Five universities revolutionize the MINT entry for International!

Five universities revolutionize the MINT entry for International!

In an exciting turn, five universities in Germany have won the Mint Challenge International, which aims to facilitate international students from the so-called MINT subjects (mathematics, computer science, natural and technical sciences). This initiative was launched in cooperation between the Stifterverband and the Fritz Henkel Foundation and marks an important step to combat the shortage of skilled workers in these central areas

The Minthallenge came about to address the large gap in the German labor market, which is currently almost 290,000 specialists. The universities are now faced with the task of improving the integration experience of international students and effectively integrating them into German society and the labor market.

The winning projects

The competitive jury has chosen five innovative projects that pursue different approaches to support international students. These projects not only offer language courses and social integration opportunities, but also practical support to make it easier to get started with the German labor market. An example of this is the implementation of Thinkathons, in which international students can develop solutions for specific challenges together with companies.

• Technical University of Brandenburg : "Frauencafé for international students"
• Technical University of Chemnitz : "Career Coach"
• Technical University of Dortmund : "International career fair at the TU Dortmund"
• Technical University of Dresden : "Thinktuon - Integration of international students into the German labor market through thinkathons"
• Reutlingen University of Applied Sciences : "Designing Your Mint Studies & Work-Life @ Tec Reutlingen Group coaching program"

Each of these projects receives a funding of 5,000 euros to support their implementation. The implementation of these ideas begins in November, where the universities will intensively deal with external experts in a workshop phase to develop their approaches.

The overarching goal of this initiative is to integrate more international MINT graduates into the German labor market and thus make a significant contribution to reducing the workers. The various actors from the education system, business and civil society work together on creative solutions and strategies.

The Mint Challenge is part of the more comprehensive “future mission to education”, which aims to create an education system that meets the dynamic requirements of the modern world. This mission is supported by the Alliance for MINT specialists who are specifically dealing with the challenges in the education and work areas.

Concrete information about the Minthallenge International and the funded projects can be found on the website of the Stifterverband here .