 |
| Courtesy
of BTU |
| This
building is one of two new annexes at BTU designed by the
architecture graduate students and staff. Features include
a tree-lined courtyard and external spiral staircase. |
Architecture
School sets up exchange program with German university
By
Marita Mueller
In
September, four U.Va. architecture students and four students
from the Brandenburg University of Technology-Cottbus in eastern
Germany will cross the Atlantic Ocean to study at each other’s
university for a semester in a new study-abroad program.
“In
architecture — perhaps even more than in other fields —
it is extremely important to have a wider perspective and to have
gained some idea of how people think in other countries and other
cultures,” said Leo Schmidt, dean of Brandenburg University
(BTU-Cottbus), in a recent visit to U.Va. “Going to Charlottesville
or Cottbus for a term will be a valuable experience — not
only for the students directly involved in this program, but also
for all the others with whom they will meet and collaborate at
their host university.”
U.Va.’s
architecture dean,
Karen Van Lengen, said the architecture school decided to establish
the exchange program with BTU because of “the growing and
prominent reputation of Cottbus as one of Germany’s premier
institutions. In addition we have several highly respected colleagues,
Inken Baller and Heinz Nagler, in particular, with whom we feel
confident in structuring this program. And finally, BTU teaches
several courses in English, which makes the exchange more accessible
to our students who normally do not speak German.”
 The
deans of both schools signed a contract last month assuring that
both schools will recognize their students’ work.
BTU
is about 70 miles southeast of Berlin and has 4,500 students,
120 professors and another 300 assistant professors. The university
is just 10 years old and replaced a former engineering school.
The campus is a mixture of old and new buildings.
The
city in the eastern part of the country has 110,000 inhabitants
and is still experiencing many changes after the reunification
of Germany. U.Va. students will find there are two big issues
for the city of Cottbus and its surroundings. First, there is
considerable interest in preserving historic buildings, as well
as in designing new architecture within the context of existing
buildings.
Second,
renewal of the landscape is of major concern. The government of
the former East Germany didn’t pay attention to recultivating
what is now devastated land, after great swaths were dug and scraped
for open-pit coal mining. A variety of research groups at Cottbus
are dealing with all the problems caused by such exploitation.
It is a task that involves not just urban and regional planners
and architects, but several other disciplines as well: land-use
and landscape experts, engineers and environmental scientists.
The
biggest obstacle in arranging the study-abroad exchange was the
difference in each school’s academic schedule. Unlike U.Va.,
the fall semester at BTU starts in October and ends in mid-February,
and the spring semester runs from April until mid-July. The American
students will begin their semester at BTU by participating in
an international building exposition in the region around Cottbus.
At U.Va., the German students will enroll in the regularly scheduled
semester. There is a lot of interest in visiting the United States,
but the German students might be surprised to find Charlottesville
more of a town than a big city full of skyscrapers, a notion many
Europeans have about this country.
Students
will pay their tuition and fees at their home university as usual.
Without that arrangement, no Germans would be able to participate
— students pay only $100 per year at German universities.
Add to that the effect of a strong U.S. dollar vis-à-vis
the German mark, and the cost would be prohibitive.
A
CD-ROM with two English films about academic study and research
at BTU-Cottbus are available from Roger Sherry, assistant to the
Architecture School dean, in Campbell Hall.
Marita
Mueller is head of the public relations office at BTU and teaches
the World Heritage Studies course. She spent some time at U.Va.
with the University Relations office.
For
information (in English & German), see the BTU-Cottbus International
Academic Office: www.tu-cottbus.de/BTU/home.html
Internet
links to the courses taught in English at BTU:
Building
& Conservation
World
Heritage Studies
Environmental
and Resource Study
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