On Friday, 24 May 2019, a group of 5 students from the Institute for Mineral Processing Machines attended the 8th fellows meet-up of the AMUND Fördertechnik GmbH in Rheinberg. In addition to the current scholarship holders of the TU Bergakademie Freiberg, an alumni of the TU Berlin as well as further scholars of the Koblenz University of Applied Sciences – under the direction of Prof. Detlev Borstell – took part in the meeting.
After a warm welcome by Katja Jüngst from the Franz-Walter Aumund Foundation, who as of late also coordinates the numerous activities for intercultural exchange within the AUMUND Group, Franz-Walter Aumund – executive partner of the AUMUND Group – and Reiner Furthmann, managing director of technology of the AUMUND Fördertechnik GmbH, discussed opportunities and risks for internationally operating medium-sized companies according to the “Risk Map 2019” of the Corporate Trust Business Risk & Crisis Management GmbH.
In this context, Mr. Aumund placed particular emphasis on the need to differentiate between investment security based on objective criteria on the one hand, and individually “perceived” security with regard to business development in different countries on the other. Although the map pointed to high investment risks in some countries, Mr. Aumund asserted to have never felt personally threatened in the many countries he has hitherto visited. He rather encourages business for mutual benefit as an important way to initiate positive future developments.
Afterwards, Marie Georg and Yanic Caspar – 2 students from the Koblenz University of Applied Sciences – gave a report on their exchange semester in South Africa at the Durban University of Technology, which was also financially supported by the Franz-Walter Aumund Foundation. Their insightful elaborations threw light on the noticeable differences in study conditions as well as life as a whole they had experienced abroad compared to their familiar surroundings in Koblenz. Most notably, a visit paid to the home village of one of their lecturers some 70 km away from Durban together with about 30 other German students left them with a lasting impression.
After lunch, a subsequent tour of the production and engineering design department of the AUMUND Fördertechnik GmbH followed, during which the participants received an interesting inside view into the product development of the internationally operating family business. In a concluding workshop, constructive ideas for future business start-ups were gathered by means of group brainstorming. Thereby, the students from Koblenz and Freiberg also got to know each other a little bit better.
Please check the linked website for more information on the AUMUND scholarship program of the TU Bergakademie Freiberg.