University impresses guests

When it was announced in September 2021 that the city of Zittau would be hosting the 23rd Saxon State Harvest Festival in 2022, it quickly became clear that we as a university would be involved!  The first task was to coordinate the various requests for participation and possible offers. To this end, a working group  was set up within the HSZG, made up of representatives from the thematically related faculties of Natural and Environmental Sciences and Mechanical Engineering, the Institute of Process Engineering, Process Automation and Metrology, the LaNDER³ partnership, Environmental Management and Public Relations. Later, the Faculties of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Management and Cultural Studies, Social Sciences, Economics and Industrial Engineering as well as the Education Department and the Senior Citizens' College also joined. In a very constructive and committed collaboration, it was possible to put together a wide range of HSZG activities for the guests of the Landeserntedankfest.

On the first weekend in October, the time had come: many interested guests of all ages visited the Zittau campus during the festival weekend, tried out our hands-on stations and found out about research topics and courses on offer. " It's really very impressive what the university is showing here,"   said one visitor after his tour of the campus. Many children felt the same way and found it hard to tear themselves away from what we had to offer. How good for the parents or grandparents that there was also a pop-up vineyard in House Z IV to match the Thanksgiving theme.

Over 150 visitors also took the opportunity to take a look inside the high-voltage hall. There was a rare opportunity to view the systems directly after the "High Voltage Technology" experimental lectures. Many guests were very interested in the technology and the courses on offer in the field of electrical energy technology.

On Saturday, the Minister of State for Regional Development Thomas Schmidt visited our campus together with a delegation that included District Administrator Stephan Meyer, Lord Mayor Thomas Zenker, the Saxon Harvest Queen and the Saxon Harvest Princess. Despite a tight schedule, the patron of the festival took the time to visit all the stations in House Z IV. Remarkably, this was his second visit to our university this week. In the run-up to the State Harvest Festival, Schmidt took part in the simul+ Innovation Day on the topics of "Energy, circular economy, construction and mobility", which was held on the Zittau campus. After the event, the minister appealed to young people in the region:

Saxony's Minister President Michael Kretschmer also took the opportunity to pay a flying visit to the university on Sunday. A wonderful tribute - also for the many students and staff who took the time this weekend to present our university to the public.

The HSZG's stage program on Saturday evening was also very well received. Under the motto "We live science, we love music - science meets music!", Prof. Jens Weber (Faculty of Natural and Environmental Sciences) and Dr. Clemens Schneider (Fraunhofer IEG Zittau), among others, presented science slam contributions. There was a science quiz, DJ music and German-language acoustic music by the band "Audiolyse" with frontman Felix Rothe (Faculty of Mechanical Engineering).

A highlight on Sunday was the HSZG's participation in the parade in medieval costumes. Around 10,000 people cheered on the various images around the green city ring. The HSZG gummy bears made many children's eyes light up.