The University of Freiburg has ceremoniously kicked off the 2024/2025 Academic Year
Freiburg, 16.10.2024
‘Research without limits in Freiburg – international, interdisciplinary, innovative’ was the motto during the official opening ceremony for the 2024/2025 academic year at the University of Freiburg in Freiburg’s Paulussaal on 16 October 2024. In her welcoming address, Rector Prof. Dr Kerstin Krieglstein spoke about the major challenges of our time for universities and how dealing with them is also essential for the current Excellence Strategy of the federal and state governments. Prof. Dr Hagen Pfundner was made an honorary senator during the ceremony, and University members were honoured for outstanding achievements. The keynote speaker was Prof. Dr Andrea Schenker-Wicki, Rector at the University of Basel.
Prof. Dr. Kerstin Krieglstein, Rector of the University of Freiburg. Photo: Jürgen Gocke
Issues such as climate change, social, political and economic challenges, new technologies and infrastructures also present universities with major hurdles, emphasised Prof. Dr Kerstin Krieglstein in her welcome address at the opening of the 2024/25 academic year at the University of Freiburg. Dealing with them is also essential for competing in the Excellence Strategy of the federal and state governments.
“The universities of the future will need to stand out in terms of their governance,“ says Krieglstein. “They will be characterised by diversity, good leadership and performance-related career development. The Universities of Excellence, in particular, will be judged by how they deal with the challenges of our time.“
Krieglstein says that the University of Freiburg has prepared well for the competition in recent years, pointing to its research performance data and regular placements among the top five to ten universities in Germany. “Our Cluster of Excellence initiatives ConTrans and Future Forests have submitted their full proposals, while the existing Clusters of Excellence CIBSS and livMatS have submitted their renewal proposals,” she states, summarising the current status. “With four applications, we are well ahead of the national average for the Clusters of Excellence funding line. As soon as their review is complete, we will join forces and step up our preparations for the application in the second funding line: the Universities of Excellence.”
At the same time, she emphasised that all areas of the University would benefit from the status of a University of Excellence, not just research: “In the event that we succeed, the long-term funding could develop structures that have a lasting positive effect for everyone – especially for teaching.”
“In the event that we succeed, the long-term funding could develop structures that have a lasting positive effect for everyone – especially for teaching.”
Prof. Dr Kerstin Krieglstein
Rector, University of Freiburg
Krieglstein also emphasised the great relevance of international networking for the University of Freiburg, particularly through the Eucor alliance. Professor Dr Dr h.c. mult. Andrea Schenker-Wicki, Rector at the University of Basel and president of Eucor, gave the keynote speech at the opening of the 2024/25 academic year, entitled “Common Roots and Common Challenges.” Krieglstein states, “The fact that the University of Freiburg has such international visibility and can offer its students a wide range of international opportunities is largely thanks to the European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation (EGTC) Eucor – The European Campus. Eucor is, so to speak, a success story of the joint cross-border cooperation among five universities, which will actually be celebrating its 35th year in December.”
Hagen Pfundner is made an honorary senator
During the ceremony, Rector Prof. Dr Kerstin Krieglstein also awarded the title of Honorary Senator, the University’s highest honour, to Prof. Dr Hagen Pfundner. “His diverse activities and tireless commitment to the University, to science and to society make Prof. Dr. Hagen Pfundner an extraordinary personality who combines commitment and leadership.” Pfundner, a former pharmacy student at the University of Freiburg and now CEO of Roche Deutschland Holding GmbH, is an alumnus who stands for the values of the University’s mission statement – quality, responsibility and openness – in a special way. Krieglstein explained that, even beyond his role as an honorary professor, he is extremely committed to research, innovation and teaching. “Hagen Pfundner co-founded the ‘Academia meets Industry’ association, which promotes cooperation between industry, the University and students, and helped to establish the ‘Regulatory Affairs and Drug Development’ specialisation in the Master’s degree programme in Pharmaceutical Sciences, a unique course in Germany.” In addition, Pfundner regularly enriches the University with his professional expertise – be it in lectures on personalised medicine, innovations in healthcare and ethical aspects of drug development or in an advisory capacity as a member of the University Council on the Excellence Initiative. “As a decision-maker in business and as a provider of input for the University of Freiburg, he impresses with his drive and ability to take on and master the challenges of the future,” says Krieglstein.
About Hagen Pfundner
Prof. Dr Hagen Pfundner, born in 1960, studied pharmacy at the University of Freiburg and completed his doctorate while working as a research assistant at the Universities of Marburg and Kiel, where he was awarded the title Dr. rer. nat. He joined Hoffmann-La Roche AG in 1992 and has since held numerous positions of responsibility within the company. His career has taken him from Germany to Switzerland, to Canada and Sweden, before he finally became responsible for the pharmaceutical business in Germany as a member of the board of Roche Pharma AG. Pfundner is active in numerous honorary positions: He has been a member of the board of the German Association of Research-Based Pharmaceutical Companies since 2008, a member of the advisory board of Deutsche Bank Südwest since 2011 and a member of the board of the Federation of German Industries (BDI) since 2012. In 2016, the state of Baden-Württemberg awarded him the State Business Medal.
Prof. Dr. Kerstin Krieglstein awards the honorary senatorship to Prof. Dr. Hagen Pfundner. Photo: Jürgen Gocke
Honouring Excellence
The University of Freiburg used the ceremony to honour individual members for their outstanding achievements in teaching, their exceptional student engagement and their positive work in the areas of administration, service and technology.
The awardees of the University of Freiburg. Photo: Jürgen Gocke
University Teaching Award
In 2024, the University of Freiburg honoured the extraordinary teaching achievements of two scholars with the University Teaching Award, which included prize money of 5,000 euros per person.
Dr Andrea Kuhnert, Medical Faculty of the University of Freiburg and lecturer at the Clinic for Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy at the Medical Center – University of Freiburg, received the award for “PsyMent Freiburg.” The modular course programme was designed in an evidence-based manner according to the requirements of medical students. It uses various learning and teaching formats to teach coping strategies for maintaining mental health during studies and at work. PsyMent can be transferred to other courses of study for which a high level of mental stress is characteristic. Students of law and psychology are already benefiting from this.
Dr Wiebke Semper-Hogg, Medical Faculty of the University of Freiburg and the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery at the Medical Center – University of Freiburg, was also considered. She combines innovative technologies – from extended reality to interactive learning objective control – with proven didactic methods to activate and inspire students. It is fitting that she integrates a dental podcast and online materials into her teaching concept. By combining various characteristics of a dedicated university teacher in a special way, Semper-Hogg has succeeded in redesigning the way radiology is taught.
Special prize for outstanding studentinvolvement
The award for exemplary student involvement that directly benefits other students and/or society was also given to two recipients. The prize money of €1,000 was split equally between the winners.
Among the prize winners are medical students Celine Hansmann, Hanna Hofmaier, Carolin Neufischer and Laura Sohler, who are jointly implementing the “First Aid For All” project. With workshops and training, they want to enable the population to perform cardiac massage in an emergency and thus save lives. The impact of “First Aid For All” is very high, as Germany has a lot of catching up to do in this area in international comparison.
Student Klara Oehler, who has been active in university politics for many years, campaigning for student issues, received the award for her overall commitment. Among other things, she is active as a tutor, in the Senate, in several student councils, in the ombudsman’s office for doctoral students, the structural and development commission, and the Senate commission for gender equality issues.
Administration Prize
The newly established University of Freiburg Administration Prize honours employees from administration, service and technology who make a special contribution to the smooth running of the University’s administrative processes and support research, teaching and services. Individuals or teams from these areas could be nominated in the categories of process optimisation/quality management, customer service and team/collaboration. A total of 31 individuals (25 women and six men) and 26 teams were nominated for the prize. While one award winner was originally planned, the jury decided on two winners based on the compelling reasons given, each of whom will receive a prize of 1,500 euros.
The administrative prize for an individual went to Monika Blasy, head of the Faculty of Law’s administration, in the categories of customer service and team collaboration. She was nominated by the Dean’s Office of the Faculty of Law and the elected student representatives. The letters explaining the decision highlighted her commitment to a sustainably positive working atmosphere and the successful inclusion of chronically ill colleagues – as well as her positive overall impact on the faculty administration and the outstanding cooperation with the student representatives.
‘CL:Ose Chemisches Laboratorium: Online Services’ is the name of the programme for which Verónica González Segovia and Manfred Bär, both from the Faculty of Chemistry and Pharmacy, received the administrative prize as a team. They were nominated in the categories of process optimisation, customer service and team collaboration for the cross-departmental development of their comprehensive programme for chemicals management and accounting.
Freiburg prizes for the promotion of young talents
The University of Freiburg is very proud to announce and award numerous prizes for the promotion of young scientists every year, the prize money of which is provided by generous donors.
