Excellence MINT Camp Biology: program diversity impresses participants

It has almost become a tradition for particularly high-performing representatives of this educational institution to attend the BTU College and its Center for Student Recruitment and Support - College Excellence STEM Camp Biology from 24 to 28 June 2024. The participants of the current camp have been learning German for several years and some of them are aiming to study in Germany.

Under the professional direction of Milena Gramov, biology specialist at the College, the varied program at the BTU campuses in Senftenberg and Cottbus ranged from a trial lecture to laboratory tours and specialist lectures to a visit to a grammar school. The guests noticed just how modern BTU is when they completed their internships in the college's biology department and VR lab, including immersing themselves in virtual worlds with VR glasses. They were particularly impressed by the presentation of the Biotechnology study program at Campus Senftenberg by Dr. Barbara Hansen, head of the study programme, and her lecture "Cell cultures as a substitute for animal testing".
Highlights of the program were also the lecture by Prof. Dr.-Ing. Matthias Koziol "City of the Future" at the main campus Cottbus of the BTU and the subsequent city tour led by him. Principal Matthias König welcomed the camp participants at Max-Steenbeck-Gymnasium. He was accompanied by Ivana, a student from Bulgaria who has been living in Germany with her parents for eleven years. Enthusiastic about the lessons, she gave explanations in her mother tongue.
In their accommodation at the Hafencamp on Lake Senftenberg, the participants of the Excellence STEM Camp Biology were also able to gain an impression of what it means to study where others go on vacation.

Avgustina Davcheva, German teacher at the high school in Sofia, also had a positive assessment: "I think it's very good that my students here in Germany got a first-hand impression of a university. The variety was impressive: laboratory practicals, lectures, laboratory tours and the excursion to the Max-Steenbeck-Gymnasium, where they were given a taster lesson in Mathematics, Physics and Biology. For me as a German teacher, it was of course particularly nice that they not only got to know everyday university life as students on trial, but were also able to intensively apply and expand their German language skills. Many friendships developed, especially at the Hafencamp, where my students were housed with the German students from the MINT-EC chemistry camp at BTU."

Nia Stefanowa, a student in Year 11, explains: "I came to Germany and really wanted to do practical work in the lab. This wish came true at BTU. I found the cultivation of bacteria particularly interesting. I have been studying German intensively for two years and would like to study in Germany. I have to say that I find Biotechnology very exciting at the moment."

The Excellence MINT Camp Biology was supported by: the Institute for Environmental Technology and Recycling Senftenberg e.V. (IURS) and the BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg Friends' Association.

Another event is planned for early summer 2025.