Sunday, June 10, 2012

Studying at the Hochschule Darmstadt, Germany


A brief introduction to Hochschule Darmstadt


Starting from Summer Semester 2012, I am pursuing a Master's degree in Optical Engineering and Image Processing at the Hochschule Darmstadt (another Hessian public university of applied sciences).


HS Darmstadt [1]
HS Darmstadt, or 'h_da' as the college uses it commercially, is situated in the city Darmstadt, just south of the metropolis Frankfurt am Main.


As usual, students here are entitled to use the transportations of the RMV within its region. From Darmstadt in the south, up to Marburg in the north of Hesse, as well as from Hanau in the east to Mainz (in the state Rheinland-Pfalz) in the west. In other words, just like the rest of the students in Hesse, mobility is easy for them.


Malaysian students at the h_da


Currently there are 3 Malaysian students at this college, including me myself. The other 2 (ladies) are students under the scholarship of Yayasan Telekom Malaysia, a foundation of Malaysian telecommunication consortium. Both are studying electrical engineering.

So far there has been only 1 known Malaysian graduate from this college, who has studied mechanical engineering and was a scholar of the JPA/PSD.


Courses available at the h_da


Under this adress one can find the whole list of courses taught at the h_da:
Studienangebot der HS Darmstadt

Optotechnik und Bildverarbeitung at the h_da


Here I would like to highlight the course which I am currently taking. Firstly I will tell you, how I jumped into this field due to my experiences during my undergraduate studies.

I am a graduate of mechatronics engineering and during the last phases of my studies in mechatronics, I took an elective subject - Industrialle Bildverarbeitung (industrial image processing). From that subject I took a keen interest in this field, hence agreed to take a project (Projektarbeit), which was compulsory and of which the theme was a simple image analysis (Bilderkennung). From this project I looked further to search a theme with digital image processing for my final thesis (Diplomarbeit), which landed me an attachment at the German firm Werth Messtechnik GmbH in Giessen. At the end of my thesis I had realized that I need proper trainings, lessons or courses in image processing, if this field is what I want to do for my professional job, hence the master course in the h_da.

This course is an engineering discipline in the industrial and research field in optical technologies. The Optotechnik (optical engineering) covers optical metrology, laser technology and classical technical optics including its modern elements such as microoptics, illuminations and fiber optics. Meanwhile, Bildverarbeitung (image processing), also known as machine vision, combines illuminations, image acquisition and the processing of image datas for technical and scientifical applications. [2]

I can name a few examples of the application of image processing, used in scenes in 2 Hollywood films:

1) letters/pattern recognition which was featured in the recently released film Mission Impossible IV (Ghost Protocol): the early scene involved face recognition.

2) length/height measurement - featured in the film The Italian Job (2003): from the traffic camera at the streets, the tyres of the security trucks with the gold are measured from the captured images.

Applying for a placement

Generally among the uni. of applied sciences in Germany, for the intake Summer Semester (SS) every year, usually the closing date of applications is July 15, whereas for Winter Semester (WS) it is January 15.

Those closing dates may seem to cause a predicament for applicants who will get their test results (A-Levels, Test DaF, DSH etc.) AFTER the dates. Nevertheless, to my knowledge, applicants CAN still send their forms for courses, which are NOT classified as Numerus Clausus (NC). NC-courses, such as medicine, are considered critical for Germany and applications for them are strictly limited.

Should you prefer to apply ahead of the deadline, I would recommend you to prepare your documents with some support/statement letter(s), which states that your test result (e.g. German language test) is pending. I would say, your applications might be accepted and you get your placement, but eventually you MUST show your original test result/certificate upon immatriculation/registration day. Immatriculation or registration day does NOT mean the first day of the lectures.

At this link, you can find your way to apply online for a placement at h_da:

Online application for Hochschule Darmstadt







Sources/Quellen:


[1] Brigitte Zypries [SPD], Darmstadt - Studieren in Darmstadt
[2] Optotechnik und Bildverarbeitung, Fachbereich MN, HS Darmstadt

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