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07/03/2019 | Berichte aus den Bereichen

"MINT in the Park" - Exchange of Experience and Practical Networking for Science and Practice

Companies are looking for STEM professionals (mathematics-informatics-science-technology). Many STEM students are looking for early practical experience for their career orientation and to consolidate their choice of study. This is precisely where "MINT in the Park" comes in.

Image: University of Kassel.
From left to right: Jörg Froharth, Prof. Dr. Rita Borromeo Ferri, Sandra Wilhelm, Prof. Dr. Andreas Meister.

The aim of the event is to bring students and professors of STEM degree programs into contact with companies that offer suitable practical experience (internships, theses, working student jobs, research projects) on a sustainable basis and at eye level. 

A total of 10 companies, 10 professors and about 60 students from the STEM departments and degree programs took part in yesterday's interdisciplinary practical networking event at the Kassel Science Park. The event was made possible through a collaboration between Science Park GmbH and the University of Kassel's practice matching platform MINTERFACE.

"The cooperation of MINTERFACE with Science Park at this event is a wonderful fit. We create synergy effects because we bring together the university and the companies with the aim of 'fostering the talents of tomorrow' and to initiate new research projects with the participating professors," Prof. Andreas Meister of MINTERFACE and of the Institute of Mathematics at the University of Kassel is pleased to say. His colleague, Prof. Rita Borromeo Ferri, who heads MINTERFACE together with Prof. Meister, comments on the successful event: "The face-to-face of students, professors and companies is exactly what makes MINTERFACE so special and sets it apart from other recruiting platforms or fairs. Therefore, the collaboration with Science Park that MINT im Park facilitates 'matches' perfectly with MINTERFACE's goals."

The event in Kassel's Science Park kicked off with a so-called practice pitch. In 5-minute short presentations, a total of 10 students reported on their practical experiences in the participating companies. This was followed by a two-hour speed dating session between groups of professors and students and the participating companies. The aim of the short dates (15 minutes each) was to get to know each other. If professors and students were interested in making contact, they could then drop their expressions of interest into the matching boxes (small mailboxes) provided by the companies.

"With the "MINT IM PARK" format, we are taking a new approach to recruiting, aiming to develop trust at an early stage and addressing the matching of expectations between companies and future top executives in a changing world of work. We see this   as the  prelude to further cooperation, event formats and a regular exchange of experience between science and practice," says Jörg Froharth (Managing Director Science Park Kassel and Head of UniKasselTransfer). 

Also with regard to the MINT orientation study plusMINT starting in WS 19/20, the interdisciplinary approach offers new opportunities for science, the economy and the region.

Afterwards, the Science Park invited all participants to a joint barbecue. Further contacts were made here in an informal setting and this should not be the end.

 

Further information:
http://www.minterface.de/
https://www.sciencepark-kassel.de/index/
https://www.uni-kassel.de/uni/studium/bachelorstudium/plusmint-orientierungsstudium/

Contact:
Sandra Wilhelm, UniKasselTransfer, Tel.: 0561 / 804 7252, sandra.wilhelm[at]uni-kassel[dot]de