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New degree course in Mechanical Engineering

German engineering – in English

Applications are set to open this October for a new English-language degree course in Mechanical Engineering at HAW Hamburg. Due to launch in the summer semester of 2025 in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Production Management, the course will provide an initial intake of approximately 45 students from across the globe with the opportunity to receive a first-class education in engineering in the vibrant city of Hamburg. We caught up with Prof. Achim Schmidt, co-initiator and coordinator of the new course, to find out more.

Studierende im Labor für Logistik

From this October, future engineers have the opportunity to apply for a place on HAW Hamburg’s new English-language Bachelor’s degree course.

Prof. Schmidt, you’re the coordinator of the new degree course in Mechanical Engineering that will launch at HAW Hamburg in the summer semester of 2025. What prompted your department to set up a mechanical engineering degree for an international student body?

For some years now, we’ve been running a few specific classes in English each summer semester, enabling international students to spend a semester in our department. My colleagues and I are in agreement that these classes have proved extremely beneficial all round. And so we started considering whether it might be possible to broaden this offering and launch an entire Bachelor’s degree course – we figured that a culturally diverse city like Hamburg, which acts as a gateway to the world, would be excellently placed for the success of an initiative like this, especially in view of the wealth of experience we’ve gained with the Shanghai-Hamburg College. We’re all really excited about the course’s launch and looking forward to seeing how popular it proves. I’m absolutely certain that all our students will benefit from the boost to the international atmosphere of our campus.

The major advantage for our international students is that we’ve removed the language barrier - they don’t need to know any German to join our Mechanical Engineering course

Prof. Dr. Achim Schmidt

What is the course’s target group, and what can they look forward to, specifically as international students, about coming to HAW Hamburg?

Overall, the course is aimed at young people with a passion for STEM who have understood that engineering is the key to successfully tackling the challenges our future societies will be facing. We believe that we’ll deliver an academically high-calibre degree course with content for our times – the topics the course will cover include digitalisation and the transition to renewable energy sources.
The major advantage for our international students is that we’ve removed the language barrier - they don’t need to know any German to join our Mechanical Engineering course. And as an institution, we’re incredibly proud of the practical elements that always complement the theoretical knowledge we teach in our modules. There aren’t many institutions outside Germany that can offer this kind of fusion of academic study and hands-on skills. On top of this, we have excellent networks with the industrial businesses working in Hamburg, which is a great help for international students in finding internships and industry placements or identifying an organisation they can work with for their degree thesis. This is what makes us stand out – alongside the quality of student-staff interaction here on campus.

What attitudes and skills do prospective students need?

Fundamentally, of course, we want our applicants to enjoy thinking analytically, be proficient at maths, and be able to put things in abstract terms – basically the same expectations that we have of students applying to our German-language degree programmes. Alongside analytical skills, our students will need to be keen to engage with German society and culture; this’ll be particularly important when they first arrive and don’t know anyone here in Hamburg yet. Lots of international students will be a long way away from their families and will have to learn to manage without their established support networks from back home.

Interview by Tiziana Hiller

Studiengang "Mechanical Engineering"

In brief: new Mechanical Engineering degree course

Degree awarded: Bachelor of Science
Duration: 7 semesters
New intake: every April (summer semester)
Applications accepted: 1 October - 30 November each year
English proficiency level required: B2
Semester contribution: 331 EUR per semester

More information

Online councelling
Prof. Dr. Achim Schmidt will offer online councelling appointments where he will present the curriculum contents and answer all your questions

Link to the councelling appointment
Meeting-ID: 360 817 454 88
Identification: eRHJ6k

Online consultation dates:
October 16th, 14-15.00
October 30th, 14-15.00 
November 13th, 14-15.00 
November 27th, 14-15.00 
December 11th, 14-15.00 

Contact

Prof. Dr. Achim Schmidt
Department Maschinenbau und Produktion

Berliner Tor 11
20099 Hamburg
Raum 219

T +49 40 428 75-8754
me_info (at) haw-hamburg (dot) de

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