Internationalisierung vor Ort

Ein amerikanischer Gastprofessor an der TU Berlin

Im Zeitalter der Globalisierung wird die internationale Ausrichtung des Studiums immer wichtiger. Das zeigt die gegenwärtige Diskussion um die Einrichtung von Bachelor- und Masterstudiengängen besonders deutlich. Viele Universitäten beginnen jedoch auch im Kleinen mit der Internationalisierung des Studiums vor Ort, so auch die TU Berlin, die im Wintersemester 1999/2000 erstmalig eine englischsprachige Vorlesung im Pflichtbereich angeboten hat. Welche Probleme entstehen und welche Vorteile es hat, wenn beim Versuch der Internationalisierung verschiedene Lern- und Lehrkulturen aufeinandertreffen, zeigen die folgenden Beiträge.

Der Professor

Prof. Ronald P. Danner war in diesem Semester Gastprofessor am Fachbereich Verfahrenstechnik, Umwelttechnik und Werkstoffwissenschaften der TU Berlin. Er hat an der Lehigh Universität in Pennsylvania, USA, studiert und dort sein Bachelor, Master und PhD degree in Chemical Engineering erworben. Anschließend arbeitete er einige Jahre für die Firma Eastman Kodak Company in Rochester, New York. Seit etwa dreißig Jahren lehrt Ronald Danner Chemical Engineering an der Penn State University in Pennsylvania. Er ist dort Professor und Kodirektor des Center for the Study of Polymer Solvent Systems. Sein Forschungsschwerpunkt sind die ökologischen und gesundheitlichen Probleme, die von Plastik ausgelöst werden. An Berlin gefällt Professor Danner das vielseitige kulturelle Angebot; das schlechte Novemberwetter und den dichten Verkehr schätzt er weniger. TU intern fragte Prof. Danner nach seinen Erfahrungen mit deutschen Studierenden und dem hiesigen Universitätssystem.

What are your personal experiences with German students. In which way are they different from American students?

I say that students are the same the world over. That there are good students, there are poor students, there are motivated students, there are lazy students. And I think that German students have this whole spectrum of behaviour or patterns that I observe in American students.

What are in your opinion the differences between the German and the American university system?

I told my students in class that I think just what I told you: that students are very similar but the system has left them down. That the expectations are not high enough. We all react to the expectations that are put on us by our parents when we are younger, or society when we are older, or the boss when we are in a job position. And here, somehow, the system does not expect the students to finish quickly. They are not expected to interact directely with their professors in their classes, they do not typically answer questions, they don't do a lot of homework in classes and projects. I think that when I teach at Penn State, first of all we expect the students to be very interactive and keep up with the material on a daily basis, so that when I go to class I know what level of understanding they gained, where we are as a group, and we move through the material with a better understanding and more interaction.

Where do you think these things come from? Is it the German university system or is it the personal education?

I think it's the whole spectrum of those things, the cultural and general. First of all, the students here don't have to pay. So the motivation isn't there to get done quickly and efficiently. When you are paying fifteen thousand dollars a year to go to school you know you or your parents are going to want it done quickly. But it's also the fact that the expectation is different: the faculty expects different things from the students. Sometimes people tell me: "Well you know we give our students freedom. This makes them more mature.” And I think that is just not correct. Our students are just as mature. No one makes them do the homework, no one makes them come to the lecture anymore than someone makes your students take the exam or come to the lectures. It's just what's expected and they can decide not to do it.

It is true that most of our students start university when they are seventeen or eighteen. They typically finish in four to four-and-a-half years. So they'll be ready for their first real job at a time when they are twenty-one or twenty-two years old. Here the men have that year of social service or military service. They have these work periods and are supposed to go to internships and then they have the Studienarbeit and Diplomarbeit which I think are not bad, but one has to question whether their value is worth it in terms of the fact that the students are twenty-eight to thirty years old before they're ready to join the workforce.

If you take a look at students' life, at campus life, how does that differ?

I think that at Penn State and at most American universities there is a lot more social life on campus. There tend to be a lot more residents. At Penn State particularily we are a small town so the students either live right on campus or in privately owned flats very close to campus. There is a lot of their social life which is oriented towards things which go on through the university sponsorship, whether it be some kind of party activities or social life, and we have a strong fraternity system. It has also a lot to do with the athletic teams of the university: football, soccer, baseball, basketball.

If you compare the two systems again - the American and the German - which system do you prefer?

I certainly prefer the American system. I think the students become part of the chemical engineering family by the time they're in their third year of their studies. They are very close to each other. They know each other. I think teaching is more fun in the American system because of the interaction. Personally, I worked very hard to get my students to interact: I gave them awards, I gave them Penn State pencils if they would ask a question in my class. To just give a lecture to a group of people who are just sitting there sort of absorbing I do not find invigorating.

This term you give the lecture on thermodynamics. The lecture is given in English and according to an American model. What does that mean and what is specific about American classes?

First let me tell you something about the students' responses all throughout the course when I would ask them: "How are things going?” Without exception they would say: "The English is no problem, but the thermodynamics is”, and that's true everywhere I teach thermodynamics. The difference in terms of the American system would be that I tried to get more interaction with the students and I would have liked to have them do more homework. I think the German students are used to more theoretical problems. They are not used to seeing applied problems and so I did a lot of applications in the class. Rather than just teach the basics I tried to show them where and how it's going to be used, which is sort of the American system. From the very first semester the students come to us we give them a little course that shows them application.

I also find that students here are much less computer literate than the students at Penn State. From the very first semester they come to Penn State, they are expected to start using computers for the solution of problems. By the time they are in the third course semester they use them for almost everything. I know the students here use word processing and they know how to get on the net, but when it comes to using computational tools they do not have nearly the level of expertise that our students would have at that point.

Das Gespräch führte Mirjam Kaplow