Girls' Day at the European Campus

29.4.2022 | DIT Public Relations

"Masculine" or "feminine" professions or just a profession you enjoy? On Girls' Day on 28 April at the European Campus Rottal-Inn (ECRI), around 50 schoolgirls got a taste of typically "male" occupational fields. The day was held under the motto of sustainability, a focus of ECRI.

For Girls' Day, schoolgirls from the Pfarrkirchen high school and the Pfarrkirchen secondary school came to the campus to spend a morning learning about various aspects that are usually reserved for boys. The young women were welcomed by Andrea Ebertseder from the university's MINT team and the ECRI Women's Representative, Prof. Dr. Michelle Cummings-Koether. Afterwards, the schoolgirls met five English-speaking female students who had themselves decided to study in the STEM field. They then accompanied the students throughout the day.

In small groups, the participants explored the laboratories on campus through hands-on experiments. In two of the labs, a knowledge of English was necessary, because the lessons at ECRI are actually held in English. In the sustainability lab, the focus was on supply chains and the origin of individual components of a smartphone. In the DigiHealth & Smart Tourism Lab, they programmed a Cosmo robot. The Chemistry Lab was about energy production and the Electronics Lab was all about the heat pump. The laboratory for healthy and sustainable building simulated the course of the sun in the sky, which can be used to determine the heat requirements of a house.

The schoolgirls had no fear of contact on Girls' Day. On the contrary, they were happy to have the opportunity to meet female laboratory engineers, architects or students at ECRI. This shows them that they as women can work in such professions just as well and that others have already done it before them, says Graciette. For the high school student, divisions into "male" and "female" professions are outdated anyway, because all that matters is that it's fun. It doesn't matter whether it's technology, IT, mathematics or something else entirely.

Bild (ECRI / DIT): Ready for "male" professions - the schoolgirls at Girls' Day at the ECRI Campus