Innovative, International, Intercultural
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We stay different: Innovative, international, intercultural IN FOCUS ON CAMPUS IN PRACTICE Diversity, mobility Everyday Connected & health heroes to business Find out what lies behind Jacobs Meet the people who make sure Students can look behind the scenes, University’s new focus areas in edu- that everything runs smoothly researchers and companies devise joint cation and research and why they on campus – 7 days a week, solutions. See how Jacobs University are socially relevant. 24 hours a day. cooperates with the industry. PAGE 6 PAGE 10 PAGE 19 WWW.JACOBS-UNIVERSITY.DE INTERVIEW Everything stays different Prof. Dr.-Ing. Katja Windt, President of Jacobs University, is convinced that change should be INSPIRED and INNOVATIVE but also include established core values. Since the beginning of 2014, she has realigned the focus of Jacobs University’s teaching and research activities. We talked to her about goals, high standards and facing challenges. Ms. Windt, Jacobs University has been steering a new course since you Windt: Most definitely! They are and will remain the took over at the helm. How would you characterise the university’s central pillars of our university. We practice new profile? transdisciplinarity. We bring together fields of expertise from a variety of subject areas, practice Katja Windt: We are concentrating on three focus areas in teaching conscious lateral thinking, and observe thematic and research, which we are convinced are of major relevance to fields from a variety of perspectives. The joint search current and future social challenges: Diversity, Health and Mobility. for new solutions and approaches is the key to We offer solutions that address all of these future themes. success. There are many outstanding academics from many different countries and cultures working at our What lies behind these terms? university. Our students come from more than a hundred countries. We are one of the most Windt: Diversity (in modern societies) is concerned with seeing international and diverse universities in the whole of individuals as biological, psychological and socially-determined Europe, with highly ambitious students who inspire beings, which in turn allows us to contribute to the decoding of a each other. modern, global society. We cover a broad spectrum, from observing the cell as the smallest unit all the way to analyzing the cultural What impact will this realignment have on students? formations of states. As for the area Health (focus on bioactive substances), Jacobs University scientists conduct research into how Windt: Our graduates are highly bioactive substances, from plants or marine algae for example, can sought after in science and be safely applied in food or medicine production. And finally, the business. Many choose to KATJA WINDT focus area of Mobility (of people, goods and information) merges a continue their studies in a Katja Windt has been Professor of number of academic fields into a single objective – guaranteeing and graduate program at one of the Production Logistics at Jacobs mastering today’s enormous flow of people, goods and information. world’s leading universities. The University since 2008. proportion of our students that She studied Mechanical Engineering Why do you concentrate on these three areas and how did they evolve? follow this route is higher than at the Leibniz University of Hanover. at any other German university. In 2008, she was named ‘Professor Windt: All three of these fields have one thing in common: they unite It remains our goal to offer a of the Year’ by the German the expertise that exists in our various disciplines, in order to develop highly attractive portfolio to the Association of University Professors innovative solutions. new generation of students, and Lecturers (DHV). and, similarly, we will continue In addition to being a member of two German scientific academies I see these three focus areas as giving us the chance to generate to emphasize the value of (the ‘Junge Akademie’ until 2009, socially and economically relevant research results and to educate imparting social skills. This is and acatech) she is also a member talents from all over the world in Bremen, ensuring they are well intended to give students the of supervisory boards in the industry, qualified for the employment market. The three focus areas have ability to act and think including the Deutsche Post AG been developed in a joint process involving both students and responsibly in their future andFraport AG. In 2013, lecturers. professional lives. However, it is Prof. Dr.-Ing. Windt joined the also clear that a study program leadership of Jacobs University as Jacobs University has always been characterized by the triad of is also a product, and one that Provost and Vice-President. transdisciplinarity, interculturality and internationality. Will this still has to be accepted by the In February 2014, she became be the case in future? market. President and member of the Executive Board of Jacobs University. 2 JACOBS UNIVERSITY INTERVIEW CONTENTS ___________________________________________ 2 Everything stays different President Katja Windt talks about her goals, high standards and facing challenges ____________________________________________ 5 Transdisciplinarity From conceptual approach to trademark ____________________________________________ 6 Diversity, Mobility, Health The new focus areas in teaching and research ____________________________________________ 10 Everyday heroes Ten people who shape our campus ____________________________________________ 12 News From rowing races to talent meetings ____________________________________________ 14 Campus Life Changing the world for the better: Studying is more than just learning ____________________________________________ 16 Trilateral contract Together for the future – Jacobs Foundation, the State of Bremen and Jacobs University set the seal on a new orientation ____________________________________________ 19 Partners of business Jacobs University cooperates with businesses in many different ways ____________________________________________ 22 A lifelong connection Our Alumni stay in touch across continents ____________________________________________ www.jacobs-university.de it is therefore exemplary for the future orientation of our university. My goal is to considerably expand our cooperations with German and international businesses. Hence, we will be working on setting up innovative think tanks. The aim of these integrated, interdisciplinary research and transfer units is to work – together with the industry – on discovering answers to specific questions of global interest. We also offer tailored further education programs for You are both an academic and a member of several supervisory company managers. boards. What degree of importance do you attach to your cooperations with the industry? Who are the current partners of Jacobs University? Windt: I have always felt cooperations with business to be enriching. Windt: In August 2013, we agreed a trilateral contract with the They fulfil mutual interests, and I regard business as our partner. We Hanseatic City of Bremen and the Jacobs Foundation. Both of our recently agreed a joint project over several years with Barry partners give us support, for which we are grateful. But we also have Callebaut, the world’s leading chocolate and cocoa producer. In this justified self-confidence. Jacobs University serves to enrich Bremen cooperation we will analyze around 10,000 chemical substances that as a science location, also in material terms. We are not in can be found in the cocoa bean. The questions that the project is competition with the University of Bremen as a state university, but concerned with address technical, economic and social factors, and we cooperate with them. One example of this is the Bremen JACOBS UNIVERSITY 3 INTERVIEW International Graduate School of Social Sciences (BIGSSS), a joint project that is funded through the German Excellence Initiative. From concept to trademark You have been a lecturer and researcher at Jacobs University since 2008. What connects you to Bremen? Windt: Jacobs University is an inspiring place for me. Due to our international orientation we have the world on one campus. There is a very special Transdis ciplinarity spirit at our university. The focus of our research and the close links between research and teaching are also something I have always found stimulating. What makes this university different from others, and why is it such a great place for teaching and research? “We live and breathe transdisciplinarity,” says Katja Windt, President of Jacobs University and with a Windt: I do not wish to compare us with other smile she adds: “It is a bit of an awkward term for a institutions. But one thing is for sure: the diversity of great concept.” At the time of the university’s founding our campus community is quite unique. It gives rise transdisciplinarity was already a very important to a spirit of solidarity that is very special. We are building block of the overall idea. The alliance of small, innovative, and agile. Our standards in scientific and practical knowledge and the level of research and teaching are extremely high. Our integration of disciplines and subjects are the transdisciplinary nature allows us to leave the often benchmark for the transdisciplinarity practiced on narrow modes of thinking that you can find in many the campus in Bremen. subject areas. All of this results in a unique mixture that frequently gives rise to fascinating