Children’s University

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Welcome to the Kids’ University at Kempten University of Applied Sciences!

We warmly invite children to attend four university lectures each semester held especially for them. The topics cover a very broad spectrum – history, natural science, politics, law, mechanical engineering, to name just a few. The professors and lecturers carefully tailor their talks to suit this special audience to ensure the enquiring young minds can enjoy, get drawn in and fully understand the lectures.
Professor Arnulf Deinzer launched the Children’s University in 2005. Since then, some 6,000 children have had the chance to tackle all sorts of exciting questions in science and research in depth.

Summer Semester 2023 kicks off on 23 March, with four exciting lectures in store. You can explore the full programme by downloading the flyer .

Who can attend?

Any schoolchild aged eight to twelve years old who’s interested is warmly invited to come for a taste of the academic world of Kempten University of Applied Sciences and attend our Children’s University lectures.

Where are the lectures held?

They’re all held in our biggest, state-of-the-art lecture theatre at Kempten University of Applied Sciences – the Thomas Dachser Auditorium, known for short as the “Audimax”. It can hold 350 children at a time and is entered via the foyer in Building V.

Is it like going to university for real?

Each child is issued a Kids’ University student ID on their fist visit, which is then stamped before every lecture. Anyone who attends all four lectures in a semester even earns an authentic Kids’ University Completion Certificate at the last one.
There is currently no need to sign up for them. Children can also attend on a one-off basis. Admission is free of charge.

What subjects have been covered in the past?

You can browse previous Kids’ University lectures in our list of topics.

Dates and topics

23 March 2023: How are sounds and noises created in video games?

Speaker: Sebastian Kern, Kempten University of Applied Sciences

What’s this? An adventurer is running along a gravel path in between trees, the wind is rustling the leaves, and a mill is creaking around on the cliff above her. How do all the notes, footsteps, rustling leaves and creaking of the mill come about? How are these noises incorporated into video games, bringing the whole world of adventure to life? We will watch a scene from a video game without any sound and think what we need to bring the game to life. Then, we will record sounds, edit them and add them to the game, before watching the scene again with all the audio effects.

27 April 2023: Do aliens exist? Searching for life in space.

Speaker: Professor Thomas Eimüller, Kempten University of Applied Sciences

What’s this? Do other beings actually exist in outer space? Are there really little green aliens on Mars – and if so, how are we supposed to communicate with them? After all, we don’t speak “Martian”. As an extraterrestrial detective, you will accompany Professor Eimüller through our solar system, discovering foreign planets orbiting distant stars, and you’ll be amazed to discover how incredibly big the universe is. So huge, in fact, that we humans can hardly be the only living beings … and yet also so immense that it would be easier for us to find a needle in a haystack than encounter other life forms in the universe. However, we extraterrestrial detectives don’t give up that easily …

11 May 2023: How do we actually calculate increasing prices and inflation?

Speaker: Professor Dr Roland Jeske, Kempten University of Applied Sciences

What’s this? Right now, we can see prices rising all around us – at petrol stations, in supermarkets, in all aspects of our lives. But how do we actually identify increases in the costs of goods and services? Official statistics reveal typical prices increases with what’s known as the “consumer price index”. But how is this figure calculated when the amount by which everyday products get more expensive obviously varies, and above all considering that we buy different things more or less frequently? Professor Roland Jeske will be explaining in an understandable way how the consumer price index is worked out, what information it includes, and the kinds of problems that the calculation presents.

15 June 2023: Kids and grown-ups love it so...

Speaker: Professor Frank Oerthel and Professor Uwe Stratmann at Kempten University of Applied Sciences

What’s this? … the happy world of Haribo! Why do we like buying products by certain specific manufacturers, and what do brands have to do with our feelings? We have absorbed many brands so completely that we subconsciously prefer them to others, and we’re somehow happier consuming these products than others. In fact, we even use some brand names in our everyday language – “Can you pass me the Sellotape?” or “I really fancy a Coke”. How does this come about? And what’s happening to us without us realising? Professor Oerthel and Professor Stratmann will show you from a marketing perspective which processes take place in our minds, how companies use psychology for advertising and sales, and how brands get the better of us every now and again.

Start & running times for Children's University lectures

Lectures always start at 4 p.m. and last around 45 minutes in total.
Admission is free of charge.
There is currently no need to sign up for them. Children can also attend on a one-off basis. This information is subject to change.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact:

Alexandra Fichtl
University Communications Department

or
Professor Arnulf Deinzer