Alberta-OWL Consortium: HSBI brings together Canadian students and companies in the region – more internship offers wanted!

Bielefeld (hsbi). Rattling quietly, the roller shutter closes. The long hall becomes dim, almost dark. Then a headlight comes on and the other end of the hall shows a shadowy outline. “Now, that at least is working.” Neil Fider is pleased. The headlight is actually a projector and an important part of a test set-up. The hall belongs to Technische Prüf- und Überwachungsgesellschaft (TPÜ) and is located in Paderborn. Here, Neil Fider is currently completing an eight-month internship, which was arranged by HSBI. To be more precise, by the International Office, as the Mechanical Engineering student has travelled to Paderborn from Edmonton, Canada, for his internship. “For me, an internship abroad is a great way to gain experience in a completely new environment,” the student says.

HSBI’s International Office offers study AND internship places for students from Canada

At his home university, the University of Alberta, the 20-year-old learned about the Alberta-OWL Consortium, a cooperation established in 2018 between the network of East Westphalian universities (which includes TH OWL, Bielefeld University and Paderborn University in addition to HSBI) and four Canadian universities in Edmonton, Alberta (University of Alberta, MacEwan University, Concordia University of Edmonton and Northern Alberta Institute of Technology), coordinated by the Campus OWL liaison office in New York.  “In addition to study places, we also offer internships with us in-house and in collaboration with regional companies. For this, we benefit from the large existing network of industry partners that HSBI has, and there is great interest from the Canadian partners and students in internship opportunities,” says Vanessa Schaut from the International Office of HSBI who is responsible for organising the internships offered by HSBI as part of the consortium.

When TPÜ’s managing director Marcus Berg heard of the project, he immediately decided that the company would take part. He had already gained positive experiences cooperating with HSBI in the work-integrated bachelor’s degree study Mechanical Engineering. To him, hosting and supervising interns is part of his social responsibility as an entrepreneur. And even more so in the international context, as the exchange programme is based on reciprocity: “If we offer study and internship places, we can in turn send just as many students to Canada,” Vanessa Schaut explains. And Berg adds: “The exchange participants will then return with international experience. This is good for the region, and what is good for the region is good for us as a company.”

Pioneer work in making road users more visible at dusk and in darkness

Marcus Berg feels that supervising interns also has direct benefits: “Thanks to them, we can work on projects that we don’t have time for in our daily business or that don’t immediately pay off economically.” Projects like that of Heinrich Meyer who started working at TPÜ during his work-integrated studies at Fachhochschule Bielefeld, as HSBI was then called, then went on to work at the company as a test engineer and is currently pursuing a master’s degree part-time. For his master thesis, he is investigating road users’ response capabilities in twilight and darkness. “I am interested to find out how much the perception of objects changes at night,” Meyer explains. This is important, for example, when experts assess accidents. “Their assessment includes questions such as, could the driver have seen the pedestrian earlier and thus prevented the accident?” Experts’ assessments often have serious consequences; they can even result in a prison sentence for the person who caused the accident.

However, as Meyer discovered, “the current assessment model is actually still based on studies that were carried out on behalf of the US military during World War II.” And these studies have weaknesses, too, starting with the expected response time of six seconds. “In a real accident, there is often only half a second left to react,” says Marcus Berg, an expert himself. Heinrich Meyer thus decided to create a new basis and to collect data according to realistic parameters. “I have developed a special eye test for twilight, so to speak,” Meyer explains. And this is where intern Neil Fider comes into play.

Intern writes the software for the test at TPÜ

While Meyer defined the visual tasks for the test subjects and created a catalogue of requirements for the computer, the student wrote the software for the test set-up and installed the hardware. That is precisely why he decided to work as an intern at TPÜ: “I was particularly interested in the opportunity to do research.” In his first month at the company, this meant he had to learn how to programme. “That was a completely new experience for me,” Fider says. He slowly got the hang of it, tested, modified and at last programmed the software to generate the various visual tasks. Neil Fider switches on the projector, which promptly projects the corresponding images onto the wall. Heinrich Meyer is happy: “Now we only need the test subjects.”

Neil Fider particularly likes the way of working at TPÜ: “Here I can work in a more independent and self-organised way than, for example, in group projects at the university.” This even made it possible for him to realise two of his own projects at TPÜ. Talking to the Canadian, it becomes evident that he feels very comfortable in the company, not least because of the excellent work-life balance. “Dr. Berg not only taught me important skills and techniques for research, but also encouraged me to immerse myself in the culture of the country.” The student thus took the opportunity to travel across the whole republic and became a fan of Deutsche Bahn. He laughs. “Often too late or on strike, but unbeatable when it comes to comfort.”

TPÜ is prepared to share its knowledge with interested companies through the internship

In the company, Neil Fider’s colleagues took care of his cultural education. When Heinrich Meyer noticed that he brought sandwiches to work each day, he introduced him to all kinds of German bread without hesitation. With success: “I miss the German bakeries already. I have tried so many different varieties of baked goods and I am always surprised at how delicious all of them are,” raves Fider, who will return to Canada in May. “Of course, the company must be prepared to look after the international interns a little more closely,” says Marcus Berg. “But it’s worth it.” Heinrich Meyer nods in agreement. “We make contacts that last beyond the internship, improve our own English skills and gain international experience at home.”

Marcus Berg is convinced of the possibilities offered by the Alberta-OWL Consortium: “I can only recommend other companies to participate.” As Neil Fider was already the second intern who came to TPÜ through the Consortium, Marcus Berg would be happy to share his experiences in personal conversations. “I think we may have found solutions to all bureaucratic and tax pitfalls and hurdles,” he says. That is why TPÜ has already engaged the next intern from Canada: he will replace Neil Fider in May. (uh)

 For more photographic material, please contact presse@hsbi.de.