If you've been hacking, coding, or just generally IT-ing for more than ten minutes, you've likely run into a stereotype or two about geeks — and there's always a grain of truth, however tiny, behind a stereotype. At least that seems to be the prevailing wisdom at Germany's Potsdam University, where the IT faculty are gearing up to turn their masters students into master suitors.

Apparently — and we couldn't make this stuff up if we tried — Potsdam University is now offering a course in flirting to IT students enrolled in the master's program at the University. The course, which has already attracted 440 would-be Dons Juan, will teach students to impress potential dates at parties, write "flirtatious text messages" and email, and cope with every geek's apparent fear, rejection. Stress management, body language, presentation, and public speaking skills will be imparted to the lucky lotharios, skills that can be used to do more than "get someone else's heart beating fast while yours stays calm," to quote instructor Phillip von Senftleben.

According to PU-spokesman Hans-Joachim Allgaier, the course is intended to produce students ready to become successful professionals: "We want to prepare our students with the social skills needed to succeed both in their private life and their work life." Exactly which areas of the Casanova curriculum constitute essential expertise for the job market we suspect our attorneys would advise us not to ask.