With language skills "Fit for the campus!"

45 BTU guest students with a refugee background will begin their intensive German course "Fit for the Campus!" at BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg on July 25, 2022. They come mainly from the war zones in Ukraine. Initially until the end of the year, they will learn German quickly and sustainably in Cottbus to prepare for a language university entrance exam next year.

"We are extremely pleased about the great interest of the young Ukrainians* in our program for learning German" emphasized Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Peer Schmidt, Vice President for Studies and Teaching at BTU, when welcoming the guest students. "We are glad to be able to offer support and perspectives for a new beginning in this difficult life situation. Our Integra project offers not only an intensive period of learning German, but above all many opportunities to get to know Cottbus and Lusatia, the people and our culture. In doing so, we benefit from the many years of experience we have gained in supporting our international students. About a third of them come from very different countries around the world. In addition, we also like to show the young people the wide range of opportunities that studying offers. We want to accompany and actively support them in all of this over the next few months."

The BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg is involved in many ways to show young people and scientists from Ukraine a perspective despite the ongoing war. "The on-site German courses at BTU are an important component of this," says Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. (NMU, UA) Michael Schmidt, academic director for international affairs. "The close coordination and cooperation with Ukrainian partner universities, also helps to secure teaching for the coming winter semester in Ukraine itself and thus support research and teaching." Special thanks are due here to the DAAD, which reacted quickly in coordination with the donors here and provided special funds at short notice, without which such projects would not be feasible.

The educational program, which is supported by special funds from the DAAD Integra program, makes the guest students linguistically fit for everyday university life, shows them the most beautiful sides of Lusatia, institutions and companies located here, and brings them into conversation with people from the region. The intensive German lessons with conversation classes and tutorials are accompanied by an extensive social program with sports and socio-cultural activities, projects and excursions around the university location Cottbus-Senftenberg. A motivated team of teachers and student assistants supports the students in achieving their goals.

The Integra project at BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg is supported by the DAAD with funds from the BMBF.

Contact Marianne Methling International Relations Office T +49 (0)355 69 3439 info4refugees(at)b-tu.de