Erasmus Mundus ECW – Bridging the gap Bridging the gap Experiences at TU Dresden

Erasmus Mundus ECW – Bridging the gap Technische Universität Dresden, September 2010 Dresden´s location Dresden

Erasmus Mundus ECW – Bridging the gap Technische Universität Dresden, September 2010 The past studying in Dresden for the past 180 years close connection between theory an praxis a sound co-operation between the various academic fields after 1990 it was extended to include other subjects as well as the sciences founded as a technical educational establishment Royal Saxon Polytechnical School of Higher Education PolytechnicalRoyal Saxon Technical School of Higher Education (TH) University of Technology Dresden (TUD) historical

Erasmus Mundus ECW – Bridging the gap Technische Universität Dresden, September 2010 Statistics 4science areas 14 faculties 35,000students 8,000employees Overview

Erasmus Mundus ECW – Bridging the gap Technische Universität Dresden, September 2010 students according to science areas Overview Natural Sciences Medicine Engineering Sciences Humanities and Social Sciences

Erasmus Mundus ECW – Bridging the gap Technische Universität Dresden, September 2010 Statistics – foreign students international

Erasmus Mundus ECW – Bridging the gap Technische Universität Dresden, September 2010 Country of origin – foreign students international

Erasmus Mundus ECW – Bridging the gap Technische Universität Dresden, September 2010 The 5 largest groups of foreign students (WS 08/09) international

Erasmus Mundus ECW – Bridging the gap Technische Universität Dresden, September 2010 Promotion activities - to a mailing list of TUD-scientists and to all students of TUD - separate information was sent to TUD-scientists that have projects with Asia - separate information was also sent to the East-Asia-Centre at TU Dresden, where TUD-students can attend supplementary chinese language and culture courses - Students interested in the mobility programme were counselled by the staff at the “Infocenter” at the International Office regarding the application procedure Bridging the gap

Erasmus Mundus ECW – Bridging the gap Technische Universität Dresden, September 2010 Selection of candidates - application documents of doctoral / postdoctoral / staff applicants were sent to the faculties in order to receive feedback about the possibility to host the candidates in case of a successful application and about the quality of the application - applications of undergraduate / master applications were checked at the International Office regarding their overall eligibility (especially knowledge of German / English language) - meeting with the scientific coordinator for BTG at TUD and the contact persons for BTG in order to finalise the ranking Bridging the gap

Erasmus Mundus ECW – Bridging the gap Technische Universität Dresden, September 2010 Selection results -7 candidates from Technische Universität Dresden were selected for the BTG scholarships, 5 finally started their mobility periods -36 Asian candidates were selected to do studies / research at TU Dresden, 34 accepted the scholarship Bridging the gap

Erasmus Mundus ECW – Bridging the gap Technische Universität Dresden, September 2010 Counselling services -for the Outgoings: help establishing the contact to the host institutions, preparation of the award contract, support with visa procedure, individual consultations -for the Incomings: help establishing contacts to their host institute, in case of students help with the learning agreements, preparation of the award contract, the guest researchers received help in finding a place to live in Dresden, payment of first scholarship rate, support with visa procedures, individual consultations Bridging the gap

Erasmus Mundus ECW – Bridging the gap Technische Universität Dresden, September 2010 Experiences - first scholarship holders that arrived in april have already returned home - 5 students from Jilin University and 1 student from University Muhammadiyah Malang studied Computational Engineering successfully - 1 student from Mongolian University of Science and Technology studied Civil Engineering and will in October start studies at the University in Karlsruhe, Germany as a scholarship holder of the Mongolian government - 1 academic staff scholarship holder has spent 1 month as a guest researcher at the faculty of computer science Bridging the gap

Erasmus Mundus ECW – Bridging the gap Technische Universität Dresden, September 2010 Experiences Information by the coordinator to the partners sometimes not sufficiently clear: - no definite list of selected candidates was sent to the partners - the word documents with the approved mobilities for each partner were difficult to understand Roles of the partners should have been communicated more clearly: - to send letters of award to the selected candidates  responsibility of the host institutions  some candidates never received an official letter that they were selected - some partners took very long to answer s or didn’t answer at all – one TUD professor never received a reply by his intended host and therefore withdrew from the scholarship programme Bridging the gap

Erasmus Mundus ECW – Bridging the gap Technische Universität Dresden, September 2010 Experiences Some procedures are too complicated and take too long: -Award contract shall be printed 4x and signed by 4 parties Problems with the Insurance Company: -some scholarship holders didn’t receive their insurance certificate before their departure Problems with study recognition: -some selected undergraduate scholarship holders didn’t have to take compulsory courses for their studies any more, so the courses taken in Dresden are not necessary for their studies and will therefore not be recognised Bridging the gap

Erasmus Mundus ECW – Bridging the gap Technische Universität Dresden, September 2010 Thanks for the attention!