Constructive exchange across federal state borders at the 2023 MINT-EC school management conference in Cottbus
Around 400 representatives from schools and institutions from the fields of education, science and business attended exciting specialist presentations and over 30 workshops on school management, STEM teaching and networking, providing forward-looking impetus for their future work.
This year, the MINT-EC school management conference took place in cooperation with the BTU and the Max-Steenbeck-Gymnasium in Cottbus.
Dr. Niki Sarantidou, Managing Director of MINT-EC, accompanied the participants through the event. They were welcomed by Prof. Dr. Peer Schmidt, Vice-President for Academic Affairs at BTU, Claudia Zinke, State Secretary at the Brandenburg Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport, Tobias Schick, Mayor of Cottbus, as well as Matthias König, Headmaster of Max-Steenbeck-Gymnasium, and Indra Hadeler, Chair of the MINT-EC Board.
The highlights of the conference included the admission of new schools with an outstanding STEM profile to the national excellence school network MINT-EC, the presentation of two new MINT-EC topic clusters for specialist teachers coordinated by BTU and the determination of the winners of the MINT-EC school competition of the Dr. Hans Riegel Foundation on the topic of "Climate change in and at school" as well as the education market of companies and universities.
Brandenburg's State Secretary for Education Claudia Zinke explained: "STEM education helps to shape young people's understanding of the world, train analytical skills and solve problems in a results-oriented way. A good STEM education is a key economic factor and important for the future viability of the country. The MINT-EC school network is a valuable instrument for strengthening STEM subjects and promoting the next generation of STEM talent. The high professional quality standards of MINT-EC with its exemplary didactic concepts in the school network open up excellent career prospects for many young people through training and studies."
The Managing Director of MINT-EC, Dr. Niki Sarantidou, stated: "The situation at schools is becoming increasingly difficult, a process that we will be observing for many years to come. At the Principals' Conference, we try to give principals and STEM teachers inspiration for STEM lessons and school development measures. Whether in workshops or with the Dr. Hans Riegel Foundation's competition for the future, all offers are aimed at maintaining and making new contacts and getting to know innovative concepts, accompanied by small or large changes in everyday school life."
Prof. Dr. Peer Schmidt, Vice-President for Academic Affairs at BTU, emphasized: "We were able to give over 400 participants on campus and in the workshops exciting impressions of the dynamism and innovation in Lusatia - the many amazed and enthusiastic guests will take the best impressions of BTU back to their schools. The college has organized this large conference excellently down to the last detail and the format has shown the central role that STEM promotion and qualification of young people plays at BTU."
Dr. Torsten Skorubski, Upper School Coordinator at Max-Steenbeck-Gymnasium Cottbus, stated: "The conference made it clear: The shortage of teachers in the STEM field (and not only in this field) is present throughout Germany and will continue for many years to come. Colleges, universities and industry need very well-trained specialists - schools and these institutions must be better networked to achieve this. STEM education is often associated with great financial expense - support from industry must be improved. I attended two exciting workshops, which immediately resulted in a new teaching project: as soon as a sponsor is found, we will print, design and program a humanoid robot for Steenbeck-Gymnasium."
Four new schools impressed the jury in this year's selection process with their outstanding STEM profile and were ceremoniously accepted into the national MINT-EC Excellence Schools Network at the school management conference.
These are the new MINT-EC schools:
- Schyren-Gymnasium, Pfaffenhofen in Bavaria
- Städt. Heinrich-Heine-Gymnasium, Munich in Bavaria
- Gustav-Heinemann-Schule, Rüsselsheim in Hesse
- Friedrich-Albert-Lange-Schule, Solingen in North Rhine-Westphalia
The two new MINT-EC thematic clustersfor subject teachers coordinated by BTU are working together over several years with the aim of creating dynamic and practice-oriented MINT lessons that incorporate current research impulses. The results, for example in the form of teaching materials, are published in the MINT-EC publication series.
The following clusters are involved:
"Hydrogen" under the technical leadership of Prof. Dr. Lars Röntzsch, Head of the Chair of Thermal Energy Technology and the Hydrogen Research Center at BTU, funding from the German Chemical Industry Association, Northeast Regional Association
"Aerospace" under the technical leadership of Prof. Dr.-Ing. Christoph Egbers, Head of the Chair of Aerodynamics and Fluid Mechanics, funding from the German Aerospace Center.
The conference was highlighted by two keynote speeches. Dr.-Ing. Rainer Stetter, Manager of ITQ GmbH, spoke on the topic of "Unleashing a new era of tech talent for Europe" and Prof. Dr.-Ing. Klaus Höschler from BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg highlighted the topic of "Just interested or already enthusiastic - how STEM pupils can become STEM students".
During the conference, the three winners of the Dr. Hans Riegel Foundation's MINT-EC school competition on the topic of "Climate change in and at school" were determined with the help of live voting by the participants. These three schools will receive 7,000 euros to realize their projects:
1st Inda-Gymnasium, Aachen
2nd Maria-Wächtler-Gymnasium, Essen
3rd Wilhelm-Dörpfeld-Gymnasium, Wuppertal
This year's event was funded by Gesamtmetall as part of the think ING. initiative, the Siemens Foundation, the Dr. Hans Riegel Foundation, the German Society for Non-Destructive Testing (DGZfP), the German Chemical Industry Association (VCI) and the Association of the Metal and Electrical Industry in Berlin-Brandenburg (VME).
Program: https://www.mint-ec.de/veranstaltungen/1759-mint-ec-schulleitungstagung-2023/
MINT-EC - The National Excellence Schools Network
MINT-EC is the national excellence network of upper secondary schools with a strong profile in Mathematics, Computer Science, Natural Sciences and Technology. It was founded in 2000 by employers and works closely with their regional education initiatives. MINT-EC provides a wide range of events and support for pupils as well as further training and professional exchange for teachers and school administrators. The network, which currently has 341 certified schools, has been under the patronage of the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs of the Länder (KMK) since 2009. The main sponsors of MINT-EC are the employers' association Gesamtmetall as part of the think ING. initiative as well as the Siemens Stiftung and the Bavarian employers' associations bayme vbm and vbw.
Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg (BTU)
BTU is an official university partner of the national excellence school network MINT-EC. The aims of the partnership are, in particular, to support pupils from schools with a focus on science and technology in their decision to study by introducing them to study options in the STEM subjects and to attract prospective students to study STEM subjects. As the second largest university and the only university of technology in the state of Brandenburg, BTU contributes to shaping the major issues and transformation processes of the future with scientific expertise and practical solutions. BTU offers excellent supervision and attractive degree program profiles. It gives its students the opportunity to realize their potential and help shape the future.
Contact Press MINT-EC:
Jenny Bongards
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MINT-EC e.V.
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Contact Press BTU:
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Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg
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01968 Senftenberg
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