President's Welcome Address at the Graduation
Prof. Dr. Dr. hc mult. Hans-Dieter Klingemann
President
Berlin International University of Applied Sciences
Welcome Address
Dear graduates, dear family and friends of our graduates, welcome to the Graduation Ceremony.
It is my privilege and great honor to welcome Christian Wulff, the Tenth President of the Federal Republic of Germany. Christian Wulff has kindly agreed to be our guest speaker today. It would be the proverbial carrying of owls to Athens to try to enumerate the President’s numerous achievements. Let me just mention that he is a dedicated advocate of an intercultural and interreligious dialogue - an undertaking that is dear to our hearts, too. In the heated debate about the status of the Islam in Germany, for example, he had the courage to say: “Meanwhile the Islam belongs to Germany, too” (Der Islam gehört inzwischen auch zu Deutschland). This statement has already made it to the history books.
Otherwise Christian Wulff believes in Walt Disney’s wise words that you may also take to heart: “If you can dream it, you can make it.”
We sincerely greet and welcome His Excellency Ali Kemal Aydın, Ambassador of the Republic of Turkey to Germany and Rifki Olgun Yücekök, Consul General of the Republic of Turkey. His Excellency has favored us with his presence more than once. We are glad that we can consider Ambassador Aydın a friend of Berlin International.
We welcome the representatives of the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China who accepted our invitation for today’s graduation.
We are pleased to welcome a delegation of the East China Normal University, our most important Chinese partner university. We are grateful that the delegation has devoted time to attend our graduation ceremony.
We whole-heartedly welcome Enver Yücel, founder of our university and of BAU Global, this unique academic network that opens the doors for international and intercultural exchange of people and ideas.
We welcome the Presidents of the Bahçeşehir University in Istanbul and of the MLA College in Plymouth, as well as the group of esteemed visitors from Turkey.
A very special welcome to all members of Berlin International’s University Advisory Board and its chairperson, Professor Jutta Allmendinger, Ph.D.
Last not least I recognize with pride and satisfaction Berlin International’s Student Representatives, our Professors and the members of our university’s staff. Together they have made Berlin International to what it is today.
I want to say special thanks to Victor Schnautz and Georgia Humphries. Both Victor and Georgia graduate today. Since November 2016 - at different periods of time - Victor and Georgia have been the elected student representatives of our university. For their time and dedication they deserve praise.
With great sadness I have to convey that our academic community has suffered a tragic loss. Two weeks ago, on September 29, Johanna von der Marwitz, our 24 year old student of Interior Design, was killed in a traffic accident. We miss her. We are with her family and friends.
We are here this afternoon to celebrate and say farewell to our graduates of the year 2019. This is a proud moment not only for the graduates and their families. It is also a proud moment for our young academic institution. However, we are becoming more mature. This is already the third cohort of graduates that has earned their degrees with us.
We celebrate this graduation in the Orangery of the Charlottenburg Palace. Our Salzufer Campus is simply too small to accommodate such a large audience. The palace was commissioned by Sophie Charlotte, the first Queen consort in Prussia, and completed in 1699. Sophie Charlotte was a great lover of the arts and invited poets, philosophers, musicians and artists to join her at court. The Orangery, where we currently celebrate, was added later and was originally used to overwinter rare plants. It has been and remains a gorgeous place. What you may not know: Charlottenburg Palace has served as the seat of the President of the Federal Republic of Germany from 2004 to 2006 whilst the Bellevue Castle was being renovated.
A quick look at statistics tells me that this year’s graduation cohort consists of 41 students coming from 23 different countries. The great majority entered Berlin International in October 2016.
Your cohort has experienced change in at least two respects. First, you entered the university when I still welcomed the first-graders as President of BAU International Berlin. In April 2018 the university changed its name and all of the sudden you found yourselves studying at a university called Berlin International. Your certificates will carry this new name.
Second, you moved from Heinrich-Heine-Strasse to the current Salzufer-Campus to start the 2018/19 Semester in a new place.
The new name strengthens our university’s association with Berlin, highlights the institution’s international profile and links us even more to this vibrant and inspiring metropolis.
Regarding change of location you have been well aware that the old Heinrich-Heine-Campus needed both improvement and enlargement. It turned out that this was impossible to realize at that location. This is why we moved to the Salzufer-Campus which offers more comfort and space. The building is nicely located at the borders of Tiergarten and Charlottenburg, situated between the river Spree and the Landwehrkanal. Our next door neighbor is the widely known Technische Universität Berlin. Our students seem to like the new Campus and for all of us it is, indeed, a privilege to work there.
Despite of the name change and the new location our academic institution follows the same vision since its foundation in 2014. We want to stimulate and develop our students’ intellectual curiosity, their creativity and their professional skills. We want our students to develop a commitment to an interdisciplinary approach that enables them to cope with innovation and contribute to societal problem solving. This means that we want to provide students with a solid base for a successful and fulfilled work-life.
We also want to promote cross-national and cross-cultural understanding. We believe that this is indispensable in a globalizing world. Cultural competence is a precondition to navigate in today’s multi-cultural environment. What is required is tolerance, mutual understanding and a commitment to protect the unalienable individual human rights.
Each cohort of graduate students develops its own collective memory. You have worked together and you have had fun together. You remember joint visits to exciting places and in particular those to the Salone del Mobile in Milano or to the Architecture Biennale in Venice. You may also not forget the fun of the 2017 end-of-semester boat-ride or the first annual Christmas party you have designed at the old Heinrich-Heine-Campus.
Many of you have presented objects you have created yourself at the Annual Exhibitions of the Architecture and Design Faculty. Here you experienced the first critical appraisals of your products by a broader public.
You will remember such projects as the Arche Noah or the Hotel Astoria, and your performance in competitions such as those organized by Glassberries, Cosentino or Carpet Vista - to name just a few. These joint efforts brought you together as a group. You were proud when one of your own was among the winners. For example, when Louise Man earned third place in the Carpet Vista competition of 2017 or when you learned that Julia Korsch – for the second time - and Enrico Guerzi were among the finalists in the competition organized by Moderner Aus- und Leichtbau.
At each graduation Berlin International gives three awards. We honor the best student of the Faculty of Business Administration and the best student of the Faculty of Architecture and Design. In addition we select the best among all Bachelor Theses. Later this afternoon the winners of these awards will be called to the stage.
This graduation we add a general award for outstanding academic performance and participation in the academic community. We have established this new scholarship to honor and call to memory that Christian Wulff has addressed the graduates of Berlin International today. The President of the Federal Republic of Germany has graciously accepted our token and he is kind enough to present the Christian Wulff Scholarship to the inaugural recipient.
A solid academic education is what Berlin International delivers. However, we also want our students to become good citizens in today’s globalized world. Our graduates have experienced intercultural encounters. Currently more than 300 full time students coming from about 70 different countries populate the Campus. Our professors as well as our university’s administrative staff come from all four corners of the globe. This international and intercultural composition of our academic community is arguably our biggest social capital. We are certain that our graduates have profited from this colorful context, have learned to appreciate diversity and are happy to have made friends from around the world.
Dear graduates, today we bid you farewell. Thank you for your many contributions to Berlin International.
You are our best ambassadors. Spread the word that Berlin International is a good place to be. And be assured that you find open doors whenever you pass by. We want to stay in touch. Thus, we invite you to join Berlin International’s Alumni Association.
Fare you well and may your future be bright.