RWTH Professors Accompany Minister President Hannelore Kraft on Her Visit to China
Hannelore Kraft, minister president of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, and Garrelt Duin, NRW minister for economic affairs, are visiting China till April 26, 2015.
The delegation included two RWTH representatives: Professor Dr.rer.nat. Reinhart Poprawe, chair of Laser Technology and head of the Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology in Aachen, and Professor Dr.-Ing. Axel Preuße, chair of Mine Surveying and head of the Institute of Mine Surveying, Mining Subsidence Engineering, and Geophysics in Mining.
The Minister President visited Tsinghua University in Beijing, which has collaborated with RWTH since 1981. The collaboration has been funded as a strategic partnership since 2013 by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research and the German Academic Exchange Service or DAAD. Minister President Kraft learned about the current state of the construction of a "Joint Research Laboratory for Innovative Design and Manufacturing of Advanced Mechanical Systems." The long-term process was arranged in February 2014 in a letter of intent between the two universities. In the future 60 scientists from both partner universities are to work in Beijing with the industry on different topics. Aside from the Chair of Laser Technology, the Institute for Machine Elements and Machine Design, the Institute of Surface Technology, and the Institute of Jet Propulsion and Turbomachinery will be representing RWTH Aachen in the joint laboratory.
Joint Double Master's Program
RWTH Aachen and Tsinghua University have also been connected through the joint double Master's program in mechanical engineering since 2001. More than 500 graduates have successfully completed the double Master's in Aachen or Beijing. Currently, 30 RWTH students in the double Master's program are at Tsinghua University. Hannelore Kraft met with 13 Chinese and German students, who are completing the double Master's program.
Professor Dr.-Ing. Axel Preuße will sign three agreements in coming days: A memorandum of understanding with the School of Environmental Science and Spatial Informatics at the China University of Mining and Technology will enable a one-year exchange program for post docs. Plans are in place to strengthen the collaboration with the Sino-German Center for Energy and Environment in Mining Areas. A collaborative agreement with Shanxi Coking Coal Group Co. Ltd. is the first step for founding a research institution.
Source: Press and Public Relations