Honorary doctorate for Professor Reiner Hildebrandt-Stramann

Professor Reiner Hildebrandt-Stramann (retired) from the Institute of Sport Sciences and Physical Education at Technische Universität Braunschweig has been awarded an honorary doctorate for the second time in Brazil. After the Federal University of Bahia/Salvador awarded Professor Hildebrandt-Stramann the title in 2012, it was the Federal University of Santa Maria (UFSM) that bestowed this honour on him on 15 October. The award was in recognition of his 40 years of development cooperation with Brazilian universities to promote Brazilian sports science and the training of sports teachers.

Professor Reiner Hildebrandt-Stramann at the award ceremony for his honorary doctorate. Picture credits: Institute of Sports Science and Movement Education/TU Braunschweig

Professor Hildebrandt-Stramann began his academic career in Brazil in 1984 as a DAAD visiting professor at the UFSM. His task was and still is to advise Brazilian universities on setting up sports science degree programmes with a focus on ‘sports education and sports didactics’, but also to conduct research and teach as a member of the teaching staff at the Institute for Sports Science at the UFSM.

After his return to Germany, he developed cooperation agreements with several Brazilian universities, which, among other things, also include a lecturer and student exchange. Just last October, a new cooperation agreement was signed between the UFSM and the Institute of Sports Science and Movement Education at TU Braunschweig. Professor Esther Serwe-Pandrick, head of the Institute of Sports Science and Movement Education, is strongly committed to continuing and expanding the cooperation between the two sports science institutes as part of the internationalisation strategy of TU Braunschweig and, together with junior professor Peter Düking, is continuing the mobility efforts in cultural and scientific exchange. ‘The awards are an important sign of the growing international networking of teacher education and the recognition of this particularly ambitious work,’ emphasises Professor Serwe-Pandrick.