Engineering Education

Team FliX is cooperating in research and teaching with Stellenbosch University as well as the University of Cape Town, South Africa in the area of Engineering Education. Besides publishing common research on two conferences, a class for students from SUN and HSD hast been developed.

Information on the Class:

Global Engineering – the role of culture in the global workplace

The idea of this hybrid class, which was developed by Prof Deborah Blaine from Stellenbosch University, South Africa and Claudia Fussenecker from Düsseldorf University of Applied Sciences, Germany, is to teach students from both continents practically and theoretically about the importance of culture in the global workplace.

The class was first taught from March until June 2023, included 20 students from both universities and took place 2h/week for 10 sessions. Students could attend online or in-person at both universities.

Laying the groundwork by teaching the basics about Cultural Models, Subcultures at Work, Intercultural Communication and Communication Models as well as the topics Networking, Global Workplace and Women in Engineering gave the students an idea of what is expected of a Global Engineer today. The practical understanding was supported by several activities, such as a 60-sec-Elevator Pitch, the Iceberg Model and several online exercises. The students were assessed by compiling a 10 page report as well as a 10 min presentation on the challenges of managing cross-cultural teams in different industries operating globally. Students were further asked to assess the class, themselves as well as their fellow students.

Further Information here