about the german working group

After the "1. International Workshop on Education in Mechatronics" organised by Bochum University of Applied Sciences in Bochum (Germany) on March 18 - 19, 1999 we founded the German working group "Mechatronics". The goal of this group is the exchange of experiences of the university teachers in the following fields:

newly established courses in Mechatronics
new teaching methods in Mechatronics
new practical trainings and work in projects
establishment of new bachelor / master-courses in Mechatronics in Germany in addition to the existing courses for the German "Diplom-Ingenieur"
presentation and publication of these courses

This group is coordinated by Prof. Dr. Dudziak, Bochum University of Applied Sciences (Fachhochschule Bochum), and by Prof. Dr. Loose, Brandenburg University of Applied Sciences (Fachhochschule Brandenburg). We meet twice a year and were established in September 1999 at Fachhochschule Bielefeld. The following meetings took place in Weingarten, Brandenburg and Kiel, Deggendorf, Heilbronn, Bochum, Pforzheim, Darmstadt, Goppingen, Amberg. Our 12^th meeting will be at the Fachhochschule Oldenburg, Ostfriesland, Wilhelmshafen on May 22 - 23, 2006.

You will find the documentation on our work. In addition we have established a German-language mailing list with over 200 university teachers from Germany, Austria, Denmark, Luxembourg and Switzerland under the e-mail address arbeitskreis@mechatronics-net.de.
If you would like to join this mailing list, please send us an e-mail to mailserv@mechatronics-net.de with the text in the body "subscribe arbeitskreis".
The documentation of a lecture held on "National and International Networks for the Education of Mechatronical Engineers" at the conference "Education of Engineers in the Future" in the Technische Fachhochschule Berlin, November 9-10, 2000, can be found under the URL: http://www.mechatronics-net.de/gerworkgroup/sonstiges/dudziak112000/index.htm.

Many discussions in our working group have dealt with the question of how to integrate the topics mechanical engineering, electrical engineering and computer science in one lecture course. One solution is the cooperation of a student team in mechatronics projects, another solution is the cooperation of three to four colleagues in one lecture course to show all aspects of the development of a mechatronic machine.

In the field of internship (practical attachment) and studies abroad we cooperate with universities and companies all over the world. For example Bochum University of Applied Sciences exchanges students with Nanyang Technological University (Singapore) for the practical attachment. We also cooperate with Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, VA (USA). In addition Bochum has established joint courses with Université Blaise Pascal, Clermont-Ferrand (France) and with Southbank University, London (Great Britain) in Mechatronical Engineering. These courses include one exchange year and graduates receive two diplomas from both institutions. The students receive a good training for the European job market.

All participants of our working group are interested in establishing new contacts for cooperation. We envision an International Network of Mechatronic Universities. We see four fields of cooperation:

the exchange of information
exchange programmes for students and faculty members
joint activities for public relations
development of strategies in didactics and methodology of mechatronics teaching

We plan to establish this network with participants of the international workshop. Participants are South Bank University, London (Great Britain), Université Blaise Pascal, Clermont-Ferrand (France), Virginia Tech, Blacksburg (Virginia, USA), Nanyang Technological University (Singapore), Ngee Ann Polytechnic (Singapore), Institut Supérieur de Technlogie (Luxembourg), Dublin Institute of Technology (Ireland), Technical University of Denmark, Lyngby (Denmark), Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm (Sweden), Ecole Centrale d'Electronique, Paris (France), Istanbul University (Turkey), Universita degli Studi della Calabria (UniCal) in Cosenza (Italy) and University Linz (Austria).

University teachers of mechatronics or engineering who are interested in joining this network should contact us under reiner.dudziak@fh-bochum.de and loose@fh-brandenburg.de.