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Central Teaching Unit
The Central Teaching Unit trains for doctoral candidates
as part of the Graduate Center Mechanical Engineering,
as well as training key competencies for Bachelor and
Master students of the department in the Center of Key
Competencies.
The Center of Key Competencies is responsible for
the central training aspects of all Bachelor and Master
students at the Department of Mechanical Engineering
with the aim to expand their soft skills. Through develop-
ing their social, methodological and personal competen-
cies, young engineers get training to complement their
technical knowledge. The Center of Key Competencies
focuses on the development of skills such as effective
team work, constructive solution of conflicts or convincing
presentations. One out of our various offers, focuses on
the education of Bachelor students. Ending with the new
Bachelor, we want to use this opportunity to review the
last 20 years of the Tutoring System Garching:
the Tutoring System students take part in different projects
to experience how to work on a project as a team.
These workshops were held by tutors, experienced
students with a special qualification to design, run and
evaluate workshops and lead their teams for a whole year.
In eight days of training the tutors are prepared for the
workshops by trainers of the Center of Key Competencies.
During their time as a tutor they receive feedback on their
workshops to further develop their skills. The coordinator
of the program at the Center of Key Competencies always
provides help and support for over 50 tutors each semes-
ter. After one year as a tutor the participants develop
skills in leading a group, project management and giving
workshops.
These are the highlights of 20 years of the Tutoring
System Garching:
1996
The Tutoring System Garching was founded out
of a student initiative and was supported by the Chair of
Product Development. It has been under the leadership
of Prof. Dr.-Ing. Udo Lindemann, Department of Product
Development. It started with eight tutors and was
supervised by the chair.
2007
After more than ten years there were more
participants than places to offer. Due to this high
demand, two tutoring groups with 15 tutors each have
been educated each year and up to 450 undergraduate
students have taken part in the program, since summer
semester 2008.
2010
The Tutoring System Garching left the Department
of Product Development and was assigned to the Study
Office of the Department of Mechanical Engineering.
2011
The Center for Key Competencies was found
to train soft skills at the Department of Mechanical
Engineering and took over the responsibility for the
Tutoring System Garching.
20 years of Tutoring System Garching –
A Shortcut
The Tutoring System Garching has been one of the
cornerstones in educating Diploma and Bachelor students
over the last two decades. Although some aspects may
have changed within the last 20 years, one objective has
always remained the same: To support young people in
connecting with each other, handling challenging projects
and being prepared – for university and for life.
In interactive workshops, small groups of students work
together on topics such as communication and feedback,
presentational skills, time management and learning
strategies, teamwork and meeting management. These
workshops are based on scientific fundamentals and on
an activity and experience focused approach. The meth-
ods included in the workshops consist of input, practical
tasks, role play and peer counseling. In the second half of