Why BerlIn - Global Production Engineering - TU Berlin

12
Professor Seliger, you‘re the Dean and cofounder
of the Global Production Engineering
(GPE) curriculum, created in 1997. What
led you to found this course of study?
In collaboration with the DAAD (Deutscher
Akademischer Austauschdienst), we hit on
the idea of encouraging more non-European
students to study in Germany. Our institution
is very well suited to that, since we have a
plethora of accessory resources and offer
a first-class and internationally recognized
engineering education. We have made great
strides and have around 160 applicants annually,
of which we are able to accept about 50
who meet all the requirements and bring all
the essential qualifications with them.
What are some specifics you would emphasize
in the organization of this curriculum?
Every year, we conduct a thorough survey of
our students at every level so we can get into
what changes are wanted in all the fields and
thus continue to improve. Furthermore, we
are redoubling our project-oriented efforts
and have been able to significantly expand
our connections to our industrial partners, so
that we now have access to a considerable
collaboration network.
And, of course, we place strong emphasis on
the city of Berlin itself: Next to curriculum,
we focus on cultural development; we take
our students to theaters and museums, we
attend exhibits, conventions, and concerts
and celebrate the holidays together.
Thus, in addition to professional qualification,
GPE focuses strongly on integrating our
students into our community. The „Manufacturing“
track offered by GPE has found
strong resonance in industry. What moved
you to introduce the „Solar“ major now?
The solar industry, which has shown strong
growth not just in Berlin-Brandenburg,
but also throughout Germany, came to us
and told us that they needed academictechnical
leaders for their export markets,
which already make up far more than 50%
of their future business. So, we expanded
our core competencies of engineering, lean
engineering, management, and organization
of the value creation process by adding an
illustrious network in the solar field, and now
offer a major in „Solar.“ This network includes
the Renewables Academy, the Helmholtz