Some observant BITSians may have noticed a new building behind FD-2. This building is the new workshop and is being used by students partaking in the Indo-German Center for Sustainable Manufacturing. Started in 2008 and funded by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), this cooperation has had a total of 67 students from Technische Universitat Braunschweig (TU-B) and BITS Pilani travel to each other’s country to foster Indo-German collaboration. Several projects are under this cooperation, including the current Joint Indo-German Experience Lab (JInGEL) which aims to provide hands-on experience to aspiring Mechanical engineers.

JInGEL was conceived in order to provide practical experience of industrial environments to undergraduate mechanical engineers – something that was sorely missing. Its aim is to solve the issue by recreating the “Experience Lab” of TU-B. The lab reproduces essential features of manufacturing processes. Each module of this lab duplicates a specific element of a process. Hence, students can complement their knowledge with the experience of work in an industrial environment. In Pilani, the lab is being developed by German students while BITSians have travelled to Braunschweig to work on the German Lab. Once completed, 3rd year and final year students will learn in this lab.

The vanguard of the collaboration, Patricia Egede, came to Pilani in June 2010 to work on her Masters’ thesis. After completing her thesis and returning to Germany, she started working at the lab at TU-B and became responsible for Indian activities. During her second stay at Pilani, beginning in October 2011, she held several workshops and participated in the International Conference on Sustainable Manufacturing. Currently there are six students from TU-B on campus who are all working on the Experience Lab.

The press spoke to three of these students – Steffen Korber, Jan-Phillipp Kues, and Andreas Wulf – about their projects and experiences on campus. The focus of Steffen’s work was to make the Experience Lab ready for teaching students sustainable manufacturing. ‘I designed diverse working modes which have different energy efficiencies and have to be optimized by the students. To quantify these optimized modes, I created a system that can measure the energy and compressed air use’, he remarked. While the practical aspects were covered by Steffen, Jan worked on the pedagogy. ‘I attended multiple lectures to glean the style of the instructors. Using what I learnt, I worked on integrating the material taught in classes with its application in the Experience Lab.’ As a psychology student, Andreas had work that greatly differed from those of his colleagues. Since students in the lab will work in groups, he was tasked with soft skills training in areas such as communication, and goal and time management.

When asked about their stay and expectations of Pilani, they had the following to say. Steffen recalled that he came to Pilani without any expectations to avoid disappointment. Having seen no photos of the campus, he was pleasantly surprised by the greenery compared to many German universities, which are concrete jungles. ‘In Braunschweig, the campus is not walled and merges into the rest the city. This leads to a lackluster social life within the campus and a dearth of student activities, which is in stark contrast to what I have observed in Pilani’ added Steffen. ‘My main concern was the food. My friends categorically stated that the food would be too spicy for my taste. However, the food at VFAST exceeded my expectations with the idli and its gravy being the only dish too hot for me’ said Jan. ‘My mother was very nervous because her little son was going to India. To placate her, we toured the campus through Google Street View which only exacerbated the problem. The outdated images showed dusty roads and derelict buildings; the New Academic Block was nowhere to be seen. Now that I’m here it is clear that her worries were unfounded’ Andreas jovially mentioned. Jan later added that another difference between BITS and TU-B lies in the handling of lecture slides. While in BITS lecture slides are becoming scarce resources, in TU-B they are uploaded prior to the start of the course by the professors. Hence, students can carry a copy of the slides with them on their laptops and add any extra notes that aren’t covered in the slides.

Currently, only students of Manufacturing, Mechanical, and General Studies can take part in the program. The person in charge, Professor K.S. Sangwan, hopes to open the program up to students of EEE and EnI as well. Furthermore, there are plans to start a Masters’ program in Mechanical Engineering in which students will study a year each at BITS and TU-B – an ambitious plan which will hopefully come to fruition soon.