President Dr Oliver Locker-Grütjen has taken up his post. His term of office will initially last six years. During this time, he intends, amongst other things, to expand the university’s international reach and its activities in the region and within the EUREGIO.
With Dr Oliver Locker-Grütjen taking up his post, the vacant position – which had been held by Professor Dr Eberhard Menzel on an acting basis as President until 31 May 2019 – has now been filled. As President, the 48-year-old will lead the university and represent it externally. “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 its further development. A particular priority for me is to strengthen the university’s international diversity, its links within the region and its cooperation within the Euregio,” emphasises Dr Locker-Grütjen.
Since 2003, Locker-Grütjen has held various positions at the University of Duisburg-Essen, most recently as Academic Director of the Science Support Centre (SSC) and as a member of the management team of the Vice-Rectorate for Research, Early-Career Researchers and Knowledge Transfer. He has frequently acted as a consultant on strategic processes at universities and has also served as an assessor for various programmes run by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research and the German Industry Foundation. In addition to enhancing the university’s international profile, its activities and the engagement of students and alumni in the region, the new President sees his key priorities as including, amongst other things, strengthening research, innovation and cooperation. To this end, Locker-Grütjen intends to foster closer collaboration, particularly with small and medium-sized enterprises, as well as to promote spin-offs. “It is important for our university to engage in a fruitful exchange with regional and international partners, as well as with the professional world, so that we can, for example, conduct more application-oriented research. Furthermore, this enables research findings to be put to good use more quickly,” explains Locker-Grütjen.
Chancellor Michael Strotkemper emphasises the importance of the concept of knowledge transfer: “As a university of applied sciences, one of our key tasks is precisely to establish a practical link. The university administration will actively support Dr Locker-Grütjen in this endeavour. I look forward to working with him and am convinced that, together with the entire Executive Board, we can achieve a great deal.”
