The plastics processing industry has developed into an important key sector in the neighboring regions of Upper Lusatia and the Liberec district with a total of 257 companies. The growing demand for skilled workers in the plastics industry in the border region is offset by an increasing shortage of academically trained engineers in particular, who have a good knowledge of plastics processes, materials and design in line with today's high-tech requirements.
In order to counteract this deficit in the Upper Lusatia region, the range of courses on offer at the Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences (HSZG) has been explicitly expanded to include a focus on "Function-integrating plastics technologies". The establishment of the Fraunhofer Plastics Center Upper Lusatia (FKO) on the Zittau campus also demonstrates the high demand for regional R&D activities.
On the Czech side, the TU Liberec (TUL) with its Institute of Mechanical Engineering Technology has established itself in academic teaching and research in the field of plastics technology. Despite their close proximity, there has been no mutual exchange in teaching between Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences and TU Liberec in the regionally important field of plastics technology. The cross-border mobility of students in this subject area is weak and existing educational and study opportunities are only used to a limited extent across borders.
The "GreK" project was launched to address these challenges. The aim of the project is to set up and establish a cross-border academic teaching network in modern plastics technology between Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences and Liberec University of Technology with the involvement of innovative regional plastics companies and research institutions. To this end, new, joint courses will be developed on the basis of existing specialist skills and educational concepts and expanded into a didactically prepared, cross-border teaching network.
The focus of the training is on today's challenges of modern plastics technologies: resource efficiency, automation, functional integration and lightweight construction. The aim is to impart technical and didactic skills in the field of new technologies (e.g. additive processes, textile-reinforced thermoplastics) and modern construction concepts (e.g. hybrid construction methods, multifunctional components, industrial design).
Particular importance is attached to practical scientific training to enable German and Czech students to work in a structured, goal-oriented manner at an international level. This contributes to a close interlinking of industry and education/research and thus to an increase in regional economic performance and thus also to an increase in social cohesion and intercultural dialog in the cross-border region.
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15.07.2016 HSZG News: GreK takes up its work
11.10.2016 Sächsische Zeitung: Teaching alliance with Liberec starts
09.11.2016 Medienservice Sachsen: Dr. Stange: "Science is international - Saxony's researchers want to expand cross-border cooperation "
06.12.2017 Sächsische Zeitung: Zittau innovation - Fraunhofer creates a wind turbine using 3D printing
