In October 2017, Michael Strotkemper was elected as the new Chancellor. A graduate in business administration, he has now taken up his post. His term of office will initially last eight years. During this time, the Chancellor intends to focus primarily on his work in the region.
With Michael Strotkemper taking up his post as the new Chancellor of Rhein-Waal University of Applied Sciences, the Executive Board is once again complete. The 34-year-old business graduate will head the university administration for an initial term of eight years. This brings to an end, as planned, the acting chancellorship of Dr Oliver Herrmann, who has held the post on an interim basis since 23 August 2017. “I am very much looking forward to my new role at Rhein-Waal University of Applied Sciences. Together with the other members of the Executive Board, I would like to work on the further development of this young university,” says Strotkemper.
The President of Rhein-Waal University of Applied Sciences, Dr Heide Naderer, is also looking forward to working with the new Chancellor: “Mr Strotkemper brings with him significant experience from the higher education sector, from which Rhein-Waal University of Applied Sciences will certainly benefit in the coming years.” Since 2012, Strotkemper has held various positions at the University of Duisburg-Essen, most recently as Acting Chancellor. Dr Naderer also regards the expertise he gained from his previous role at PricewaterhouseCoopers AG WPG in Siegen as a major asset, as every university, whilst being an educational institution, is also a business. At the same time, she expressed her gratitude to Dr Herrmann for his work as Acting Chancellor. “As a proven expert in his field, Dr Herrmann has set many initiatives in motion over the past few months. We would like to express our sincere thanks to him for this. With his new professional role, our paths will certainly cross again in the future,” said Dr Naderer.
Together with Dr Naderer, Professor Dr Jens Gebauer as Vice-President for Research and Development, Professor Dr Marion Halfmann as Vice-President for Student Affairs, Teaching and Continuing Education, and Professor Dr Georg Hauck as Vice-President for Human Resources and Organisational Development, Diversity, Strotkemper forms the Executive Board of Rhein-Waal University of Applied Sciences. In addition to leading the university administration and managing the budget, the new Chancellor sees his main focus as being on digitalisation and knowledge transfer. He therefore intends to take measures in the coming years to further drive forward the digitalisation process at the university. Strotkemper summarises the importance of the concept of knowledge transfer as follows: “It is important for a university to engage in a lively exchange with the professional world regarding scientific findings, so that, for example, research results can be translated into concrete applications and used to develop a marketable product in collaboration with partners in the region. I would like to play a targeted role in expanding measures tailored to this end.”
