Print Media Technologies: Whom the Course Is for Interview with Volker Jansen and Gunter Hübner
In 2018, Hochschule der Medien Stuttgart has launched their English-language Print Media Technologies program in an effort to get more high-school graduates into the international printing industry.
Header picture: © Hochschule der Medien Stuttgart
As you already know, we at drupa care deeply about the entire printing industry. From industry veterans to tech start-ups, we provide a platform for all parties within the printing industry with our trade fair and are also involved in many other fields. And to ensure that this can continue in the long term, we have been committed to promoting young talent for many years.
In this context, we recently established a collaboration with the Hochschule der Medien in Stuttgart, which launched the course Print Media Technologies (PMT) in 2018, which is taught in English language. The aim is to provide young people with practical training that will prepare them for entering the globalized printing industry.
We met with two of the PMT-professors Gunter Hübner and Volker Jansen (course director) for an interview. The first part is dedicated to the question for whom the Print Media Technologies course is relevant.
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Gunter Hübner (left) & Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Volker Jansen (right)
drupa: Why should high school graduates choose the Print Media Technologies course?
Hübner: An important factor here is internationality. The English-language bachelor’s degree course in Print Media Technologies allows people from all continents to study at the Stuttgart Media University (Hochschule der Medien). This enables a technical course in an international environment that not only offers students to work with the latest technologies but also promotes intercultural communication skills. The program has a technical center at its disposal which is equipped with the latest technology and thus offers a first class environment for learning.
Jansen: We also attach particular importance to a future-oriented educational program. The strategic goals of the Print Media Technologies course include the training of specialists and managers who can operate in an international environment and the use of new forms of teaching and examination that support the acquisition of key professional qualifications within the framework of internationally operating business fields. The operational goals consist primarily of imparting subject-specific skills for independent problem-solving, promoting young engineers for the print and packaging printing industry and promoting academic education at an international level. The media-specific fields of expertise are divided into four future-oriented areas:
- Pre-Media
Graphic Media Design, Digital Photography, Pre-Press, CGI, Web Design, Programming, 3D – CAD and Multi-Channel Production - Print Technologies
Variable Data Printing, Packaging and Industrial Printing, Media Production, Rapid Prototyping (3D Printing) - Post Press und Finishing
Post Press Technologies, Technical Product Design, Finishing, Surface Decoration, Coating Technologies - International Management
Innovation Management, International Corporate Planning, Supply Chain Management, International Law, Human Resources, Project Planning, etc.
There is a good reason why the Print Media Technologies course is held entirely in English: the print industry is more international than almost any other industry. The English-language orientation of the course not only prepares students for their future careers in the global market, it also promotes important intercultural communication. All students who have opted for the program and whose native language is not German are required to learn German during their studies. German students in turn are required to learn Spanish so that all Print Media Technologies students are trilingual after completing their studies.
drupa: Many of your students are digital natives or Generation Z: Do the course contents depend on their media usage behavior and technical affinity?
Hübner: The challenge of the new Print Media Technologies course lies in prioritizing relevant media technology content that will occupy a prominent position in the international future. In addition we focus on fields like pre-media technologies, this includes content such as additive manufacturing processes, aka. 3D printing, variable data printing systems, especially in the areas of industrial printing with the respective workflow solutions, functional printing technologies, such as printed electronics and post press technologies. Media usage behavior in 2040 will differ significantly from current usage. For this reason, the course focuses primarily on these key enabling technologies that will play an important role in the future.
drupa: How important are industry events, like drupa, for students?
Jansen: According to the structural and development plan, the university’s goal is to consistently strengthen and promote internationalization. This endeavour is based on two pillars: on the one hand, the Hochschule der Medien is obliged to position itself in the international university and research landscape; on the other hand, it must do justice to the globalization in the media sectors.
Hübner: If you take the idea of the globalized media industry further, drupa is the most important international trade fair for the industry, allowing international students to make industrial contacts all over the world.
drupa: Networking or trend scouting: What should students who have the opportunity to visit drupa 2020 not miss?
Hübner: We advise our students to focus primarily on media production with variable data, such as inkjet systems, rapid prototyping in 3D printing, post press technologies and surface decoration.
Jansen: Two other exciting topics for our students are industrial printing applications and multi-channel production.
In the second part of the interview with Gunter Hübner and Volker Jansen from the Hochschule der Medien, everything revolves around the contents of the course Print Media Technologies. Said interview is going to be published here soon.
Until then, we want to know: Do you know of any similar universities or are you perhaps even thinking of enrolling in the program?
