Start of semester: HSZG welcomes 800 new students

The first-year students of the new semester were welcomed last Thursday during the enrolment ceremony in the church of St. Johannis Zittau. On Monday, October 5, regular lectures began for all 3,200 students currently enrolled at the HSZG.

"For the 2015/16 winter semester, we are welcoming a total of 800 new students and almost 100 Studienkolleg graduates from all over the world who are preparing to study in Germany. In other words: almost 900 new students. In terms of numbers, this is only slightly lower than in the peak times, when the demographic development had not yet reached us. But the composition of the student body has changed. It has become more diverse, more colorful," said Prof. Dr. phil. Friedrich Albrecht, Rector of Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences, welcomed the new students at the enrolment ceremony in St. Johannis Church.

The host, Pastor Christoph Stempel , warmly greeted the students and appealed to them to internalize the saying "Those who write, stay". The new mayor of Zittau, Thomas Zenker, had a good understanding of the young people's situation and drew a parallel to his recent assumption of office in his welcome address. He was visibly pleased that so many first-year students had chosen the cities of Zittau and Görlitz as their place of study and emphasized the outstanding importance of the university for the region.

In a charming manner, business administration student Ariane Barth, representing the university's student council, encouraged the "first-year students" to get involved in the student councils of their faculties or the university's student council and to take advantage of the university's cultural and sporting activities.

Dr. Marius Winzeler, Director of the Zittau Municipal Museums, gave the keynote speech. Under the motto "Zittau and Görlitz for all the senses - arrival in the cultural region", he gave the first-year students an entertaining look back at the history of the university towns of Görlitz and Zittau. He passionately encouraged them to find a balance to their everyday studies in the diverse cultural offerings here: "Go to the theaters, museums, cinemas, the Hiller Villa, galleries, zoos and all the other interesting places around, to Zgorzelec, Liberec, Hrádek and Bogatynia, Jelenia Góra, Wroclaw and Prague. And get up close and personal with very old things - visit the unique Lenten cloths!"

Afterwards, Prof. Reinhardt Hassa, Chairman of the Board of the Förderverein der Hochschule Zittau/Görlitz e. V., awarded the best graduates with the prize or special prize of the Förderverein der Hochschule Zittau/Görlitz e. V..

The prize of the sponsoring association was awarded to

Dipl.-Ing. (FH) Kay Ehrlich, electrical engineering degree program

Dipl.-Ing. (FH) Julia Stöcklein, Mechanical Engineering-KIA degree course

B.A. Franziska Becker, Communication Psychology degree program

Dipl.-Kfm. (FH) David Haupt, Business Administration course.

The special prize of the sponsoring association was awarded to

Dipl.-Ing. (FH) Zimu LI, degree program Mechatronics/ Chinese-German University of Applied Sciences

Dipl.-Chem. (FH) Hanna Gericke, Chemistry degree program

Dipl.-Ing. (FH) Jana Voss, Energy and Environmental Engineering degree program

Dipl.-Ing. (FH) Theresa Schultheiß, Mechanical Engineering-KIA degree program

Dipl.-Ing. (FH) Robin Scharf, Civil Engineering KIA.

Further information on the award winners can be found at http://www.foerderverein-hs-zigr.de/preise-projekte/preise/preistraeger-2015.html