Annual Ceremony „Meeting the Challenges Pro-actively“
24 October 2022
Annual Ceremony at Universität Heidelberg to Mark the New Academic Year
“The university is firmly rooted in its long history but it also leaves its imprint on the present. As I see it, the mood is not one of despondency but of new departures,” Prof. Dr Bernhard Eitel, Rector of Ruperto Carola, spoke these words in his opening address at the annual ceremony with which Heidelberg University traditionally opens the new Academic Year. In spite of all the crises that had also affected academia, he added, the university was staying on track in order to “meet the challenges proactively”. Members of the university, friends, supporters and alumni had gathered in the Great Hall of the New University on 22 October 2022 to celebrate the university’s 363rd anniversary on this festive occasion.
In spite of all the confidence and joy at starting a new semester on campus, the Rector expressed a warning about the consequences of the crisis in energy costs. The university would be given priority in energy supply but, in view of cost increases, would rapidly need a secure financial situation, he said. This would also hold true in view of inflation and pay rises, for instance for employees paid by third-party funding. “The financial resources from the Second University Financing Agreement are melting like snow in the spring sunshine,” the Rector remarked. “University finances need to be adapted to the ‘new era’.”
In his review of the past academic year, the Rector pointed not only to the successful acquisition of funds to continue the 4EU+ European University Alliance but also to the effective establishment and expansion of new structures within the university. “Our academic quality management is now almost complete,” he stated. The heiQUALITY system encompasses the accrediting of all courses, the promoting of doctoral students and young researchers in the framework of heiDOCS and heiTRACKS, as well as the professional development and training programmes of the heiSKILLS language and competence centre. In the field of transfer, spinoffs and patents, the hei_INNOVATION agency scouts around for innovative ideas and provides support for founding start-ups; together with the limited company ScienceValue Heidelberg GmbH, founded two years ago, they now constitute a ‘pipeline’ through which university intellectual property rights can be exploited efficiently and profitably, Prof. Eitel explained.
“In the field of research, the momentum achieved with all of these supporting measures is clearly visible,” the Rector said. “We are in the process of giving developments long-term support with new infrastructure projects.” In Prof. Eitel’s view, the Health + Life Science Alliance Heidelberg Mannheim is of particular significance. “We are pleased that the state of Baden-Württemberg is now energetically supporting the Innovation Campus; we are pushing this topic,” he said. Besides the amalgamation of the two medical faculties, the merging of the two university hospitals remains a challenge, he added. “That needs to be finally decided quickly by the state premier.”
With respect to the decision to withdraw next year, before the end of his third term of office, the Rector said: “I have decided to retire from my office to allow for finding a new person able to lead the university into the coming years,” said Prof. Eitel. “That is necessary now because the ‘hot’ phase of the Excellence Competition starts at the end of the year. The initiating of strategic decisions, long-term developments and possible changes in university structures can only be advocated for and credibly communicated to the reviewers by the ones who are going to implement such plans.”
Academic Conversation
With the call to preserve the institutional autonomy of universities and to protect the freedom of research and teaching, the Rector raised two issues that also featured in the subsequent academic conversation. Under the heading “Scholarship – Freedom – Responsibility” the Heidelberg legal scholar and former federal constitutional court judge Prof. Dr Paul Kirchhof answered questions asked by Heike Schmoll, a journalist at the Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper. In view of current disputes about, for instance, gender-inclusive language, the cancel culture and controversial agitators, Prof. Kirchhof argued for preserving the fundamental university principle of “proposition and counter-proposition”. He claimed that it must be the constant task of universities to convey this to students, in particular, through “constantly working on rationality”.
Honorary Senators and Honorary Doctorate
At the annual celebration, Ruperto Carola continued its tradition of honouring extraordinary commitment to the university and support for the sciences and humanities. By appointing Bettina Hornbach, Dr Tilman Krauch and Markwart von Pentz honorary senators, the Rector underlined, the university was recognising three notable figures who had done much for Ruperto Carola in different ways. “You are important companions of the university and the development of our university,” Prof. Eitel said. The Rector then turned to Prof. Dr Louise Gunning-Schepers with the words “You have become a good friend”. The internationally noted Dutch scholar with numerous public functions has belonged to the university’s Academic Advisory Council since 2013. The Rector awarded her an honorary doctorate for her exceptional work in this highest advisory body of Ruperto Carola, in order to admit Prof. Gunning-Schepers to the circle of Heidelberg academics.
Hengstberger Prizes
The 2022 Klaus-Georg and Sigrid Hengstberger Prize for early-career researchers was also awarded during the annual celebration. Worth 12,500 euros each, the three prizes went to Dr Elisa Fresta and Dr Yan Huang from the Institute for Physical Chemistry, Dr Andreas Sander from the Institute for Astronomical Computing, and to Dr Philipp Uhl and Dr Florian Umstätter, who work in radiopharmaceutical chemistry at the Heidelberg University Hospital. The awards came with an opportunity for the prize-winners to hold their own scientific symposia at the International Academic Forum Heidelberg (IWH). The IWH director, chemist Prof. Dr A. Stephen K. Hashmi, gave the laudatory addresses for the five young researchers. Prize-donor Dr Klaus-Georg Hengstberger then awarded the certificates.
Members of the Collegium Musicum – the university orchestra and choir under the baton of University Music Director Michael Sekulla – provided the musical setting for the annual ceremony alongside the Capella Carolina. The choir from the university’s International Study Centre, conducted by Prof. Franz Wassermann, started the programme off by singing the university anthem. Romance scholar Prof. Dr Christof Weiand was the presenter throughout the whole event.