What do cars, x-rays, and MP3s have in common? They were all first engineered in Germany! Today, Germany is one of the leading export countries of machinery and technology. This elite status is primarily owed to the German phenomenon “Der Mittelstand”. The Mittelstand refers to the wide range of small to medium-sized enterprises that form almost 99% of all German companies, making them the heart of the German economy!

As products increase in their technological complexity, companies could choose to specialize in a part of some product’s value chain. One company could provide only logistical solutions, for example, aiding other companies in completing their end product. And that’s how the Mittelstand contributes to the variety of value chains, both on the local and global level!

In our yearly Summer School, students from all over the world can learn more about German engineering business. We break down it into three major components:

• Science: engineering and science lectures taught by the university’s faculty members;
• Business: daily visits to successful small and medium-sized companies around the region of North Rhine-Westphalia;
• Culture: cultural and intellectual aspects of the German engineering business, planned excursions, get-togethers, and leisure activities.

The Summer School is held in English and usually conducted during two weeks in July. We invite to apply everyone around the world, who is enrolled at university at the time of the program.