Project 5050 – embarking on a cross-disciplinary Ukrainian-German learning experience

Building on the experience gained and with the participation of researchers and faculty members from TUBAF and Dnipro National Technical University who contributed to the recently completed TUBAFdigital project EdUp, a follow-up Project 5050 is now underway: It is an experimental, multidisciplinary learning format that brings together faculty and students from the fields of geosciences, history and marketing. During the project, students conduct research on the shared history of Dnipro National Technical University and the Technical University Bergakademie Freiberg.

This partnership developed particularly strongly in the field of geosciences: It is documented that this began around 130 years ago, when professors from Freiberg participated in the geoscientific exploration of iron ores and the establishment of mining companies in the Dnipro region. Today’s DniproTech was founded as a higher mining school in 1899. Even back then, there was a lively exchange, with students from Dnipro coming to the TU Bergakademie Freiberg for courses. In 1904, the future professor Joseph Tanatar was one of the first graduates of the Dnipro Mining School. He, too, went to Germany to pursue a doctorate, first to Freiberg and later to Munich. Back in Ukraine, he founded influential scientific institutions dedicated to the research of iron ores, uranium, and other metals, whose offshoots and successor institutions still exist today.

Having nearly fallen into oblivion, these long-standing connections are now being revived in a new form: After teachers from both universities worked closely together last year to develop joint hybrid courses, (LINK EDUP), they have now decided to embark on a multidisciplinary ‘cross-over’ teaching project. The instructors are experts from the fields of geosciences, marketing and journalism, history, and academic/technical English.

Two study formats are combined for optimum project results: A Collaborative Online International Learning phase (COIL), extended by a Blended Intensive Programme (BIP). This means that most of the work takes place online, while selected teachers and students from DniproTech visit TU Bergakademie Freiberg in person to carry out specific tasks.

On April 16, 2026, the project was launched with a hybrid kick-off meeting attended by all participating faculty and students. Over the next seven weeks, they will work on various aspects of the project within the framework of four work packages: researching the scientific legacy of Joseph Tanatar, archival science and the digitization of archival records, the “blowpipe” method, and the development of a dissemination strategy and an exhibition that summarizes all the results and presents them to the public. Thereby, we aim to highlight and celebrate the longstanding partnership between Freiberg and Dnipro. 

At TUBAF, the course is embedded into a technical English module, underscoring the goal of using English classes not just to learn a language but to make international connections with English as a Lingua Franca: As such, Project 5050 is part of COIL-Eng, a StIL Freiraum 2026 Project that aims to use COILs to strengthen collaborations and internationalization within TUBAF itself, as well as with its partner universities. TUBAFdigital supports the project in terms of content and organization in the development of the results and the organization of the exhibition, as well as in organizing study visits to Freiberg for the participating Ukrainian students and researchers.