South Tyrol and back
Students of the Elite Graduate Program ”Bavarian Graduate School of Computational Engineering" (BGCE) attend interdisciplinary courses of Ferienakademie each year. This summer school takes pace in South Tyrol and is organised by the Technical University of Munich, by FAU Erlangen-Nuremberg and by the University of Stuttgart. The broad program of Ferienakademie is a perfect fit for BGCE’s interdisciplinary curriculum.
The Concept of Ferienakademie
The Ferienakademie has been organised since 1984. The concept is similar to the summer acadamies of the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes and is – as tells the name – a combination of holidays and academy: Excellent and highly motivated students shall be given the opportunity to get in contact with both interesting research topics and their fellow students and professors across locations and disciplines. The Sarntal valley north of Bolzano in South Tyrol has proven to be a loyal host for Ferienakademie and provides perfect conditions in an idyllic environment.
In 2022 – as in previous years – Ferienakademie also offered an interesting program. Participants of Ferienakademie come from varying disciplines and from three different university locations: Munich, Erlangen and Stuttgart. Exactly this mixture renders courses so interesting because each location has a different focus and, thus, enriches the perception of the same problem.

Experiences in 2022
Each year, there are typically three courses of Ferienakademie that focus on computational simulations of phenomena of Physics or Engineering Sciences; such simulations are the core topics of BGCE. In 2022, these courses were:
• Course 4: Deep Learning in Computational Science and Engineering
• Course 5: Let's play! Simulated Physics for Games
• Course 9: Computational Medical Imaging
In autumn 2023, there will again be an interesting program available at Ferienakademie. The organisers and lecturers are already looking forward to the diverse field of participants and experiences.
Text: Tobias Neckel, Coordinator of the Elite Graduate Program "Bavarian Graduate School of Computational Engineering"