A successful premiere all around

The events around the „Tag der Universität“ on May 20, 2017, attracted over 6,000 guests

What a day! The premiere of the “Tag der Universität” on May 20, 2017, offered an event marathon lasting almost 15 hours. The doors of Chemnitz University of Technology were wide open from 9 a.m. till 1 a.m. The Children’s University, the 8^th international Alumni meeting, the Open House Day, the graduation celebration event, and the Long Night of the Sciences made the day a special experience.

If it bangs and chugs it’s Chemistry

Over 300 junior students were able to experience the fun of chemistry in the morning. Prof. Heinrich Lang of the Institute of Chemistry at Chemnitz University of Technology had the lecture hall filled to capacity with his exciting, glowing, banging, and smoking experiments. After the smoke disappeared at the end of the lecture, every child received an inventor diploma and a mortarboard.

Non-stop information between the cafeteria and the Alte Heizhaus

Around midday, several hundred prospective students informed themselves about the study options at the Open House Day at Chemnitz University of Technology. 18-year-old Juliane Runge from Seifhennersdorf is one of the prospective students and already arrived the day before. She wants to study Medical Engineering beginning in the winter semester ’17 to be able to work in hospitals or research in this field in the future. Her experience at the Open House Day confirmed her decision to study at Chemnitz University of Technology.

A meeting of the generations

133 graduates followed the invitation to the 8^th international Alumni meeting and used the opportunity to talk to representatives of the university administration and departments during the “get-together” at the Chemnitzer Hof the day before. During the event the alumni celebrated the admission of Chemnitz University of Technology into the alumni-club.net network as the three hundredth member.

On the actual “Tag der Universität” a lot of the alumni used the numerous offerings and events, for example taking a look into their old student files and participating in a tour. Sabine Delling from Hartmannsdorf participated in a tour of the city and the new youth hostel One. The 56-year-old alumni used the meeting to engage in conversation with other alumni and members of University. Petra Uhlig, 57-year-old resident of Chemnitz who started her studies of textile-machinery technology in 1979,  already participated in the alumni meeting for the second time. She decided to listen to a physics lecture and a presentation on studying abroad in the past and present.

Flying caps on the Theaterplatz

Huge crowds attended the graduation celebration event in the afternoon. Approx. 500 graduates, PhDs, and postdoctoral qualified persons with their family and friends filled the St. Petri Church on the Theaterplatz for a celebratory farewell. Dr. Simone Rita Schmid of the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration and Dr. Andreas Bischof of the Faculty of Humanities had particular reason to be happy: they both received the Commerzbankpreis endowed with 1,000 euros. Visual highlight was the group picture at the end of the event on the Theaterplatz. Dressed in black, red, and blue gowns the graduates threw their caps high into the air. By the way: due to the great response two celebration events of this kind will from now on take place every year, promised university president Prof. Gerd Strohmeier.

An exciting Night of the Sciences

For the first time in quite some time, Chemnitz University of Technology contributed with a “Long Night of the Sciences” to the Chemnitz Museumsnacht. At the university sites Reichenhainer Straße and Straße der Nationen, approx. 4,000 visitors – among them almost 1,000 children and young adults - participated in the offerings and presentations. The production of smoking manikins from the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering had the most influx of visitors. But the exciting presentations about Nikola Tesla and his works or from the researchers at the Federal Cluster of Excellence MERGE beamed in the spotlight even after midnight.

1.000 times Thank You

At this point the university president would like to thank all contributors of the “Tag der Universität”: “I thank you all most sincerely for your participation and contribution to this special day at our university, no matter if during the last weekend itself or in preparing the events. I am overwhelmed by the huge enthusiasm and engagement of countless students, employees of the faculties, the central institutions, the University Administration – especially the Building Department – as well as University Communications and the Press Office.” He also expresses his gratitude towards the Studentenwerk Chemnitz-Zwickau, the “Gastromeile” of the student body of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering as well as numerous external vendors who, amongst other things, cared for the culinary well-being of the guests.

A photo gallery of the “Long Night of the Sciences” is also available on the online portal of the MDR.

A photo gallery of the whole "Tag der Universität is too available online.

A Storify of social media contributions is also available online.

Matthias Fejes
23.05.2017

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