At the 2017 Summer School at Burgos, Offenburg students attended English lectures, an introductory Spanish language course and company visits, as for example to Hiperbaric, an industrial plant builder, and the research institute Instituto Tecnológico de Castilla y León. Cultural events and excursions were organized, too, as for example a visit of the Museo de la Evolución Humana and of a typical Spanish "Bodega."

The students were accompanied by Offenburg's Vice Rector, Professor Anne Najderek, and Professor Thomas Baumgärtler, Vice Dean of the Department of Business Administration and Industrial Engineering, who has been in close contact with the Spanish university for a long time and proposed it as a partner for the Summer School. Promoting the internationalization of studying and teaching at both institutions, the German-Spanish exchange took place for the third time this year.

Najderek and Baumgärtler are convinced that initiatives like this are essential in preparing students for a professional future in which non-technical skills, such as foreign-language and intercultural competencies, play an increasingly important role.