The campus was a hive of activity on Wednesday: the university invited prospective students, pupils, teachers and advisors to take a look behind the scenes of university life and find out about individual courses on offer. Around 300 sixth form students from Vacha Gymnasium, BBZ Schmalkalden, Friedrich-Fischer-Schule Schweinfurt, Martin-Luther-Gymnasium Eisenach and Henfling-Gymnasium Meiningen accepted the invitation.
They were welcomed to the Audimax by university employees Lisa Eckardt and Johannes Repp. They introduced the university and its five faculties. The students were then able to visit the faculties and find out more about the individual courses on offer. The Faculty of Business and Economics with its range of courses was met with great interest. Prof. Nancy Richter made it clear what makes studying at a university of applied sciences so special: "The course is practice-oriented and you have contact with companies early on." One of the advantages of Schmalkalden as a small university is that it is easier to find your way around. In general, it is very convenient to live in "Schmalli" - as the students affectionately call Schmalkalden. A lot of things take place on campus without the big city environment in the middle of the forest and nature.
The Faculty of Business and Economics offers a wide range of elective subjects. "You start broadly and only decide during your studies," says Nancy Richter. "With 14 professorships with a wide range of specializations, we offer intensive support." In general, studies at the Faculty of Business Administration and Economics cover the areas of business administration, economics and business psychology, with business administration focusing on internal company processes, economics on macroeconomic contexts and business psychology on methodology and fundamentals or personnel selection. Richter explained to the students the elements of the Bachelor's degree course, which consists of compulsory subjects, elective subjects and other achievements such as the Bachelor's thesis. Compulsory electives are, for example, tourism management in business administration or clinical psychology in business psychology, to name but a few. Another unique selling point of Schmalkalden University is its broad international network: the Faculty of Business Administration and Economics cooperates with around 60 partner universities worldwide.
After the lecture by Prof. Nancy Richter, the pupils were given an insight into the faculty: Students and staff presented the individual courses on offer at various tables and got talking to the pupils. Amelie Müller from Philipp-Melanchthon-Gymnasium Schmalkalden was impressed by the event: she would like to study Business Psychology or International Business and Economics.
But it wasn't just the Faculty of Business and Economics that offered the opportunity to take a look behind the scenes: At the Faculty of Computer Science, all the labs were open and invited visitors to join in and try things out. Prof. Hartmut Seichter's graphics laboratory was a hive of activity. Here, visitors were able to try out VR and AR glasses in a fun way. This included Leona Sophie Balázs-Piri from Henfling-Gymnasium in Meiningen. She would like to study physics or computer science. "I think the event is really great and it motivates me to study. I'll definitely see myself here again," says the eleventh-grader confidently.
