects gave students the opportunity to apply their learning and gain experience working in interdisciplinary and international teams. The results of the projects were presented in a final session. In addition the project on plastic wast was further accompanied by a video team and the result is now available at the universities YouTube channel. The final session was followed by a small presentation ceremony. The final celebration included a traditional Chinese dance performance from one of the students and the arrival of an ice-cream truck as a sweet reward for all the hard work.

During the three weeks the students also gained an insight into German culture and language through German classes and intercultural training which were offered and conducted by the Language Centre. Moreover the summer school participants has a busy calendar of social activities which included, city tours, a Beer Garden, a boat trip on the Rhein and a visit to Marksburg Castle. The students made the most of their time in Europe and Germany using their free time to attend a Bundesliga game, visiting Gamescon, and travelling to France or to the Netherlands.

For many students this was their first trip abroad, where they could study with students of different cultures and academic backgrounds. This led to plenty of opportunities for self-reflection and a sharing and combining of their knowledge. We look forward to welcoming some students back at H-BRS, as several of our summer school students are now interested in studying in Germany and at H-BRS as part of their degree.