Pilot test for "student city" successfully completed

New concept for cross-year learning at the TU Hamburg

01.08.2023

Bringing students together in research and across semesters: That is the goal of the "Student City" course at Hamburg University of Technology. This is part of the bachelor's degree program "Chemical and Bioengineering" introduced last year by the Process Engineering Dean's Office, which replaces the two previous degree programs "Bioprocess Engineering" and "Process Engineering." Students from the second, fourth and sixth semesters are to work together on a research project. The second semesters start with an environmental sample - for example from the pond on the TU Hamburg campus - and look at the bacteria it contains and their potential biotechnological properties.

The students have to develop their own procedures for the laboratory and time management instead of working through predefined scripts. At the beginning, those from the 2nd semester are given time to find their way around the lab and learn pipetting and sterile work. Then, in stages, they pass on their work to teams from the higher semesters until the project has gone through a complete research cycle. In the process, the 80 or so participants continuously exchange ideas. The goal of the "student city" is to increase the practical component from the beginning of the studies and to provide interdisciplinary, guided input. This is also intended to reduce the dropout rate. The head of the study program, Professor Johannes Gescher, is satisfied with the start of the project: "I am happy with the way the student city is going. It's a beacon project for science internships, and we'll keep refining it."

In the current pilot of the project, staff and research assistants from the institute also participated to replace students from the fourth and sixth semesters who were not yet available. On Tuesday, Aug. 1, the results of the pilot project will be presented at a final conference after two weeks of work.

TUHH - Public Relations Office
Kaja Weber
E-Mail: kaja.weber@tuhh.de