Mönchengladbach. The Hochschule Niederrhein (HSNR) wants to become even more international. To this end, it plans to launch a double degree Bachelor's degree programme in Smart Textiles/Textile Electronics from 2025/2026. In addition to the University of Borås in Sweden, which also wants to introduce the programmes, Hasselt University in Belgium and the industry-oriented Politeknik STTT Bandung in Indonesia would like to adopt individual modules in their curricula. The project partners are working on what these might look like as part of the "Edu4SmartTex" project, which is being funded by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) with almost one million euros.
Guests from Indonesia are currently visiting Krefeld and Mönchengladbach. Tina Martina, Director of Politeknik, Dr. Ida Nuramdhani and her colleague Dr. Mohamad Widodo are not only being shown how teaching education is implemented at HSNR, but are also working on the joint teaching module "Sustainability and Circular Economy" (sustainability and circular economy of smart textiles) in a workshop. Here, teaching education content and goals will be discussed. The module will be one of a total of seven that the planned Degree programme at the university will later include.
The special feature: Not only the Faculty of Textile and Clothing Technology is involved, but also the Faculties of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Economics, Applied Social Sciences and Design. Synergy effects are used here and competencies are effectively brought together. "Exchanges at the partner universities are an important point for us. In addition, many courses will run digitally, so that students can connect flexibly from anywhere," says academic staff member Joel Schüßler, who is accompanying the project initiated by Professor Anne Schwarz-Pfeiffer (Textile and Clothing Technology) and Professor Ekaterina Nannen (Electrical Engineering and Computer Science).
Other planned modules deal with programming and app development, business start-ups, and research and industry, among other topics. In this case, cooperation with a practice partner is also planned.
