Deutsch
English
Dr. Stephan Röthele is one of the founders of Sympatec GmbH, one of the first spin-outs from Clausthal University of Technology, which has now grown to almost 200 employees after more than 35 years. After a five-year start-up phase, the company has also been economically successful for 30 years and is an important employer in the structurally weak Harz region.
After using up the losses carried forward from the early years and repaying the start-up loans, part of the profit is gratefully returned to the region and Clausthal University of Technology for joint projects.
The community spirit concept follows the motto "Securing foundations - promoting talent".
The company headquarters were built 15 years ago on the former academic sports ground of Clausthal University of Technology and have been steadily expanded since then in line with continuous growth. The mining monuments found here around the famous Caroline and Dorothee mines offer obvious foundations that were and are to be secured. It is the place where the now world-famous wire rope for the former deep pit Caroline was invented by Oberbergrat Albrecht in 1834. Since 2004, two historic perforated stones have been recovered and reinstalled, the historic powder house has been preserved and a visitor mine has been set up to connect the re-excavated Caroline ventilation shaft with the Dorotheer Rösche from the 16th century. The company has been supporting the associated Clausthal Market Church of the Holy Spirit, which also originated from mining, with a foundation for 10 years and has made a significant contribution to its extensive renovation, including the installation of a high-quality Goll organ in this largest wooden church in Europe, one of the most important Baroque architectural monuments in northern Germany.
For 7 years, the church has also been the main venue for the HarzClassixFestival, which sponsors and the company initiated and have been organizing ever since. In addition to the Pulverhaus and the TU auditorium, concerts by internationally renowned artists are held here.
Over time, contacts with Clausthal University of Technology have been expanded to include research and development projects and are also characterized by a strategic exchange for the purpose of finding young talent and promoting students.
The Germany scholarships now also make it possible to reach talented people with whom no professional contacts have yet been established as students (whether as part of their degree, diploma or master's thesis).
The Germany scholarships reach talented people with whom it has not yet been possible to establish professional contacts as students. This was the case for Anton Koshelev. He only came into contact with his sponsor through the Deutschlandstipendium.
Anton Koshelev was born in Moscow in 1996. His mother tongue is Russian. He speaks English and German fluently. He came to Germany in 2018 to enrol on the Master's degree course in Chemistry at Clausthal University of Technology. Previously, he had obtained a double degree in chemistry and industrial engineering at the Russian Technological University (i.e. Lomonosov Moscow State University) in Moscow. He wrote his thesis on the "Production of surface-active oligomeric siloxanes with endamino groups for immunochemical research".
Both the university and the topic were not chosen by chance - since the 9th grade, he had been working towards getting into one of the best chairs at the university: the Chair of Chemistry and Technology of High Molecular Compounds. His scientific research was supported by a contract with the state corporation "Rostec", where he worked as an engineer and spent a year conducting research for his bachelor's thesis, which he subsequently defended with the grade "very good".
He really likes the consecutive Master's program at Clausthal University of Technology, where students have a wide choice of subject combinations, especially the fact that he can decide for himself which area of chemistry he would like to specialize in.
The Germany Scholarship gives him the opportunity to concentrate fully on his studies.
He is currently working on a project at the Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute on a very topical subject: the "Development of a smartphone-based rapid test for the detection of the coronavirus SARS-Cov2".
What motivates Anton Koshelev? What is his next goal?
"Germany is the country of famous chemists such as Karl Ziegler, Adolf von Baeyer, Kurt Alder and others. Strong basic science has produced such chemical corporations as BASF and Bayer, and there are many people who, like me, dream of working there and contributing to the development of society. Only the graduates of the best universities in the country are hired by such companies. I am sure that highly qualified training for students, modern laboratories and financial support from universities guarantee that the doors of the best chemical companies in Germany will open for me."
His sponsor can help him with this. Dr. Röthele's scientific field and the numerous unique selling points of Sympatec GmbH in the measurement of disperse properties are predestined for this.
Jasmin Hoff is still at the beginning of her professional career. She successfully completed her studies in environmental process engineering and recycling in October 2020.
Dr. Stephan Röthele was her contact person and mentor as part of the Deutschlandstipendium. There are professional overlaps between the sponsor and the scholarship holder when it comes to professional sorting and the particle technology aspects of environmental process engineering and recycling, and there are other similarities, such as the fact that both are first-year students in their families. Jasmin Hoff is 27 years old. Her father is an industrial foreman and her mother works as a care worker in a nursing home.
After graduating from high school, Jasmin Hoff decided to complete vocational training as a specialist in recycling and waste management at KreisWirtschaftsBetriebe Goslar.
Her tasks included loading push bows with residual waste using a wheel loader, green maintenance with a scythe and lawnmower, levelling ground surfaces using a caterpillar and the professional sorting and packaging of pollutants. During her apprenticeship, she learned how to assert herself in a rather 'typical male profession'.
Her interest in environmental technology grew and so, after completing her vocational training, she decided to study biotechnology and environmental technology at the Ostfalia University of Applied Sciences in Wolfenbüttel. She received an award from the Zonta Club Salzgitter for outstanding achievements in the very first semester of her Bachelor's degree.
It turned out that studying was the right decision, not only because she has a lot of fun and ambition, but also because, as she says, she was able to broaden her horizons in a completely different way than before. Determined as Jasmin Hoff is, she enrolled on the Master's degree course in Environmental Process Engineering and Recycling at Clausthal University of Technology after completing her Bachelor of Engineering.
It was exactly what she was looking for in a Master's degree course. It also allowed her to study in the region where she lives and get involved in society, for example as a team leader in the confirmation seminar at St. Johannes Goslar parish.
Her next goal is to complete a doctorate at the Institute for Processing, Landfill Technology and Geomechanics at Clausthal University of Technology. The Deutschlandstipendium scholarship and the support of her sponsor will help her get a little closer to this goal.