First-semester students on Bachelor's and Master's degree programmes took the opportunity to get to know their faculty, future lecturers and fellow students during the induction week.
The winter semester 2021/2022 started at HTWK Leipzig from 4 to 8 October 2021 with the university-wide introductory week, which aims to make it easier for first-semester students to start their student life. First-semester students on Bachelor's and Master's degree programmes had the opportunity to get to know their faculty, future lecturers and fellow students.
At the Faculty of Engineering, Dean Prof Dr Stephan Schönfelder welcomed the first-semester students at the start of the induction week and wished them every success for the winter semester planned at HTWK Leipzig.
After the Dean's welcoming speech, the students got to know the two student councils of the ING faculty, the Fresher Coaches and the university-wide student council StuRa. The first-year coaches, students from higher semesters, accompanied the students to the various information sessions and events throughout the induction week.
The programme included training on the online platform OPAL, library and campus tours, Jupyter/Python training (MBB/EGB), safety briefings on using the PC pools and labs as well as freely selectable activities such as a city rally or bike tour through Leipzig.
This year's highlight was the design competition for first-year Bachelor's students on the Electrical Engineering and Information Technology programme in the Wiener Bau. In the competition, the students had to recreate a given circuit including LEDs and integrate it into an object of their choice. There were no limits to their creativity. The inventors had just under four hours to realise their projects and then present them to a jury. The necessary materials, circuit diagram, soldering iron, LEDs and tools were made available to the participants. The results included a Millenium Falcon, a time-travelling clock, a lighthouse, the Leipzig coat of arms, the HTWK logo, a fire brigade, a haunted house and the university giant. At the subsequent barbecue evening in the courtyard of the Wiener Building, first-year students, teaching staff and fellow students had the chance to get to know each other in a relaxed atmosphere.
However, the upcoming winter semester, which is planned to take place in person, will not only be a new experience for this year's first-semester students, but also for many HTWK Leipzig students who have been enrolled at the university since spring 2020 and in some cases only know it from online teaching.
To ensure that face-to-face teaching is also possible at the university in the long term, not only face masks have been compulsory in all areas and buildings of the university since the start of the semester, but also the 3G rule and electronic contact tracing. The introductory week was also an ideal opportunity to test and optimise the new hygiene concept with the obligation to provide evidence of the 3G rule.
