On June 9, 2017, BTU President Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jörg Steinbach the best teaching concept of 2016 as part of the open day at the central campus in Cottbus, as well as students who were selected for their outstanding commitment.

The teaching prize, worth €5,000, goes to Prof. Dr.-Ing. Klaus Höschler and the academic staff Stefan Kazula and Dipl.-Ing. Martin Epperlein for the module "Introduction to design theory".

The module is offered in the second semester of the bachelor's degree programs in mechanical engineering, industrial engineering and process engineering, as well as in interdisciplinary studies and in the guest student program. It imparts basic knowledge for the technical understanding of construction and design - a basis for the engineering way of thinking. At many universities, the subject is considered a "stumbling block" with very high failure rates. Against this background, the challenge in teaching is to impart the required specialist knowledge in the appropriate quality despite the high level of difficulty, while at the same time promoting the learning process and understanding among the students and thus reducing the failure rate.

Prof. Höschler and his team succeeded in doing this by developing a new teaching concept for this module, which was introduced in the summer semester of 2013 and has been continuously developed since then. The acquisition of knowledge and the practical application of this knowledge are given equal support within the framework of two semester-long design projects. In this way, the theory is internalized via the thought process and trying things out using examples and confirmed by a positive solution to the tasks.

The practical courses are based on active reflection by the students, for example by answering questions during the lecture, using gap scripts and through e-learning applications with more than 1400 exercises. A voluntary bonus program at exam level makes it possible to achieve a total of five bonus percentage points as a motivational aid for the final exam. In addition, before the exams, teachers are increasingly offering consultation hours and consultations in order to clarify any questions of understanding that remain unanswered.

In this way, the failure rate was reduced from an initial 60 percent to an average of 30 percent. All students who had achieved the bonus points passed the final exam even without these bonus points.

The BTU Teaching Prize characterizes the special appreciation of good university teaching at the university. The aim is to honor teachers for their special commitment to knowledge transfer and training. At the same time, examples of good practice in teaching should become known throughout the university and motivate all teachers to further develop their teaching concepts and modules. 13 modules and their teachers were nominated for the 2016 teaching prize. The selection was made in a public university presentation by a jury, in which university teachers, academic staff and students participated.

On Wednesday, January 25, 2017, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jörg Steinbach, President of the BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg, on the central campus, the prizes for the best dissertations, master's and bachelor's theses 2016 as well as the sponsorship prize of the Soroptimist International Club Cottbus 2016 and the prize for the best STEM student at the university in 2016.

An employee of our chair was also honored with one of the awards for the best master's theses at the six faculties:

Faculty of mechanical engineering, electrical and energy systems
Stefan Kazula, M.Sc.
»Modeling and analysis of coupled actuator systems for thrust reversers and variable by-pass nozzles of an aircraft engine«
Supervisor: Prof. Dr.-Ing. Klaus Höschler, Dipl.-Ing. David Grasselt, Department of Aircraft Engine Design, BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg

On Wednesday, January 29, 2014, at 6 p.m., the university prizes for 2013 were awarded at the BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg in lecture hall A of the central lecture hall building ZHG. The prize for the best bachelor thesis of Faculty 3 goes to our students B.Sc. Stefan Kazula will be presented. We are very happy about it and would like to congratulate him warmly. Here's to continued good cooperation!