Welcome Day “The Openness Marking our University is Now More Important than Ever”
14. October 2024
Rector Frauke Melchior greeted the first-semester students at a Welcome Day at University Square
“A warm welcome to Heidelberg University. I’m sure you are looking forward to the new challenges that lie ahead of you. When you leave the university in a few years you will enrich the world with your knowledge and valuable experience.” With these words, Prof. Dr Frauke Melchior, Rector of Ruperto Carola, greeted the newly enrolled students. To launch the lecture period in the 2024/2025 winter semester, the university was holding a Welcome Day for freshers at University Square in the old city.
“All students enrolling here are, first of all, members of the university. The openness marking our university is now more important than ever. Ruperto Carola is a space for discourse – always preserving mutual respect,” the Rector emphasized in her address to the new students. The Welcome Day on 14 October 2024 focused on all those currently beginning their courses at Heidelberg University, or who had done so in the last summer semester.
Greetings also came from Heidelberg’s First Mayor Jürgen Odszuck, and the chairs of the Constituted Student Body, Carolin Roder and Fritz Beck. Representatives of the faculties – Deans and Deans of Studies – also extended a welcome to the freshers, inviting them to explore not only their own subjects but also neighboring disciplines. Members of the Collegium Musicum conducted by University Music Director Michael Sekulla provided the musical framework for the event.
Following the words of greeting to freshers at University Square, they had the opportunity to attend an information fair featuring the various advisory and service organizations available at the university. These included the Central Student Advisory Office, the Career Service provided by heiSKILLS – the university’s Competence and Language Centre – and the University Library. Stands for these and other, also non-university, facilities that support everyday student life were awaiting them in the New University building. This year, too, a special highlight for the freshers was receiving the popular “bib bag”, a take-away handed out at the Career Service stand.
