Twenty people gathered on Thursday evening, Februrary 11 in Washington DC for the first ever Alumni Freiburg Stammtisch in our nation’s capital. There was a wide mix of ages and nationalities and everyone was treated to remarks made by University Freiburg Rektor Hans-Jochen Schiewer about the challenges faced by German universities and the initiatives that the University of Freiburg has embarked on during its ongoing quest to establish a global presence and to adapt to a changing world.

In this connection Rektor Schiewer discussed the establishment of the European Campus initiative known as EUCOR that combines five regional universities in Germany, France and Switzerland and also made mention of the University College Freiburg – a school within a school – that offers a four year interdisciplinary Bachelor of Arts program taught in English that is tuition free. UCF will be beginning a campaign to promote this school to prospective American students.
One of the newer developments has been University Freiburg’s establishment of a Liaison Office in New York. This office is headed by Markus Lemmens and he spoke at length about the responsibilities of his office in promoting scientific exchanges, alumni outreach etc.

The gathering took place at the offices of the representative of German Industry and Trade who was gracious in offering his facilities as a venue. Thomas Zielke, President and CEO of RGIT, welcomed the group, giving a brief insight into the organization’s activities and invited the group back at any time for future events.

There was food, wine and lots of reminiscing about peoples’ time in Freiburg and what the experience meant to them. There will be more to come from Alumni Freiburg WDC soon!

Katrin Kempiners