Annual Report 2016 - Mechanical Engineering

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Dr. Birgit Spielmann
Central Teaching Unit
Center of
Key Competencies
Phone +49.89.289.15614
Graduate Center
Mechanical Engineering
Phone +49.89.289.15616
Contact
Central Teaching Unit
The Central Teaching Unit is divided into
the Center of Key Competencies and the
Graduate Center Mechanical Engineering.
The Center of Key Competencies is
responsible for the central training aspects
of all Bachelor and Master students and
the Graduate Center provides training
sessions and administrative support for
doctoral candidates of the Department of
Mechanical Engineering.
Center of Key Competencies
The Center of Key Competencies offers
students at the Department of Mechanical
Engineering the opportunity to expand
their soft skills. These skills are gaining
importance in recruitment and working
processes such as team work, conflict
management and presentation skills. Stu-
dents get personal benefits by developing
their soft skills. In addition, over 91% of
managers and human resource executives
think that employees with strong soft skills
achieve better economic results (Hay
Group, 2015). Our goal is to train young
engineers and to increase their awareness
of the professional and personal skills
required to complement their technical
knowledge. Experience-based learning
and activity-oriented teaching form the
cornerstones of our educational practice.
We use a broad variety of teaching meth-
ods including practical tasks, role plays,
peer counseling and e-learning.
Bachelor and Master students can visit
individually developed programs. For
Bachelor students we offer the TUTOR
program using a two-step approach:
Senior students, who want to become
tutors, are trained first by the Center of
Key Competencies to further develop their
own soft skills and to carry out soft skill
training themselves. Over several days
tutors learn how to organize workshops
and support team structures as well as
individuals. During their first year small
groups of Bachelor students are coached
by a tutor who runs workshops and
supervises their team project. Workshops
about communication, teamwork, pres-
entation skills and motivation form a solid
basis for their studies and the project
(e.g. building a product) work during the
second semester. The teams have the
opportunity to increase their practical and
technical knowledge. Moreover they show
and further enhance their social skills.
In 2015/2016 the Center of Key Compe-
tencies trained 55 tutors, who executed
500 workshops for 647 students in the
winter semester and 624 in the summer
period. In addition to the workshops the
tutors organized a competition project
in cooperation with the Chair of Product
Development and a lecture series in which
companies came to the Department of
Mechanical Engineering introducing the
work of an engineer to the students.