Sven Malburg

Sven Malburg studied aerospace engineering at FH Aachen from 1986 to 1991, specialising in aircraft construction. Born in Trier, he has travelled a lot since then and has had a varied professional career. He still feels connected to FH Aachen - so much so that he supported the university with a donation in 2021. We spoke to him and reminisced a little.

How did you come to study aerospace engineering in Aachen?

At school, aircraft construction - or engineering in general - wasn't really an option for me. I wanted to study interior design. A school friend told me at some point during my A-level preparations that he was interested in studying aerospace engineering at FH Aachen. I had never thought about it before, but I was spontaneously interested because flying was still something very special back then. Remember, that was in the 1980s, when the market looked completely different.

When he travelled to Aachen to take a look at the city and the university, I decided to go along and I really liked it there. For the next two months, I weighed up all the possible arguments for and against the two degree programmes in interior design and aircraft construction - and then decided to study at FH Aachen. At that time, there was no numerus clausus for the subject at FH Aachen. My friend and I were able to simply register.

What do you particularly remember from your time as a student?

There are so many things. Even the beginning was nice. The first few weeks were very exciting. We looked for a flat, renovated it and familiarised ourselves with the city and the university. Pontstrasse too, of course - is it still there?

Yes, everything is still there.

That's good. We spent many an evening there. I remember that on some evenings there were really only men in the pubs, there was such a surplus of men among the students in Aachen back then. But fortunately that changed over time. (laughs)

When we started studying, we were divided into groups of 30 to 40 people - there were about 220 of us freshmen - and each group was supervised by a tutor (a student from a higher semester who supports the younger students, the ed.). I still remember our tutor very clearly and he did a great job. He managed to build up a close relationship with us, the people in his group, and above all he did a lot to promote cohesion between the group members. He organised excursions, weekends in the Eifel, evenings together and much more. Yes, he really welded us together. Many deep friendships developed.

Are you still in contact with your former fellow students today?

Oh yes. Especially in the first few years after graduation, we were in very close contact. Immediately after graduation, when everyone was taking the first steps on their career path, it was important to share experiences. Where did this or that person apply? What are the opportunities here and there? There was an intensive exchange. In the years that followed, we spread out across Germany and Europe - I, for example, ended up in Ingolstadt. That's when the contact loosened up. But it never broke off.

On the tenth anniversary of my degree, we met up for a kind of class reunion in Paris. Around 20 people from the old group came together there, including the tutor. We had a great evening and a lovely day together. A short time later, I came back to Aachen for the birthday of a fellow student, where I also met some former fellow students. It's always very exciting at these meetings to find out how the others have developed professionally. I find it particularly interesting that a surprising number of them ended up in jobs that had little or nothing to do with their studies.

Your own career path is also very varied and has very little to do with aviation. What motivated you to take this path?

I was and still am open to new things, and that has always opened up a lot. I finished my studies at a time when money wasn't exactly flowing into aviation in torrents. So the job prospects weren't too good, and many of us had to write a lot of applications. Fortunately, I had written my thesis on CAD drawings and designs at the Jülich Nuclear Research Facility (now the Jülich Research Centre, ed.) with Professor Hans-Josef Cordewiner. Through this connection, I got a job in Jülich after my studies at an engineering office that carried out safety assessments in the nuclear power sector.

I then went through a few more stations. Next, I worked at Black&Decker for about a year, where I developed and set up an internal training programme for the CAD designers. During this time, I met my future wife and the opportunity arose to move to Ingolstadt together. There I initially worked for a small company that offered services for suppliers in the automotive sector. That's how I came into contact with this industry. After a year, in the summer of 1994, I left the company to set up my own business, also as a service provider for suppliers to the automotive industry.

You then founded a second company.

Yes, we have had a considerable shortage of skilled labour in Ingolstadt for quite some time. With Audi and EADS, we have two large employers here that attract thousands of skilled workers every year. However, smaller companies cannot find enough employees. This applies not only to industry, but also to the social sector.

So we had the idea of setting up a company in Romania that would specifically look for skilled workers there and place them here in the Bavarian region. Over time, we expanded our activities to Bulgaria and Slovakia because the demand from southern German companies was simply greater than the supply.

To what extent does your degree programme help you in your day-to-day work?

If I disregard the many, many wonderful memories and friendships, there were probably two main things that I took away from my studies: regardless of the specialist knowledge, the first is that you acquire in-depth knowledge of the technology, which you simply internalise. Secondly, the ability to familiarise yourself with new topics and solve problems by clustering a task into individual tasks, solving them and then bringing the individual solutions back together. If someone asks me today: "Do I even need a degree?", I answer: Yes, absolutely. Precisely for these reasons. And because of the valuable, enjoyable experiences you gain during your studies.

In 2021, you supported FH Aachen with a donation of 1,000 euros. We would like to thank you once again. What prompted you to do this?

I had read on social media that FH Aachen was celebrating its 50th anniversary and that campaigns were being planned. I followed this with great interest and often thought back to my student days at the time. The thought of wanting to give something - yes, to give something back - came to me more and more. And those were hard times, Corona made it difficult for everyone. And I thought: If the economy isn't offering the best opportunities for young professionals or research collaborations, then I'll support the university and make a small contribution so that young people continue to be well trained and research remains at a high level. I still feel connected to my university - and I have every intention of visiting Aachen again soon.