“By participating in the CERI-program, I had the opportunity to write my master thesis on modelling the water-steam cycle of a Chinese combined cycle power plant. Besides the good professional cooperation with the Tsinghua BP Clean Energy Research and Education Center I would like to emphasize the open-minded and personal atmosphere.

Tsinghua University in general offered excellent conditions for an interesting stay. On the one hand, highly staffed discussion groups provided excellent insights into current topics from science, business and politics. On the other hand, the leisure time could also be organized well. The campus invited to linger and do sports, whereby I easily got in contact with students from other institutes.

In the academic year 2016/17 I already got familiar with China by taking part in the RWTH – Tsinghua double-master-program. Despite my previous stay, the country surprised me with new facets and impressions again. As a hiking enthusiast I discovered the surrounding area of Beijing with sections of the Great Wall. Due to Beijing’s very good transport connections, I was also able to head even for far destinations for short holidays. China is a country of cultural diversity, so I would like to recommend every future program participant not only to visit metropolises, but also more rural regions. Especially in those regions I had my most intense cultural experiences.”

“One of the topics of my work was the analysis of the Chinese energy sector. This research could have been done in Germany as well, but my stay at Tsinghua University in Peking gave me a better understanding of the enormous dimensions of China as the world’s largest energy consumer. The challenges caused by the numerous megacities and the enormous growth are important topics at the Tsinghua BP Clean Energy Research and Education Center, which presented a very interesting and highly relevant lecture series by various international high ranked politicians and experts during my time at Tsinghua University.

When the air quality was good enough, I did a lot of sports on campus, as there is a wide range of sport facilities. Beijing also offers various opportunities to experience Asian culture in bars and restaurants. I always had contact to German students. During my stay up to 60 RWTH double degree students and many other international students were living on campus of Tsinghua University.”

“I had the opportunity to spend a research stay at Tsinghua University from July to October 2018 as part of the CERI exchange program. During this time, two master students from RWTH Aachen University, a PhD student from Tsinghua University, and I analyzed data from a combined cycle power plant in China. We investigated how steam turbine warm-keeping provides technical and economic benefits for flexible power plant operation. Our results were summarized in a joint scientific publication, which we submitted to an international conference.

In the turbulent city of Beijing, the campus of Tsinghua University feels like a small green oasis. It is easy to move around on your bike and enjoy the numerous on-campus opportunities to do sports, go out for dinner or go shopping. Outside of the campus, a variety of great sights await you in Beijing. It is also easy to travel by high-speed train to Shanghai, Shengyang or other interesting regions in China. In conclusion, the stay in China was a wonderful cultural and professional experience.” 

“As part of the Clean Energy Research Initiative, I stayed at Tsinghua University for six months to work on my master thesis in cooperation with IDKG. My stay abroad was a very positive experience and I can only recommend it on many levels.
From a scientific point of view, in addition to the highly respected work at the BP Clean Energy Research and Education Center, Tsinghua University is characterized by concentrated expertise in multiple fields of competence. On a regular basis, industry representatives hold technical presentations at the university addressing current topics.
I value the collaboration with the Chinese professors and students at the institute because of their kindness and the mutual support while working together. Moreover, I experienced China as a vast, beautiful country with a great variety of cultural features. To immerse in the Chinese culture for a longer period of time, enriched my stay and I can only recommend it to anybody to take this chance!“

“Spending half a year in China was not an easy decision. However, it turned out to be one of the better ones in my life so far. I went to Tsinghua University in March 2017 and stayed there until September to work on my master thesis as part of the CERI exchange program.

China is inherently different from any other place I have visited and I was worried about how I would cope with such a different country and also the fact of not being able to speak the language scared me. However, it turned out that the cultural shock was more of a very pleasant surprise for me. The food is just amazing, the people are all very friendly and helpful and the country itself is beautiful and vast.

My work at the Clean Energy Research Center consisted of gathering and analysing data of a combined cycle power plant as well as creating a computer model of a gas turbine in that power plant. It was a lot of work overall and stressful at first, but as the time went on it became surprisingly easy to work on my project and also experience China and especially Beijing.

I was able to quickly get in contact with people working at the institute, playing basketball or just meeting people in bars in the evening. Getting to know people there was not a problem at all. Together we took many short and a few longer trips around Beijing and China

All in all I can say that this stay in Beijing was maybe the best part of my studies and that I would do it again in a heartbeat.”