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Digitality in school life: Awards for the Würzburger Dolmetscher Schule (Würzburg School of Interpreting)

In 2019, the Würzburg Interpreting School was awarded the title of "Digital School" and "STEM-friendly School" in the presence of Bavarian Digital Minister Dorothea Bär in Munich. In 2022, recertification for a further three years was due, which WDS passed very successfully in both categories.

WDS DIGITAL

WDS has been teaching in notebook classes since 2010. Using the latest job-related software in a multimedia environment, our students train in business communication and multilingual translation.

In our new space at Paradeplatz, which we moved into in June 2020, every classroom has multimedia equipment that many schools could only wish for - 65" digital screens, WLAN projectors with 3x2m projection surfaces, visualisers, electrically height-adjustable teacher desks, surround microphones for live streams in distance learning. Each teacher can store the teaching material centrally in the school network and access it from every classroom, and a MOODLE learning management system with video conferencing system, electronic grade overview, lifelong email address and daily updated timetable - also smartphone-compatible - form the technical backbone of the multimedia concept. In addition, each student is permanently in possession of a personal notebook with professionally relevant software installed.

WDS STEM

STEM stands for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. As a STEM-friendly school, we build a bridge to future professions in the fields of telemedicine, speech recognition and artificial intelligence with scientific-technical or economic subject profiles.

Again and again we are asked what STEM has to do with languages - they are "irreconcilable" opposites. The explanation lies in our "specialist fields", in which we have specialised. We train technical translations English/German and German/English in the natural sciences (especially texts from the fields of pharmacy and medicine), and in cooperation with the Würzburg University of Applied Sciences we also offer the subject area of technology. No previous subject knowledge is required at the beginning of the course, and we do STEM without a single mathematical calculation - after all, as you know, we are all about language. And the subject of computer science comes naturally through the regular work with databases, which you have to master as a professional translator, for example - only mathematics does not feature in our courses.

This is how we approach the topic of STEM from the linguistic side - and what emerges are career prospects in the field of speech recognition - artificial intelligence - telemedicine - patent applications in the research field - scientific congresses. In these fields of the future, there is always a need for specialists who can combine linguistic sensitivity with foreign language knowledge and technical knowledge as well as confidence in working with databases.In the meantime, almost two thirds of our first-year students choose to study natural sciences. And one point should not be forgotten: About 70 per cent of our language students are female, and especially in the STEM field, the advancement of women is very important.

Closer cooperation in planning

With the recertification as a "Digital School" and as a "STEM-friendly School", WDS continues to be among the 10 percent of German schools that are leaders in these two future fields. We are working on new projects to further extend our lead. Currently, we are planning closer cooperation in the STEM area with the departments of psychology and medicine at the University of Würzburg as well as with regional STEM grammar schools. You can find more information about our school concept here.

Gender equality is one of the principles of our organisation. In this respect, linguistic equality is of essential importance. To ensure the non-discriminatory use of language use, we use – wherever possible – personal designations in texts that include all genders and gender identities. Accidental deviations do not imply any intention to discriminate.