Spotlight – The Rector’s Column

Dear alums,

I am delighted to present the 77th edition of keep in touch.

The Rectorate, as always, is working hard for the University and I am pleased to announce that we now have support from some new members. In the coming months, we will join forces to tackle the major challenges of our time – whether in terms of sustainability or digitalization – and we will also make great strides in our Excellence Strategy campaign.

On April 12, the members of the University Electoral Assembly, consisting of the Board of Governors and the Senate, elected Professor Sandra Korte-Kerzel as the new Vice-Rector for Research and Professor Joost-Pieter Katoen as the new Vice-Rector for Teaching and Learning.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Professor Aloys Krieg, who will be leaving the Rectorate in July 2024 to start his well-deserved retirement. For 16 years, he was dedicated to developing teaching and learning at RWTH with much foresight, making crucial contributions to ensuring that RWTH was always able to overcome new challenges in this area – such as the recent pandemic. I wish him all the best for his retirement!

There have been some slight changes to the Rectorate, with Vice-Rector Wessling, previously Vice-Rector for Research and Structure, now taking over the area of knowledge transfer – an expansion of the business and industry focus. Professors Sabine Brück-Dürkop (Vice-Rector of Human Resources Management and Development) and Ute Habel (Vice-Rector of International Affairs) will also continue to provide crucial support in the Rectorate.

International collaboration still plays an important role for us in the Rectorate, with partnerships abroad continuing to be a key feature. To strengthen these collaborations, we need to personally liaise with our partners, hence our recent trips to Asia. We visited Tokyo Tech, Keio University, Osaka University, and the National Institute of Information and Communications (NICT) in Japan, the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras, and the Thai-German Graduate School (TGGS).

These visits illustrate the significance of these relationships. We are proud of our outstanding joint project with IIT Madras – the Indo-German Centre for Sustainability (IGCS) – which awards scholarships to students and researchers whose projects focus on sustainability issues. Find out more about these fascinating trips in the Feature section.

Sustainability and environmental issues are particularly important to us. In recent years, we have therefore worked tirelessly on contributing to a more sustainable society and University. For example, we created our Sustainability Strategy, where we called on all University members to participate and share their ideas in an effort to establish a zero-carbon and more sustainable campus. Since last year, RWTH has also been a premium partner in the Aachen Climate City Contract, a key tool on the city’s journey to climate neutrality by 2030. This means that we can also contribute to a livable city environment and assume social responsibility.

I hope you enjoy reading these inspiring highlights from Aachen and trust you have had a wonderful spring season.