Unveiling of a painting of Enver Yücel
Back in October, we were honoured by Enver Yücel's visit to our university. On the occasion of the conference about "Safe Zone and Immigration" we welcomed many guests from Istanbul and found that this could be the best time to bestow Enver Yücel the painting of himself done by one of our very talented students - Elizabeth Saunders. Our President Prof. Dr. Dr. hc mult. Hans-Dieter Klingemann had the privilege to hand over the creation and again enriched us with a very valuable speech.
Many thanks to Elizabeth for the wonderful painting. You can find more about Elizabeth and her artistic works here.
Feel free to read through the speech of our President Prof. Dr. Dr. hc mult. Hans-Dieter Klingemann below.
Speech on the occasion of the unveiling of a painting of Enver Yücel on 13th October 2019
Today Berlin International wants to honor and say thanks to Enver Yücel, founder of our university and chair of BAU Global. We honor a man and his vision.
Enver Yücel, the man, has dedicated his life to education. For his great achievements he received many awards, amongst them, in December 2014, the United Nations Prize for his ‚Contribution to Global Education‘. His vision included the creation of a global network of excellent academic institutions to provide gifted students an opportunity to overcome national borders. He has made this vision come true.
This university is his brainchild. Berlin International is part of his global network. Since its foundation in 2014 Berlin International follows Enver Yücel’s goals: 2 First, to stimulate and develop the students’ intellectual curiosity, their creativity and their professional skills. To commit students to an interdisciplinary approach enabling them to cope with innovation and contribute to societal problem-solving. This means to provide our students with a solid base for a successful and fulfilled work-life.
Second, to realize Enver Yücel’s vision of cross-national and cross-cultural understanding which is so indispensable in a globalizing world. Cultural competence is a precondition to navigate today’s multi-cultural landscape. What is required is tolerance, mutual understanding and a commitment to protect the unalienable individual human rights.
These goals are reflected in Berlin International’s motto: Interdisciplinarity, Internationality and Interculturality.
Promoting this orientation Berlin International has grown from 25 students in 2014 to more than 300 students in 2019.
Enver Yücel trusted our dedication to pursue his general goals. Without his encouragement and financial support, we would have never developed into a promising member of the BAU Global network.
For his trust we want to express our thanks. We think it best to give a present that will stay. It is meant to stand for and document the role Enver Yücel has played in the foundation of Berlin International. We are convinced that a painting captures best all we intend to say. After all, as the proverb says „a picture is worth 1000 words“. And it is very much in line what older universities have done before. We are a young university and by necessity without a long tradition. However, we understand well that all history begins here and now.
We are aware of the fact that Enver Yücel’s homebase is in Istanbul or may be in Washington D.C. With a painting on the wall we can keep him in Berlin, at least symbolically.
We were lucky to find a gifted painter right here among our Salzufer Campus students.
Elizabeth Nyasha Saunders, born in 1998, grew up in the suburbs of Harare. Her father is British, deputy head master of Gateway High School and pastor. Her mother is a pastor, too. Since October 2018 Elizabeth studies Interior Design at Berlin International.
At the age of 16 her talent in the fine arts became obvious. In 2015 she received the ‚Outstanding Cambridge Learner Award‘ for gaining the highest mark in Zimbabwe from Cambridge International. In 2017 she won the ‚Artist’s Palette Trophy‘ for 4 excellence. Since then she has painted many commissioned portraits. In 2016 “Lizzy” had her first exhibition in Kronach, Germany, at Martin Ludwig’s ‚Galerie Ambiente‘. Her paintings were much appreciated and she was invited back for a second exhibition in September 2018.
Her style started off as Realism and is now slowly developing into Impressionism with modern colors. Human portraits have been the major focus of her paintings for many years. In recent years, however, she started to paint landscapes and animals as well.
In addition to painting, Elizabeth Saunders loves sports (especially triple- and long jump), theater and choir singing. Recently she performed as a soloist in the Musical ‚The Signs‘ in a Reps Theater production, Zimbabwe’s most important theatre.
She speaks Shona, English, German and French. We are proud to have her at our school.
Elizabeth Nyasha Saunders is with us today. And she unveils her portrait of Enver Yücel.
We hope, dear Enver Yücel, that you like the painting and that you recognize yourself. We would be honored and happy if you accept our present. From now onwards you are always with us as a painting on the wall. However, be assured that we want to see the real person on Campus as often as possible at all.