Alumni News For International Alumni and Students of TUM . 1/ 2010
Photo: TUM/ Heddergott
Information . Events . Network
Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. mult. Wolfgang A. Herrmann, President of TUM.
You can support your TUM Network with a donation. Recipient Staatsoberkasse Bayern fĂźr TUM Account No 24866 Bank code BLZ 700 500 00 IBAN No DE10700500000000024866 Swift Code bylademm Donation to be used for PK 000 701 391 750
Dear international students, join us today, be part of the TUM Network and benefit from our services. www.tum.de/alumni/database This semester, 4.008 international students are studying at TUM. Welcome!
Photo: Feng Chong
Internationalization at TUM .
The air in Germany is very good by Kevin Strassmeir Chinese student Feng Chong (born in 1986) from Pinxiang gained her Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from Harbin Engineering University in the summer of 2007. Since the summer term of 2008 she participates in the joint Master’s course offered by the Chinese-German College for postgraduate studies (CDHK) at Tongji University and TUM, at the end of which she will qualify with a Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from both universities. Feng Chong will be coming to Munich in September 2010 where she will complete her studies by October 2011. In view of the excellent results she gained in the German as a foreign language test (TestDaF), she has been awarded a DAAD scholarship.
What big challenges do you expect to face in September – at university and in day-today life? In the beginning it will no doubt be difficult at university with the language. We have been given intensive language tuition and our courses are held in German, but people here are considerate – I mean, the lecturers speak slowly and clearly. That will probably no longer be the case in Germany. What preparations are you making for your period abroad? Dealing with all the formalities is my main concern; for example, before I can apply for a visa, I have to open a German bank account and pay a large sum of money into it. I am also trying to find out which things are cheaper to buy in Germany and what I should take with me from China.
What motivated you to apply for the Master’s degree with dual honours from Tongji and TUM? On a general level, it was important for me to study abroad. Germany appealed to me because they say you get a good, well-founded education there. So I chose this special Master’s program as the two institutions have been cooperating together for years and the TUM enjoys a good reputation in the field of Electrical Engineering.
Are there any preparatory courses or training schemes in intercultural communication? So far there has been a preparatory event staged by the CDHK, where we were given useful tips connected with the matriculation procedure and applying for a place at a student hall, for instance. What was new and interesting for me was that there are lots of deadlines to be adhered to at German universities.
How did you find out about this program? My uncle told me about it; he knows someone at the CDHK. Most of my fellow students discovered this course through the Internet or from friends. It is quite well known among Electrical Engineering students in China.
What aspects are you most excited about? More than anything else, I’m curious to find out about German etiquette and how Germans behave, but I also wonder what the countryside and environment are like – they say the air there is very good. And I dream about driving along the motorway in a German car at more than 200 km/h.
Feng Chong on Yalong Bay Beach in the South of Hainan.
Thank you very much for giving us this interview! See you soon in Munich.
This interview was conducted by Kevin Strassmeir on 8 June in Shanghai. Our reporter Kevin Strassmeir has been studying for a diploma in Technology and Management-Oriented Business Administration (TUM-BWL) at TUM since 2006. As part of the LAOTSE exchange program, he spent the winter term 2008/09 at the School of Economics and Management (SEM) of Tongji University in Shanghai and extended his stay in China to a total of 11 months with a period of work experience. He took up his studies in Munich in August 2009 again.
The TUM orchestra Symphonisches Ensemble München gave a guest performance in Tianjin in May 2010. In the same month our Chinese alumni met TUM President Herrmann in Shanghai.
Photo: Guo-Prasch
TUM Alumni China If you live in Shanghai and would like to meet other TUM alumni, send an email to our alumnus Shen Shunwei, who graduated in Computer Science from TUM in 2006 and completed his MBA in 2007. Shen Shunwei is willing to commit himself to organizing alumni get-togethers. Contact: Shen Shunwei, swshen @ gmail.com Another former graduate has offered to act as a contact person in Liaoning Province. Anyone interested in helping to set up a TUM network in Liaoning is welcome to get in touch. Contact: Stefanie Menner, menner @ tum.de
International Networking .
The TUM Network goes from strength to strength
Photo: facesbyfrank
By Stefanie Menner
Concentrated work on the Multiplicators’ Workshop (f.l.t.r.): Dr. Mariana Neamtu ( TUM Alumna Chemistry) from Technical University of Iasi / Romania, Prof Dr. Achmed Legrouri (TUM Alumnus Environmental Engineering) from Al Akhawayn University in Ifrane / Marocco, Dr. Julia von Mendel (TUM Alumna Ökotrophologie) from TUM Alumni Service and Prof. Dr. Iulia David (TUM Alumna Chemistry) from University of Bucharest / Romania.
TUM alumni are becoming increasingly committed as they step up their collective networking efforts. Several regional get-togethers have already taken place this year and there are more to come – in Germany, England, Spain, Portugal, France, Bulgaria, Greece, Egypt, at various places in the USA, Columbia, Egypt and China. The German-Chinese Year of Science and Education contributed to a real surge in the Chinese alumni network. As part of the TUM China Weeks for instant, German and Chinese Alumni talked about their experiences building up a career in the “other” country. Workshop for Multiplicators Earlier in the year, 16 alumni from all over the world, who advise would-be students in their native countries on the opportunities for studying at TUM and help with the various formalities required before they actually gain a place, made their way to Munich. During the course of the weekend they found out about the latest developments and the facilities available at TUM, got to know some of the key people responsible and swapped ideas and views with one another. The participants naturally took advantage of the workshop to create new links as well.
TUM Women’s network Last autumn seven women founded “Women of TUM” in Singapore at the TUM Alumni at the TUM Alumni Expert Seminar. International TUM graduates join forces with female students and professors from TUM to form this network. One of their aims is to promote young women “back home” who are interested in going to university. Private exchange initiatives and careers support are also to be accommodated. Committed female TUM graduates and junior scientists will take part in the women’s network meeting due to take place in October in collaboration with the TUM Gender Center, as an important step towards activating “Women of TUM”. TUM Alumni Speakers’ Seminar Regional network speakers have been invited to this year’s Speakers’ Seminar, which is scheduled for December. The seminar offers participants the opportunity to work on the development of the network and to discuss fresh concepts in conjunction with other alumni.
KontakTUM quiz – The winners are Dr. Tatyana Vlasyuk from Kirov / Russia and Şafak Ökmen from Mühldorf / Germany
Congratulations!
Staff of TUM Alumni & Career Photo: facesbyfrank
Dipl.-Ing. (FH) Hannelore Galster / Database Administrator Hannelore Galster joined the newly established Alumni & Career Service in 2001. Since then, she has been recording and managing the address data of former students, doctoral candidates, members of staff and guests of TUM, who wish to register with the TUM Network. She developed the database from scratch and has continually expanded it. Anyone who wishes to do Mrs Galster a special favour can make an effort to keep his/her own particulars up-to-date
at www.tum.de/alumni/database “Working on a big database calls for considerable concentration. So it’s all the more rewarding for me when alumni can meet up again, make new contacts, help one another or celebrate together thanks to the data. If you know any more TUM graduates, please give me their addresses so I can invite your acquaintances to join our network!”
TUM Abroad .
Bulgarian biodiversity promoted by TUM Alumni From 4 to 14 June 2010 a field trip in botany, zoology and landscape management took fifteen BSc. students from the TUM Academic Faculty of Forest Science and Resource Management and their lecturers, Prof. Rainer Matyssek, Dr. Karl-Heinz Häberle, Dr. Hans Utschik and Dipl.-Ing. Günter Weber, to Bulgaria. Bulgarian TUM alumna Diyana Kostovska helped to realize this journey and wrote a short report for us. The main organizer of the study trip to Bulgaria was Dr. Petia Nikolova, a Bulgarian TUM alumna and former lecturer at the University of Forestry in Sofia who has been living in Freising since 2002. Her idea for this initiative was not only to introduce TUM students and their lecturers to Bulgaria‘s rich, well-preserved biodiversity, but also to the authentic culture and history of the country. I helped Petia with the specific organisation issues. We have known each other ever since the International Master‘s degree course in Sustainable Resource Management at TUM. I work as a project coordinator at the Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds / Bird Life Bulgaria and I’m involved in developing the Bulgarian TUM Alumni network. Bulgaria is a relatively small country (110,912 sq. km) and it is rich in biological diversity due to its highly variable climatic, geological, topographic and hydrologic conditions. Bulgaria ranks among the countries of the greatest biodiversity in Europe! Bulgarian forests, covering one third of the country’s territory, are among Europe’s richest and most diverse ecosystems harbouring a significant proportion of Europe’s rare and threatened species. The TUM students who went on this trip are working on a Bachelor‘s project with the aim to publish an online guide book for nature tourists visiting Bulgaria. The group set off in Sofia on a short sightseeing tour. Over the course of the following days, the students had the opportunity to walk through the Forestry University beech forest in Barzia, to visit several Special Protected Areas (= Natura 2000 zones designated according to the Bird
The Bulgarian family was preparing jam from wild strawberry this day and invited the students to taste it.
Diyana Kostovska on the field trip.
Directive) and to gain information about the process of establishing Natura 2000 in Bulgaria, the protection status, management and threats of Natura 2000 zones. They also visited the nature park “Persina” and its visitor centre, the “Central Balkan” national park as well as the biggest protected area in Bulgaria, the nature park “Strandja mountain”. The students and their lecturers met members of the Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds (BSPB), local people and experts, professors from the Forestry University in Bulgaria. They also enjoyed a social evening with traditional Bulgarian music at Madzarovo. This initiative was jointly financed by TUM, DAAD and the participants.
TUM Alumni Bulgaria Committed TUM alumni meet up regularly in Sofia and would be delighted if you could come and join them! Contact: Andrey Tocev, kontaktumBG_tocev @ alumni.tum.de
TUM Students taking a trail around passing the unique Belogradchik Rocks.
TUM Alumni France
TUM Alumni USA
The TUM alumni met in Paris in June as part of the DAAD summer festival. Apart from reminiscing, the lively exchange of stories and general discussions, the Bavarian delicacies the participants had brought along with them also made a welcome contribution to the evening’s success. Look up the new website: www.tum.de/alumni/international/frankreich
Following several alumni get-togethers along the East Coast, alumni also met up this year in New York and Chicago for the very first time. Mrs Fuller and Mrs Kaiser organized the respective reunions on the spot and we look forward to announcing some more reunions very soon. Contact: Jörg Rößler, roessler @ tum.de
Photos: Kostovska
By Bulgarian TUM alumna Diyana Kostovska
For Alumni .
Alumni Forum in a festive setting on 28 November 2010 With the Jubilee celebration that was held last November in Gasteig, TUM launched a new tradition to mark the Golden and Silver Jubilees. Like last year’s celebration, this year’s awards ceremony is also due to take place in November, this time as part of our Alumni Forum. For the big Reunion Gala Evening with tables for each academic year, please be so kind as to offer your services as representative for your respective graduation del von Men year – a practice that Dr. Julia 9 89.2213 +49.89.2 e has stood the test of .d m u t mendel @ time – and help to invite your fellow students (with our support).
TUM Alumni Expert Seminar “Safe and sustainable construction” From 26 September to 1 October, TUM alumni will be discussing various aspects of sustainable construction at a specialist seminar in Medellin, Colombia. One of the main focuses of the seminar will be on the safety of buildings mni/ m.de/alu n/ www.tu bie m lu o /K when seminare 10 0 r2 Semina subjected to extreme conditions and natural hazards like earthquakes.
Mentoring spans generations Juniors meet Seniors – in architecture ssler
Jörg Roe
tum.de All TUM students roessler @ of Architecture are required to spend one year abroad as part of their course. Help these young people to become better acquainted with your country and give them start-up aid by email, telephone, city tours, meetings, whatever you are up for!
Add another rewarding dimension to your life by taking on a one year mentorship for students or doctoral candidates. A German student can benefit from your mentorship when seeking support for planning terms abroad, international work experience etc. The new TUM mentoring cycle starts on 19 November 2010.
ils and More deta ation tr is g re e onlin 10) 01.10.20 2 (deadline e/mentoring/tum .d m u www.t ger Peter Fin m.de finger @ tu
Regional contact persons for TUM Network We’re happy to announce that our network is growing around the globe. More than 50 international alumni offered their services as contact persons in their countries to help students, put people in touch with one another etc. Would you like to join in? Take a look at our world map and discover TUM global. Or even better, become a contact person yourself!
ni/ .de/alum www.tum l/ a n tio interna Menner Stefanie tum.de menner @
Wanted: Jobs and Internships for TUM students We would like to ask our alumni to support our TUM students, because finding appropriate internships abroad without connections and a good network is difficult for them. Do you know about open jobs or internships? Could you arrange internships in your company or give helpful information about career websites or contacts in your country? Please let us know or post vacancies directly on our TUM tein Job- and Simone S .de um career @ t e/jobboerse Internship .d www.tum Exchange.
Photo: facesbyfrank
Committed Turkish Alumnus “Since 2004 I have been coaching pupils at German-Turkish high schools in Istanbul. Some of them are planning to study in Germany and I encourage them to apply for a place at TUM. As the contact person for aspiring undergraduates at the next DAAD higher education fair I will be attempting to get many young people interested in studying at a university in Germany and particularly at the TUM.” Ersin Dogrugüven, TUM Alumnus Electrical Engineering 2008
For Students .
“Ferne Nähe” – Better understanding among nations The “Ferne Nähe” series of seminars, to be launched in the winter term 2010/11, is designed to give both foreign and “home grown” students the opportunity to get to know each other better: it kicks off with 2-day intercultural workshops. The students can subsequently deepen their relations at cultural, sporting and specialist events. “Ferne Nähe” is being sponsored by DAAD and is a joint project on which the ils: More deta ato TUM International in tt e P Eva @ tum.de pettinato Office, the student union Studentenwerk München, Hochschule München, the University of Television and Film Munich (HFF), Studentenhilfe München e.V. have all collaborated.
TUM Mentoring – Empowerment for international students
Enzo Peres, a first-year Master’s student of Industrial Design at the Faculty of Architecture: “Apart from my mentor, I don’t know anybody who has this specialist experience and knows how to organize certain aspects of one’s working life. This year of mentoring is a very good start to my time at TUM.“
Orientation weeks for international students 4 – 17 October 2010 The orientation weeks are held at the beginning of each semester. We provide you assistance with new arrivals’ first tentative steps (such as: registration, residence permit, matriculation, public transport) as well as introducing newcomers to .de m the libraries, the tu v. z tumi @ .de/ campus, diverse www.tum l/tumi/tumi na internatio gswochen n information ru _orientie centres, etc.
International students and doctoral candidates at TUM gain twice by participating in TUM Mentoring. In addition to their own individual development, they get insights into the life and culture of their nline ils and o ta e new host country d re o M e n (deadlin registratio 010): www. Germany – like ber 2 1 Octo um2 entoring/t tum.de/m r e g in F Peter m.de finger @ tu
TUM Career Week 15 – 19 November 2010 Join in and give your career a boost at the next TUM Career Week from 15 to 19 November 2010. A diversified program will be offered on all TUM campuses: Students and alumni alike will have the opportunity to attend lectures, take advantage of personal
counseling or meet representatives from interesting companies. Moreover, one day of the TUM Career Week will have an international focus. We will offer counseling for international students, plan lectures on topics like “How to apply in Germany” or “Job applications in ils English” and More deta -October): id (around m e/career will have .d www.tum in te companies Simone S e m.d stein @ tu that are interested in students with an international background.
Worldwide Erasmus Students Network Meeting in Munich 10 – 12 December 2010 On this weekend you will have the opportunity to meet many international students from all over the world on interesting events in Munich. So make a note of the dates in your any.org esngerm calendar and bear this project @ rs. te sn /e http:/ event in mind when any.org/ esngerm planning your term. We look forward to seeing you all!
Published by The President of Technische Universität München,
Photos unless stated otherwise: TUM Alumni & Career
Layout ediundsepp Gestaltungsgesellschaft München
Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. mult. Wolfgang A. Herrmann
Edited by Annette Marquard-Mois M.A. (person in charge)
Printed by Druckerei Joh.Walch GmbH & Co Augsburg
Print run 8.000
+49.89.289.25013, marquard @ tum.de
Technische Universität München · Alumni & Career 80290 München / Germany www.tum.de/alumni
Copyright by Technische Universität München. All rights reserved.
Thanks to for supporting our work!