A whole series of activities took place in October that will further intensify international cooperation in the field of teaching. 

For example, Ms. Sophia Keil, Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Industrial Engineering, and Prof. Frank Worlitz, Dean of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, visited the Chinese-German University of Applied Sciences at Tongji University in Shanghai. The aim of the four-day working visit was to develop opportunities for cooperation between the HSZG and the CDHAW in the fields of economics and industrial engineering, as well as to exchange experiences in teaching in a "smart factory". 

Prof. Worlitz is a guest lecturer and subject coordinator for mechatronics at the CDHAW. The aim is now to cooperate with the CDHAW in the Industrial Engineering and Management course as well, in order to enable German students to study part-time at Tongji University as a first step. Later on, Chinese students will also come to Zittau to study, similar to the mechatronics course.

Also in October, a delegation from Jiaxing University (China) led by Vice-President Prof. Yan Congquan visited the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the HSZG. An MOI was signed between the two institutions in the summer. The agreement provides for cooperation in the Master of Mechatronics. The first students from Jiaxing are expected to arrive in Zittau in fall 2020.

As part of his Master's thesis, Jan-Hendrik Smith from North-West University is spending a semester as an ERASMUS student at the IPM's Mechatronic Systems department. The topic of his master's thesis is the modeling of energetic processes on the basis of entropy balances. He is using data from the Jänschwalde power plant as a reference for his model. On the occasion of his supervisor Prof. George van Schoor's working visit to the HSZG, he presented the results of his work to date in the last week of October. The collaboration between Prof. van Schoor and Prof. Worlitz dates back to 2004. Since then, a whole series of Master's and PhD students have completed part of their studies at the IPM and the NWU respectively.

The faculty is also focusing on increased cooperation with foreign universities in the field of computer science. An exchange program is being prepared with the University of Hefei (China) for the Bachelor's degree course in Computer Science. On October 28, Prof. Thomas Weise, head of the "Institute of Computer Science" at Hefei University, visited our university. This followed an initial meeting between Prof. Weise and Prof. Worlitz in Shanghai in April 2019. In Görlitz, detailed discussions were held with the faculty management regarding the planned program. Students from Hefei University will come to Görlitz to study after their sixth semester at Hefei University. They will then be enrolled in the third semester of the computer science course and complete their studies in Görlitz. A prerequisite for studying in Germany is, in addition to proof of successful completion of all examinations, sufficient knowledge of German. These are acquired at the language school in Hefei.

Furthermore, it was agreed to intensify the cooperation in the fields of AI and big data.