MINT-EC Anniversary and Conference of School Principals Online on November 06, 2020

Berlin, 06.11.2020. Teachers from 332 high schools in Germany met at the virtual principals' meeting of MINT-EC to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the national Excellence School Network and to exchange ideas on current educational topics that were discussed in 36 virtual workshops. In addition to 20 schools in Germany newly admitted to the network, GISW was the only German school abroad to be included. Thomas Saueressig from SAP (Systems, Applications, and Data Processing) and Prof. Christian Drosten from the Charité Berlin delivered the keynote speeches.

To mark its 20th anniversary, the national Excellence School Network MINT-EC invited principals and selected teachers to an anniversary event as part of the first virtual conference of school principals. On November 6 at 8 a.m. the digital gates were opened for representatives of the invited schools and institutions from science and business.

"The great strength of MINT-EC is the combination of excellent and committed schools on the one hand and the many active partners and sponsors from business and science on the other hand, who have been making challenging MINT programs possible time and again for two decades," said Wolfgang Gollub, Chairman of the Board of MINT-EC.

The program included a new feature: an educational and school concept market took place in a virtual schoolyard, where participants could inform themselves and exchange information on teaching tools and methods. In addition, many exciting workshops were offered; from "Learning with YouTube" to "From Space to the Classroom", these workshops were designed to  inspire independent use of modern media in the classroom.

To celebrate the twentieth anniversary year, 21 schools were also ceremoniously admitted to the school network which now comprises 332 member schools, i.e. approximately ten percent of all German high schools. The application of the German International School Washington DC convinced the expert jury in this year's selection process with an outstanding MINT profile, qualifying it for inclusion in the national excellence school network MINT-EC.

The 332 certified schools benefit from the network's top tier support programs and innovative events. Thus, MINT-EC schools are authorized to award the MINT-EC certificate, endorsed by the Conference of Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs (KMK). This recognition highlights the MINT commitment of students throughout their school careers. It offers universities and business enterprises a reliable classification of student performance that is independent of the school systems of the federal states. In addition, MINT-EC supports the networking of schools among themselves as well as with companies and scientific institutions.

The virtual anniversary event was sponsored by Gesamtmetall and its initiative THINK ING, Siemens Stiftung, Dr. Hans Riegel-Stiftung, Hasso-Plattner-Institut, TU Freiberg and Deutsche Gesellschaft für zerstörungsfreie Prüfung.