refers to RWTH Aachen, TU Berlin and TU Clausthal. In China, these three Universities are regarded as Germany's leading Universities of Technology. Clausthal's reputation in China was further enhanced when former alumnus Wan Gang became the Chinese Minister for Science and Technology. Since 2007, Wan Gang coordinates the science and technology activities in all of China. As a former mining academy, TU Clausthal is one of three universities in Germany (besides TU Freiberg and RWTH Aachen) that offers study programs in the fields of metals, mining, and petroleum engineering. In this regard, TUC was referred to as the "most renowned university for metallurgy" by Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. In relative terms, TU Clausthal is among the universities with the most alumni on the management boards of German blue chip corporations. Most recently, this included companies like RWE, ThyssenKrupp, K+S, HeidelbergCement, Aurubis, Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation and Jungheinrich. Student Life Big Band The "Big Band an der TU Clausthal e.V." was set up in the 2017/18 winter semester as a non-profit organization. The band was registered as a students' association at TU Clausthal. The 25 musicians are dedicated to jazz, swing, funk and pop music . Rehearsals of the "groovING TUC Big Band" named band are held every Friday during the whole year interrupted only by short summer and winter breaks. The band has own equipment like stage piano, piano, baritone saxophone, tenor saxophone, alto saxophone, bass trombone, tenor trombone, trumpet, flugelhorn, bass guitar with amplifier, electric guitars with amplifiers, electronic drum set, acoustic drum set, sound reinforcement system, and music stands which can be used by foreign students, students without own musical instruments, and for gigs. The band leader Domenic Eggers, who has a teaching assignment at TU Clausthal, rehearses with the band classical jazz as well as jazzy pop pieces. The program developed in the rehearsals is presented in a concert at the end of each semester, to which admission is free and where only donations for the band are requested. Currently, about two-thirds of the band members are from the university (including students from abroad) and one-third are from the region. In 2018 the Big Band set up a smaller ensemble, the swingING TUC Jazz Combo, of four to eight members of the Big Band playing in variable instrumentation. The Jazz Combo regularly practices its own literature, mainly blues but also pop songs, right before the Big Band rehearsal.