MUSCAT To learn more about Germany, the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) sponsors a study-trip to Germany for a group of GUtech Foundation Year and BSC 1^st year students. For three weeks the group of 15 GUtech students will stay in the city of Aachen and visit GUtech’s parent university RWTH Aachen University. They will study the language, meet German students and professors from RWTH Aachen University. “This year 15 students were chosen out of 53 applicants,” said Dr. Nicola Huson, Representative of the DAAD in Oman and German lecturer at GUtech.

For the third consecutive year the DAAD is sponsoring the study-trip for GUtech students. “The decision about who will participate has been taken according to their overall performance in the IELTS English exams at the end of the Foundation-Year, the grade point average, the student’s personal motivation and their impression given in front of the GUtech selection team,” said Dr. Huson.

The main goal of the visit is to get an idea about Germany. “The students will study German in the mornings at the German Language Center of RWTH Aachen University and visit the departments of their study programmes at the university. In the afternoons, they will have courses including an Omani-German cooking lesson and a sightseeing programme around the city of Aachen and their neighboring cities,” said Dr. Huson.

GUtech’s partner-university, RWTH Aachen University is located in the center of Aachen, which is close to the city of Cologne. The prestigious RWTH Aachen University was founded 140 years ago. Currently about 30,000 students are studying at RWTH Aachen University, which is one of the leading Universities of Technology in Europe. Today RWTH Aachen is a member of the prestigious IDEA league, a network of leading Universities of Technology in Europe.

Since the city of Aachen is located close to the boarder of Belgium and the Netherlands, the students will make trips to Amsterdam, Maastricht and Bruxelles. For most of the students this will be the first time to visit Germany. “In our preparations, we have mentioned that they have to prepare their luggage according to the cool weather in Germany,” said Huson.

DAAD is one of the world’s largest and most respected intermediary organizations in the field of academic exchange. Every year the organization sponsors about 60,000 foreign and German academics. DAAD promotes more than 200 programmes in Germany, ranging from short-term student exchanges for research or teaching purposes to doctoral scholarships lasting several years. Ends