New at TU Ilmenau: Studying international master's programs online

With the introduction of the online formats of the three degree programs, Professor Jens Müller, Vice President for International Affairs and Transfer, wants to help shape the digital transformation of higher education in the long term: "I see the introduction of the online degree programs not only against the background of the pandemic. Also in terms of the University’s goals of innovation, internationalization and digitization, all course contents are digitized, i.e. modernized, with new teaching concepts." In the course of this process TU Ilmenau uses the latest technologies, including a social virtual reality application that allows students to interact virtually with each other and with their lecturers. "In solely virtual study environments, the development of community, which is so important for young people during their studies, is otherwise quickly lost," says Prof. Müller.

The virtual environment developed at TU Ilmenau consists of an experimental lecture hall, a seminar room, a meeting room and a project and laboratory room. The virtual lab space will allow students to gain important hands-on experience remotely in their engineering courses, which previously required on-site attendance. Prof. Müller is convinced that the additional option of taking classes online will have a permanent place in the academic world even after the pandemic: "However, this also requires students to enter with a good level of self-motivation and to organize their studies, but we anticipate that this will be the case – as our experience in the pandemic has taught us for the past year." The transition to online studies is made easier for students of TU Ilmenau via the University’s we4you service, which offers specialist advice and sociocultural support.

The degree programs Micro- and Nanotechnologies and Communications and Signal Processing facilitate a new generation of engineers

With the digitization of the engineering master's degree programs Micro- and Nanotechnologies and Communications and Signal Processing (both Master of Science), TU Ilmenau trains a new generation of engineers. Students no longer have to be on site to operate complex laboratory equipment; this is now possible remotely. The career prospects on the international job market for both degree programs are excellent: Graduates of the Micro- and Nanotechnologies degree program work in areas of microelectronics, microsystems engineering and nanotechnology, sensor technology, measurement technology and medical technology. Graduates of the Communications and Signal Processing degree program have excellent job prospects in research and development of modern information and communication systems, in algorithm design and analysis, in system design including antenna and radio frequency electronics, in the analysis of large amounts of data and in the verification of theoretical results via measurements.

The degree program Media and Communication Science: Interdisciplinarity, interculturality and virtual reality