Double degree in Aalen and Shanghai is comingStudents at Aalen University will have new opportunities to study abroad from winter semester 2025/26
Demonstration of autonomous driving at the Chinese-German University of Applied Sciences (CDHAW). Photo: © Aalen University | Prof. Dr. Ingmar Geiger
Aalen University's Industrial Engineering and Management program has recently become an official program member of the Chinese-German University of Applied Sciences (CDHAW) at Tongji University in Shanghai. This means that students of the Faculty of Business Administration and Economics can easily spend a semester or an entire year abroad, including an additional Bachelor's degree from Tongji University, starting next winter semester.
Tongji University is one of China's universities of excellence and is particularly known for its renowned faculties of engineering and economics. Starting next year, it will offer not only prospective industrial engineers from Aalen University, but also students from different economic fields the opportunity to complete either an exchange semester with lectures in English and German or the double degree program. The latter includes a second semester in which students complete an internship, typically at a German company, in the region and write their Bachelor's thesis at the CDHAW at the same time. The CDHAW recently celebrated its 20th anniversary, so the program structures are well established and the participating students receive sound support in various respects.
Aalen University's participation in the CDHAW program was initiated by Prof. Dr. Ingmar Geiger, Professor of Industrial Engineering and Management and also the study abroad advisor for his degree program. As a junior professor at the Free University of Berlin, Geiger already organized double degree programs in China. “This enabled us to create this opportunity for students from our faculty at Tongji University in Shanghai fast - only a few months passed between the idea of applying and the official admission,” explained Geiger.
The Sino-German University at Tongji University in Shanghai was founded in 2004 by the education ministries of China and Germany. In addition to the university, its sponsors include the German University Consortium for International Cooperation (DHIK), which is an association of 37 universities that jointly run exchange and double degree programs at foreign universities. The cooperation is funded by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD).