Social advancement thanks to education

The world-wide known Indian educationalist and mathematician Anand Kumar presented his “Super 30”-project within a delegation visit at TU Chemnitz on December 1st, 2015

Education is the key not only to individual social advancement but also to the enhancement of the cohesion of society and to economic prosperity of a country. Based also on own experiences made, the world-wide known educationalist and mathematician Anand Kumar enables highly-talented but deprived pupils in his home country thanks to a special program offered by the “Ramanujan School of Mathematics“ founded by himself at Patna a concentrated preparation for the entrance examination to the prestigious Indian Institutes of Technology. The designation of the program, “Super 30”, had not been chosen arbitrarily but stands for the opportunity for 30 pupils carefully selected every year since 2002 to be trained on the subject area of mathematics without paying costs for board and lodging and to participate in the entrance examination very successfully. The fact that 308 out of 360 pupils have passed this examination within the years 2003 to 2014 and that they were able to start impressing professional careers after successful completion of their studies speaks for itself. It should be emphasized that the “Super 30”-program is financed without external funding and support but only from fee incomes of the “Ramanujan School of Mathematics“.

For this reason, it was a great honor that Anand Kumar also visited TU Chemnitz, where an impressive share of the entire number of Indian students at Saxony are enrolled, on December 1st, 2015, within a tour around Saxony organized by the Saxon State Ministry for Higher Education, Research and the Arts (SMWK). Initially, Anand Kumar, who was accompanied by the Head of the Division “Universities and Academies of Arts and Music” of the SMWK, Dr. Walter Kühme, was welcomed by the Chancellor of TU Chemnitz, Eberhard Alles, to whom he presented his project and was given an overview of the opportunities for studies, teaching and research at TU Chemnitz. As a present, the Chancellor handed over an art calendar to the guest, created by the Center for Teacher Training, in order to remind him of the university now and in the new year.

Subsequently, Anand Kumar visited the Faculty of Mathematics of TU Chemnitz where he was welcomed by the Vice-Dean for Teaching, Prof. Dr. Roland Herzog, who provided him with a comprehensive insight into the profile of the faculty, selected research and student projects as well as contents of courses. In the context of his own program, the guest was particularly interested in the offer “LernIRAUM for Mathematics” providing students of different subjects the opportunity to deal with mathematical topics in order to mutually support each other in the further enhancement of their academic performance.

This introduction to the Faculty of Mathematics was followed by a discussion of the delegation with students and PhD students from India at TU Chemnitz. Those were very impressed of the “Super 30”-project and an intensive conversation between the participants evolved, among others regarding the visions of Anand Kumar, the (nearly completely positive) experiences made by the Indian students and PhD students at TU Chemnitz as well as their recommendations for pupils and students in India who are interested in coming over for studies in Germany. At the end of his visit to Chemnitz, Anand Kumar finally had the opportunity to take a look at the Christmas Market.

As results from this visit, potential links between the “Super 30”-program and TU Chemnitz will be examined with a special focus on opportunities for interested graduates to take up studies at TU Chemnitz. A highly promising start was set by this visit.

(Author: Dr. Wolfgang Lambrecht, Head of the International Office)

Katharina Thehos
07.12.2015

All "University News" articles