On 1 July 2010, it was not only the intense heat, but also a wealth of important information from physicists at the University of Oldenburg that made the heads of 45 school leavers from Oldenburg, Bremen, East Frisia, Emsland, Oldenburg Münsterland and Osnabrück spin. Professors, doctoral candidates and students from the Institute of Physics informed the fresh school leavers about studying, research and the requirements in the subject of physics at the University of Oldenburg. "Physicists can expect the best opportunities on the labour market after a successful degree," promised Prof. Dr Dr Birger Kollmeier, Head of the Department of Medical Physics and initiator of the workshop. The demand for well-trained physicists is far greater than the number of graduates and the majority of them are satisfied with their academic appointments and pay, he said.
The enthusiasm for physics was also evident in the stories told by the students, who reported on why they decided to study in Oldenburg and how they were able to overcome obstacles in terms of content, particularly with the help of fellow students and lecturers. Important factors were: the Institute is manageable, there is a family atmosphere, there is no distance to the professors, the equipment in the laboratories is excellent, there is a wide selection of forward-looking research focuses and housing is not that expensive. But physics students in Oldenburg don't miss out on partying either! It was precisely this information that was important for the A-level students. Their biggest concern was assessing their own abilities: "Can I even manage to study physics?" The informal discussions between the young adults and the (prospective) physicists centred on questions about the requirements for studying and the prerequisites that should be brought along. The participants were given an insight into the research focus of the Institute of Physics at the University of Oldenburg during guided tours of various laboratories. They cooled down in the wind tunnel of the wind energy research centre ForWind and learned about the challenges of turbulence research. Others got their first taste of the production of thin-film photovoltaic modules at EWE's NEXT ENERGY research centre or learned about the performance of human hearing on a guided tour of the Hörgarten at The Haus des Hörens. All the impressions were shared at a barbecue in the evening. And for most of the A-level students, the doubts they had brought with them had now been dispelled: "The professors are much more approachable than I would have thought," marvelled one of the young men. Some of the school leavers were relieved that it was now clear to them that studying physics at the University of Oldenburg would be the next step in their lives after school.