“As a university of applied sciences, we attach great importance to application-oriented studies, in which our students’ early contact with professional practice is established and promoted.” This is how Prof. Dr. Rolf Klein from the TH Mittelhessen in Friedberg presented the strengths of academic training at “Optatec 2014”. The THM, the Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences and the Rhein-Main University of Applied Sciences presented their potential in the field of optical technologies to the international trade fair audience.

THM was represented at the trade fair, held every two years in Frankfurt, with its Competence Center for Optical Technologies and Systems (OTS). The OTS not only provided information about ongoing research and development work, but also presented the relevant study programme to other exhibitors and visitors. The Technical University of Mittelhessen offers a bachelor's degree programme in Physical Engineering and a master's degree programme in Optotechnology and Image Processing on its Friedberg campus. During Optatec, it cooperated with the other universities in the "Study and Development - Studying Photonics" technology park on a series of lectures in which graduates from Friedberg, Darmstadt, and Wiesbaden spoke to a young audience about their studies and current careers. In addition, schoolchildren were given the opportunity to learn about the technical spectrum of photonics on a guided tour of the trade fair.  

Development engineers from companies used the opportunity to make contacts at the joint stand of the universities in order to win students for internships or projects that can be implemented as part of their theses. For those involved at the THM , this contributed to a very positive balance at the fair, as did the positive response from the students and the inquiries from international companies, which were aimed at cooperation, for example in the Master's course.