Excursions

For around 15 years, the Faculty of Life Sciences has been organising international field trips with students. Matthias Kleinke, Professor of Environmental Engineering, talks about wolves in the Carpathians, Dijon mustard and the question of why, decades later, people tend to remember a field trip more than a lecture.

Mr Kleinke, the Faculty’s first international field trip took place around 15 years ago in France, followed by trips to Poland, Romania, Russia, Kyrgyzstan and Benin, amongst other destinations. Why go to all this trouble?

At an international university like ours, we want to show both German and international students agricultural systems and forms of land use that we simply cannot demonstrate here in the Lower Rhine region. Particularly in the first ten years, we deliberately chose destinations that aren’t on the typical holiday list – partly because the whole thing had to remain affordable. It was never about going to Mallorca simply because it’s a lovely place. If, instead, you go to the Polish Carpathians, you’ll see how relaxed the people there are about wolves. There’s a lot to be learnt from that for the debate in Germany too.

Originally, these were purely agricultural excursions. Who’s coming along today?

We now involve as many degree programmes from the faculty as possible, from Bachelor’s to Master’s level, and are open to students from other faculties. This is hugely enriching: a social science or engineering perspective brings a completely different angle to agricultural topics. At first, the students are puzzled: “What on earth are those students from the other degree programme actually doing?” – and then a genuine interest in one another develops.

After Benin last year, we went back to France this time. Why?

We wanted a destination that was closer and easily accessible using our own resources, but which still offered a completely different environment. Even the flora and fauna are different on the Mediterranean coast, and this gives rise to entirely different agricultural systems. Added to this were the contacts that individual colleagues had in the region. And it brought things full circle: that’s exactly where our very first field trip took us 15 years ago.

The programme included visits to research institutes, as well as a mustard production facility near Dijon, a small mirabelle plum distillery in Lorraine and markets in Provence. What is the principle behind how you put the itinerary together?

We want to showcase the entire value chain: from primary agricultural production through processing to marketing. Everyone knows Dijon mustard, but seeing how it is turned into a finished product is a valuable experience. At the farmers’ markets, you then see what the farms sell directly. And at the mirabelle plum farm, we witnessed first-hand what drives a family-run business to the brink of despair today – from voles to red tape. An excursion isn’t just a leisurely day out. And at the faculty we don’t just look at agriculture, but land use as a whole – which is why the Camargue, with its nature and landscape conservation, is also part of the picture.

Trips like these cost time, money and patience. Why should the university keep them going?

Because field trips are an integral part of the curriculum at a university of applied sciences. Understanding comes from grasping – „Begreifen kommt von Greifen“, as the German saying goes: you have to have seen things to truly take them on board. I don’t mind if, at some point, someone has forgotten what was covered in the sixth session of my lecture. I know from my own time as a student what I still remember to this day: the field trips. Our aim is for students to still look back fondly on this week, even 30 years from now.