Keeping a Clear Head In Spite of Tiring Studies

”Stress (be gone) after Bologna!“ The 2009 Karlsruhe Stress Days that will take place at KIT from November 2 to 5 will focus on the consequences of the studies reform. The days are organized by the KIT House of Competence (HoC) and will offer courses on personal resource management for students and members of staff as well as expert workshops. In addition, new technical developments to measure stress will be presented.

Major topics and offers of the Stress Days will be presented by HoC at a press conference on Monday, November 2, 12.30 to 13.00 hrs at HoC (Straße am Forum 3, building 30.96, seminar room, ground floor). “The Stress Days will reflect the variety of approaches to dealing with this issue”, underlines Dr. Michael Stolle, director of HoC. Scientific approaches as well as prospects of practical stress management will be highlighted. Moreover, a new stress measurement technique developed by KIT will be presented. “In times of Bologna and the excellence competition, stress management is more important than ever. At the HoC, we can actually combine research, teaching, and innovation, as is illustrated by the newly developed stress guard for the measurement of stress”, adds Stolle.

Apart from the wide scope of workshops and seminars for KIT students and staff members, two expert symposiums on “Stress and strain of bachelor students” and “Stress in everyday life - innovative measurement methods and their use” will take place. The Body&Mind Monitoring Lab will open its doors on Tuesday, November 3, from 16.00 to 18.00 hrs (Fritz-Erler-Straße 1–3, 1st floor). Here, the “hiper.campus” project group, consisting of engineers, sports scientists, psychologists, and educationalists, studies the interaction of body and mind. By measuring and analyzing bio-signals using a sensor system fixed to the body, parameters like the ECG and physical activity are determined. This allows conclusions to be drawn with respect to the physical and psychic state of the test person. It is the objective to increase cognitive performance by observing body signals.  

The consequences of the Bologna reform are subject of a public podium discussion focusing on the question of: ”Examination stress, fears of the future and of failure: Does the implementation of the bachelor and master system aggravate problems during studies?” This discussion will take place on Monday, November 2, 17.30 to 19.30 hrs, at the entrance hall of the Audimax (Straße am Forum 1, building 30.95). The discussion will be moderated by Tanjev Schulz, Süddeutsche Zeitung (Munich). The podium will consist of Professor Jürgen Becker, member of the KIT Board, PD Dr. Ulrich Ebner-Priemer, psychology, KIT, Professor Alexander Krämer, population medicine and biomedical fundamentals (Bielefeld), Sabine Köster, head of the psychotherapeutic office of the Studentenwerk Karlsruhe, Sebastian Maisch, chairman of the UStA Karlsruhe, and Professor Peter Nick, molecular cell biology and dean for biology at KIT. The event will be commented dramaturgically by improvisation actors from Mannheim.

In a stress course, interested persons will find out whether they are quickly feeling stress. The course will be open daily from November 2 to 5, 11.00 to 14.00 hrs, at the entrance hall of the Audimax (Straße am Forum 1, building 30.95). At various stations, the individual stress level can be measured and interested persons may familiarize with methods to reduce stress and new concepts for stress prevention.


The program with seminars, symposiums, workshops, the discussion, and the round-table meeting can be found on the internet at
http://www.hoc.kit.edu/stresstage_2009.php.
The partner of the Karlsruhe Stress Days is the Techniker health insurance company.

The House of Competence (HoC) is the central institution of KIT for competence development and advanced training. Activities focus on complementing and enriching the studies at KIT. It is aimed at conveying key qualifications, offering interdisciplinary training, and rendering advanced training services. The HoC promotes, develops, and evaluates programs that are of crucial importance to modern and motivating studies. Offers of the HoC are complemented by services for the life-long learning of staff members and courses for Ph. D. students. Interdisciplinary research groups contribute new scientific approaches.

Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) is a public corporation and state institution of Baden-Württemberg. It fulfills the mission of a university and the mission of a national research center of the Helmholtz Association. KIT focuses on a knowledge triangle that links the tasks of research, teaching, and innovation.