50 years after graduating, a group of communications engineers return to Fachhochschule Dortmund. Just in time for the university's 50th anniversary. Their faculty of communications engineering no longer exists, but the alumni remember some of the rooms and corridors on their tour of today's laboratories and workshops.
When Harald Tomio and his fellow students began their studies, Fachhochschule Dortmund did not yet exist. It was founded in 1971, when the budding communications engineers, who had started their training at the state engineering school, were almost finished. In 1972, they were among the first alumni of the still young Fachhochschule Dortmund. 50 years later, they are back - and promptly find themselves in a lecture.
Lecture and lab tour
"I do what I like to do best: I teach," says Prof. Dr. Frank Gustrau, Dean of the Faculty of Information Technology, the successor to the Department of Communications Engineering. Frank Gustrau has a mobile phone base antenna with him and explains in clear terms how it works and why the short circuit has no effect. He talks about phase shifting. The former graduates nod with interest. They have brought their partners to this meeting. Back then - 50 years ago - there were no female students on their study program. Things are different today. "In biomedical engineering, we now have 50 percent female students," reports Frank Gustrau.
The Dean and his predecessor, Prof. Dr. Norbert Wißing, give the alumni a tour of the faculty, workshops and laboratories. "Is there still a lot of soldering here?" one of them wants to know. "Rather rarely." The components they work with today have become much smaller. Software plays a major role. Instead of "Graduate Engineer", the degrees are now called Bachelor's and Master's degrees and cooperative doctorates are also possible. "Research here is now very intensive, but application-oriented," reports former Dean Norbert Wißing. He himself started studying at Fachhochschule Dortmund 50 years ago, as one of the first new students after it was founded.
End of communications technology in 2003
But not everything is new. The practical relevance in teaching has remained. Alumni can also remember some of the corridors and rooms.
The Faculty of Communications Engineering existed until 2003, when it merged with the Faculty of Electrical Engineering to form the Faculty of Information and Electrical Engineering. In 2017, the engineering sciences were reorganized: Electrical Engineering became a separate faculty again, the Faculty of Automotive Engineering was assigned to the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and the new Faculty of Information Technology was founded with the new Biomedical Engineering study program.
