If you think back to your school days, you may remember the math Olympiads, reading or drawing competitions. The Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences has been organizing such a competition since 1995, but the content is all about current, voltage, coils and capacitors. The participants calculate circuits using resistors and physical phenomena with magnetic fields. Pupils from the upper school classes register for the Olympiad via their physics teachers.

The Olympiad is organized on a cross-border basis. Each year, 20 pupils from Poland, the Czech Republic and Germany compete against each other. Girls also regularly take part. In Germany, the participants are determined by an exam. This is written at the same time in various grammar schools and technical colleges. This gives the pupils a taste of the final round, which is held at the university in the large lecture hall of the Peter-Dierich-Haus.

It is difficult for the university to organize such an event without support. The VDE Bezirksverein Dresden e.V. is providing the students with non-cash prizes worth EUR 1000. In previous years, the  winner received a notebook, tablet or PC, for example. The first ten places are thus rewarded with technical items. The  Sparkasse Oberlausitz-Niederschlesien regularly supports the overall event in order to ensure that it is appropriately organized. Cooperation with the Zittau Vocational School Center is also of particular importance. The school organizes a buffet for the award ceremony in the Bürgersaal of the town hall and provides the service around the catering for the participants at the award ceremony. The music school in Varnsdorf (CZ) will provide the musical entertainment with its big band.

The Olympiad, which will take place on March 21, 2015, will be prepared by three workshops. The students will meet at the university to measure and experiment in laboratories where the students will also complete their practical units for the lectures. These events also provide an opportunity for students to live out their technical curiosity. In addition to laboratory set-ups, there are also facilities that are available in practice, for example in substations or high-voltage lines.
The Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science wishes the participants in the Olympiad every success, both in the preparation and in the actual exam.