Last Thursday, during the formal enrolment ceremony at St. Johannis Church in Zittau, the new students for the upcoming semester were welcomed. On Monday, October 5, regular classes began for all 3,200 students currently enrolled at HSZG.
“For the 2015–16 winter semester, we are welcoming a total of 800 new students and nearly 100 graduates of the preparatory college from all corners of the world who are preparing to study in Germany. In other words: nearly 900 new students. In terms of numbers, this is only slightly lower than during peak periods, when demographic trends had not yet reached us. But the composition of the student body has changed. It has become more diverse and more colorful.” This is how Prof. Dr. phil. Friedrich Albrecht, Rector of the Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences, welcomed the new students at St. Johannis Church during the formal enrolment ceremony.
The host, Pastor Christoph Stempel , extended a warm welcome to the students and urged them to take the saying “Those who write, remain” to heart. The new mayor of Zittau, Thomas Zenker, was able to empathize with the young people’s situation in a good way and, in his welcome address, drew a parallel to his own recent assumption of office. 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 university’s outstanding importance to the region.
Ariane Barth, a Business Administration student and representative of the university’s Student Council, charmingly encouraged the freshmen to get involved in their faculties’ student associations or the university’s Student Council, as well as to take advantage of the university’s cultural and athletic offerings.
Dr. Marius Winzeler, director of the Zittau Municipal Museums, delivered the keynote address. Under the theme “Zittau and Görlitz for All the Senses—Arrival in a Cultural Region,” he treated the first-year students to an entertaining look back at the history of the university towns of Görlitz and Zittau. He passionately urged them to find a balance to their daily academic life in the diverse local cultural offerings: “Go to the theaters, museums, movie theaters, the Hillersche Villa, galleries, zoos, and all the other interesting places in the surrounding area—to Zgorzelec, Liberec, Hrádek, and Bogatynia, Jelenia Góra, Wrocław, and Prague. And get up close and personal with things from the distant past—visit the unique Lenten veils!”
Following this, Prof. Reinhardt Hassa, Chairman of the Board of the Friends of Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences e. V., presented the good graduates with the award and special award from the Friends of Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences e. V.
The following recipients were honored with the Friends’ Association Award:
Diplom-Ing. (FH) Kay Ehrlich, electrical engineering program
Diplom-Ing. (FH) Julia Stöcklein, Mechanical Engineering-KIA program
B.A. Franziska Becker, communication psychology program
Dipl.-Kfm. (FH) David Haupt, Business Administration program.
The following students were awarded the Friends’ Association Special Prize:
Dipl.-Ing. (FH) Zimu LI, mechatronics program / Sino-German University of Applied Sciences
Diplom-Chem. (FH) Hanna Gericke, Chemistry program
Diplom-Ing. (FH) Jana Voss, energy and environmental engineering program
Diplom-Ing. (FH) Theresa Schultheiß, Mechanical Engineering-KIA program
Robin Scharf, Diplom (FH), Civil Engineering KIA program.
More information about the award recipients can be found at http://www.foerderverein-hs-zigr.de/preise-projekte/preise/preistraeger-2015.html
Contact:
Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences
Antje Pfitzner, M.A.
Public Relations Office
Phone: 03583/61 1560
Email: a.pfitzner@hszg.de