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Tutors who want to continue the program
after one year have the opportunity to join
the TUTOR LEAD program. Former tutors
can participate in the tutoring program
again, taking over additional leadership
tasks in one of several departments
including recruitment, competition or pub-
lic relations. This new program gives them
the opportunity to further enhance their
key Competencies focusing on leadership
skills such as leadership techniques and
delegation, team coaching and reflecting
on their own leadership skills and experi-
ences.
on their learning experiences, give each
other feedback and test their knowledge
of relevant topics.
In 2016 we started a survey asking Master
students and alumni several questions
about our workshops. Over 68.7% think
that it makes sense to offer soft skill
courses at the university. Students name
recruitment training, presentation skills,
rhetorics and business etiquette as the
most important topics. We are happy to
say that we have covered most of these
preferences in 2016. We thank all students
and alumni for their participation and
constructive feedback.
The Graduate Center
Mechanical Engineering
Since it was founded in 2009 the Graduate
Center Mechanical Engineering has been
helping doctoral candidates in several
ways during their graduation process.
It provides training courses specifically
based on the needs of engineers and
promotes networking of the doctoral
candidates within the department and
beyond. It also helps the institutes to
maintain highest scientific standards.
This highly innovative program has been
awarded the Best Practice Award of
acatech, the National Academy of Science
and Engineering.
In addition the Graduate Center Mechan-
ical Engineering supports any kind of
networking and integration, e.g. network-
ing events like our summer get-together
and workshops. The networking events
take place within or across departments
and may be international as well.
Several professional and interdisciplinary
courses are offered to doctoral candidates
who may choose the topic based on their
individual needs. In cooperation with
doctoral candidates and other depart-
ments, it also provides subject-related
courses, e.g. LabView Core or LS-Dyna,
are also provided. In 2016 the Graduate
Center Mechanical Engineering organized
Central Teaching Unit
The Center of Key Competencies also
offers the Master Soft Skills program for
all Master students of the Department of
Mechanical Engineering. The students
develop a more profound understanding
and learn to distinguish between the
important areas of competence: method-
ical, social and personal competence.
Afterwards students choose one work-
shop out of each area and visit a basic
lecture. In 2016 the Center of Key Com-
petencies conducted over 200 training
sessions for more than 3000 participants.
Digital and blended learning are becoming
increasingly important. The Center of Key
Competencies introduced and improved
new blended learning workshops in the
area of Master soft skills and the seminar
Academic Writing. Students have the
opportunity to work regardless of time and
space. By using Moodle students reflect