A Festive Send-Off for Our Graduates!
Since our last graduation ceremony a year ago, 304 of our students have gained either a Doctoral degree, a Bachelor's degree, or a Master's degree. Most of them were able to attend the School's own graduation ceremony on November 5, where they personally received their degree certificates and were congratulated by the Dean of the School, Prof. Kittsteiner and the Dean of Studies, Prof. Reimers.
The ceremony - which was presented by Prof. Thomas Kittsteiner, Dean of the School of Business and Economics - began with a speech by Mr. Tobias Scheurer, who has recently gained his Master's degree in Business Administration. Mr. Scheurer shared with the other guests a refreshing review of his and his fellow students' studies at RWTH Aachen University.
The School's Teaching Award was also presented at this year's Graduation Ceremony in the two categories "Professorial Staff" and "Further Teaching Staff".
Winners of the award are pre-selected on the basis of student evaluations of the School's courses (EvaSys). Following on from this basis, the School's representative body "Fachschaft" make their final selection.
The prize in the category "Further Teaching Staff" went to Mr. Morten Endrikat and in the category "Professorial Staff" to Prof. Marco Lübbecke. In his laudatio, Dean of Studies Prof. Kai Reimers underscored the importance of "good teaching" for the School and the University. Three members of the "Fachschaft" - Ms. Lisa Zoller, Ms. Julia Rennau, and Mr. Marcel Koch - elucidated the reasons for the respective choice of winners.
With regard to prize winner Mr. Endrikat, his excellent teaching makes contents clearly understandable and accessible for the students. He always succeeds in integrating his students actively into the teaching and learning process. Students agree that it is always easy to contact Mr. Endrikat and that he will always take the time to respond in full to any questions they might have. He can make even the most complex topic more simple and more easily accessible for students by his effective use of examples. He always successfully adapts his teaching pace to the current situation in class, and facilitates student learning by going over learning contents again as appropriate. With regard to students' written theses, Mr. Endrikat provides intensive and communicative guidance.
In the students' view, Prof. Lübbecke's course "Quantitative Methods - An Introduction to Operations Research" kits them out very effectively for any challenges in their future professional careers. Prof. Lübbecke's quotation from the first lecture of the semester, "Tomorrow's decision makers have no fear of mathematics" sums up the approach of the entire course. He introduces mathematic models and methods by using relevant real-life examples, such as lecture-hall planning or traffic flows, thus providing his students with the necessary tools for making sound decisions. His students are highly aware of Prof. Lübbecke's passion for his field of teaching and research. It is his intention to awaken or to maintain students' enthusiasm for mathematics, and he does so very effectively! Students of RWTH Aachen University who take this course have a definitive competitive edge over students from other universities - an outcome of Prof. Lübbecke's excellent teaching.
A further highlight of the evening was the presenting of the prize for outstanding graduate achievements, donated by the Association of Friends and Supporters of the School of Business and Economics at RWTH Aachen (Förderverein Wirtschaftswissenschaften). One graduate of the Bachelor of Business Administration program of study, two graduates of the Master of Business Administration program, two graduates of the Master of Management, Business and Economics program, and one doctoral graduate were awarded prizes. The final highlight - and the one which most of the guests had been eagerly awaiting - was when each graduate was called onto the stage individually to accept her or his degree certificate and to be congratulated by Prof. Kittsteiner and Prof. Reimers.
The evening's musical entertainment was kindly provided by the salon orchestra of RWTH Aachen University - "ACHSO!".