The challenges in educating young engineers have never been greater. Technologies are developing rapidly, the world is becoming increasingly complex, and the prerequisites that students bring to their studies vary widely. TU Hamburg is now addressing all of these changes within the framework of the ENGINEXT project.
Six degree programs are beginning to rethink their teaching. This includes, among other things, the introduction of compact modules that compress attendance and learning time into blocks. This restructuring breaks up existing examination periods and creates time slots that are intended primarily to benefit practice-oriented learning units. The campus itself is to become a field of experimentation for students, for example through the installation of sensors on university roofs for collecting environmental data.
In the first phase of innovation, three bachelor’s and three master’s degree programs are involved: Chemical and Bioprocess Engineering, Green Technologies (FIT), and Engineering and Management, as well as Computer Science in Engineering, Mechanical Engineering Management, and Mechanical Engineering.
Funded with Seven Million Euros
All of these degree programs face content-related, technical, organizational, and legal challenges associated with such a restructuring for future-proof teaching. Project planning is being carried out by the university’s own Centre for Teaching and Learning (ZLL). The ZLL contributes its didactic expertise and experience in establishing interdisciplinary project work, as well as a broad portfolio of various digital and analog examination formats.
Prof. Dr. Thorsten Kern, Vice President for Teaching at TU Hamburg, states: “TU Hamburg has set itself the goal of rediscovering the campus as a field of experimentation for real technical and societal challenges within the ENGINEXT project and is prepared to break up existing structures to achieve this. I am thrilled by the commitment with which the faculty professors, scientific staff, and administrative personnel are tackling this complex teaching innovation. There is much work to be done, but we also know why and, above all, for whom we are doing it: for our future students at TU Hamburg.”
The Foundation for Innovation in Higher Education is funding ENGINEXT in its first funding phase until 2029 with a total volume of seven million euros.
Further information about the ENGINEXT project can be found at: https://www.tuhh.de/enginext/en/startpage
