16. February 2024 | Magazine:

Senate confirms Vice-Presidents Vice Presidents Knut Baumann, Peter Hecker and Arno Kwade re-elected

The Senate of the Technische Universität Braunschweig confirmed the re-election of the three part-time Vice-Presidents on 14 February. The next step will be to submit a proposal to the Lower Saxony Ministry of Science and Culture, together with a statement from the University Council.

The Senate confirmed the following as Vice-Presidents

  • Professor Knut Baumann: Research and Teaching (3rd term of office),
  • Professor Arno Kwade: Transfer and Innovation (2nd term) and
  • Professor Peter Hecker: Research (4th term).

Professor Katja Koch, Vice-President for Organisational Development and Faculty Development, and Professor Tatjana Schneider, Vice-President for International Affairs and Regional Anchoring, were not re-elected. The regular term of office of the part-time Vice Presidents ends on 31 March 2024. The term of office for the re-elected Vice Presidents is two years, starting on 1 April 2024.

The confirmed extra-professional Vice-Presidents and their work packages

Professor Knut Baumann, Vice-President for Studies and Teaching

  • Development and implementation of a quality management system for system accreditation, including the development of a mission statement for teaching and its design, as well as sustainability and digitalisation in teaching.
  • Artificial Intelligence in Teaching and Study
  • Development of English language teaching
  • Management and programmes for prospective students

Professor Peter Hecker, Vice-President Research 

  •  Strengthening research, including supporting applications for clusters of excellence and initiating other forms of excellence such as collaborative research centres and graduate schools,
  • Quality assurance in research processes, such as the submission of proposals and the development of centralised EU processing,
  • Further development of processes and frameworks to support research, such as the establishment of the Wolfsburg Campus, the creation of standards and exchange formats on ethical issues and the evaluation of research.

The President will be responsible for the ressort “Academic Careers” from 1 April 2024.

Professor Arno Kwade, Vice-President for Transfer and Innovation

  • Develop and establish transfer and innovation ecosystems (TIES), including active innovation scouting and the establishment of an innovation fund.
  • Strengthening the offer and visibility of the transfer service, including the establishment of an office and the expansion of marketing, sustainability, knowledge exchange and the internationality of the alumni offer.
  • Further develop iTUBS as a strategic service partner, including commercialisation, spin-offs and the Singapore office.

Statement by the Executive Board on the election of the Senate Vice-Presidents

President Angela Ittel and Vice Presidents Dietmar Smyrek, Manfred Krafczyk, Knut Baumann, Peter Hecker and Arno Kwade will continue to work together in the next term of office. At the same time, they express their sincere regret that the Senate did not confirm the Vice-Presidents Katja Koch (Organisational Development and Teacher Training) and Tatjana Schneider (International Affairs and Regional Anchoring) for a further term of office. The University Council expressly welcomed the President’s election proposal in its statement of 7 February 2024.

During her time in office, Vice-President Katja Koch has made outstanding contributions to organisational development and the advancement of teacher training. In addition, TU Braunschweig owes a great deal to her personal commitment as interim president from September 2020 to June 2021. In national committees, among other roles as the spokesperson for the Research Working Group of the Lower Saxony Consortium for Teacher Education, she has set crucial guidelines for a up-to-date structural reform of teacher education and represented the interests of TU Braunschweig. With her expertise in the field of teacher education, she is highly recognized nationally as an evaluator.

Tatjana Schneider has developed the unique science quarter CoLiving Campus in cooperation with the urban community, as well as the structural strategic capability in the field of internationalisation of our university, especially in the expansion of strategic international partnerships, and thus laid the foundations for the university’s internationalisation strategy.

“The contribution of our colleagues to the strategic development of our university has been essential and we would like to express our great appreciation for the work they have done in their departments. We are very grateful for their enormous commitment as part-time Vice-Presidents of TU Braunschweig and deeply regret that the excellent cooperation with our highly committed colleagues cannot be continued as a result of the Senate’s decision.

Angela Ittel, Dietmar Smyrek, Manfred Krafczyk, Arno Kwade, Knut Baumann, Peter Hecker”