Study trip 2019

The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) organized and funded this Study Visit to the Federal Republic of Germany on September 30th through October 11th, 2019. This trip had 19 graduate and undergraduate students participating from the Department of Architectural Engineering at Mansoura University, Tanta University, and Kafr-Elsheikh University, under the Supervision of participant professors. The group of participants included 8 undergraduate students and 7 graduate students. For the entire group, this study trip was unique because it was an opportunity to engage on a scholarly and practical level, while experiencing first-hand the realities of Germany in light of the theoretical foundations that students have received in architecture, planning, sustainable urbanism, technology, scientific research, and development. The students had the opportunity to not only attend lectures and workshops, but to engage with some of Germany’s leading experts on a myriad of issues surrounding architecture and urban planning in Bauhaus, TU Berlin, and HCU. The group also had the occasion to participate in intellectual discourses with experts who spoke of the architectural advances and potentials of academic cooperation and exchange between Mansoura University, Tanta University, Kafr-Elsheikh University and German Academic institutions. During their eleven days stay, the students spent time visiting institutions and remarkable sites with specific architectural importance; and yet the trip was not devoid of fun filled activities with students visiting tourist sites and engaging in cultural/heritage activities in Hamburg, Berlin, and Dessau. Overall the feedback from this trip has been remarkable, with students having a clearer understanding of the German advancement in fields of architecture and sustainable urbanism, but more than that, students have a clearer and more accurate understanding and interpretation of the German culture and realities. It is clear that the trip offered not only a learning opportunity that provided a deeper understanding of the German conceptions and board experience in many fields, but also inspired the students towards working – and, as a result, developing a spirit of mutual cooperation with TU Berlin and HCU for future academic exchange projects, Masters and PhD dissertations, and other cultural, educational and scientific initiatives derived from the themes and issues we shared and focused in the debates and discussions.