HAWK professor Dr Christoph Gerhard made initial contact while still a student

Publishing Date: 05.04.2023

The first contact between Christoph Gerhard, now Professor of Physics and Instrumental Analytics at the Göttingen Faculty of Engineering and Health at HAWK, and the French university Institut d'Optique Graduate School (IOGS) near Paris came about during his student days at HAWK University of Applied Sciences and Arts Hildesheim/Holzminden/Göttingen. The partnership between the institutions began in 2012, and for the past seven years Gerhard has also regularly lectured there on the production of optical glasses and components.

Every year, the HAWK professor and his students come a decisive step closer to the goal of the Erasmus+ programme, which is to promote the modernisation, internationalisation and qualitative improvement of higher education in Europe. In the course of the cooperation between HAWK and IOGS, quite a few students have already been able to complete a semester abroad or an internship at the respective partner institution.

The contact with IOGS dates back to 2005, when Gerhard, as a HAWK student of precision manufacturing technology, worked as an intern in Palaiseau, the location of IOGS, and also wrote his diploma thesis there. This was followed by six years in which he was regularly on site as a guest lecturer as part of foreign language teaching. The cooperation was initiated at the time by Prof. Christoph Gerhard, who has been in charge of the Erasmus exchange programme for the faculty since its beginnings in 2012.

 

This was Gerhard's seventh time as an Erasmus lecturer at IOGS. Since 2017, he has been teaching the course "Manufacturing of Optical Glasses and Components" in English as part of the teaching exchange programme. This course takes place in the third semester of the Master's programme "Optique/Photonique" with nin weekly lecture hours. With a separate final examination, it represents a partial achievement of the compulsory module "Conception Avancée des Systèmes Optiques" (Advanced Design of Optical Systems) in one of the Master's degree programmes offered at IOGS.

Erasmus exchange at the HAWK Faculty of Engineering and Health

"Just as the patron saint of the probably best-known EU programme, Erasmus of Rotterdam, lived and taught in various European countries, including England, France or Italy, we at HAWK also want to live the idea of the programme and take it to our European partner universities with and for our students," says Gerhard, describing the faculty's commitment to the Erasmus+ programme. Within the framework of the EU exchange programme, IOGS is one of currently eleven partner universities of the HAWK Faculty of Engineering and Health in Göttingen. Prof. Gerhard has already been involved in the Erasmus+ exchange programme of the European Union in various countries for several years.

The Institut d'Optique Graduate School

The IOGS, also known in France as École Supérieure d'Optique, Graduate School of Optics, was founded in 1917 and is affiliated to the Université Paris-Saclay. It is the most renowned French university in the field of optical technologies and currently educates around 450 students. In addition to teaching, which is carried out by a total of 250 lecturers, more than 120 permanent scientists also conduct research here - including Dr. Alain Aspect, one of the three Nobel Prize winners for physics in 2022.

 

Contact

Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Christoph Gerhard
Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Christoph Gerhard
Physik und Instrumentelle Analytik
Faculty of Engineering and Health
  • +49/551/3705-220
  • +49/551/3705-200220
  • Von-Ossietzky-Straße 99
    (Room GÖC_219)
    37085 Göttingen