The University of Freiburg invited its former students to Freiburg from 4 to 6 July 2014 for the 8^th International Alumni Meeting. An attractive and diverse weekend program with around 40 events gave visitors the chance to renew their bond with their “old” university.

All of the faculties held academic events, including lectures, guided tours, and excursions, to give alumni insight into current research topics. Several faculties also held ceremonies on the weekend to say farewell to the current year’s graduates.

On Saturday, 5 July 2014, Freiburg’s mayor Dr. Dieter Salomon, himself an alumnus of the university, and Rector Professor Hans-Jochen Schiewer invited the alumni to a reception at the Historical Merchants’ Hall.

In addition, this year was the 50^th anniversary of the Academic Orchestra of the University of Freiburg. The orchestra marked the occasion by giving two concerts. The concert for the alumni featured founding members of the ensemble.

The program also included culinary highlights: A wine tasting at the Freiburg Wine Festival on historic Cathedral Square gave connoisseurs the chance to test this year’s vintage of the university wines. The Carl-Schurz-Haus invited the alumni to an “American BBQ.”

Soccer fans took the opportunity to watch the quarterfinals of the World Cup at the university cafeteria’s beer garden.

On Sunday morning, the participants were invited to a special ecumenical church service, the first ever held within the context of the alumni meeting. The service was organized by Dr. Regina Schiewer, chair of the city’s evangelical synod, and Professor Reiner Marquard, rector of the Freiburg Protestant University of Applied Sciences. In a sermon addressed to the alumni, Marquard made reference to 1 Timothy 2.8a. The text of the sermon is available here.

The guests of this year’s alumni meeting also included the presidents of the University of Freiburg’s national and international alumni clubs. They have founded regional alumni networks in various countries across the globe to create new possibilities for maintaining contact with their old university in Germany.