Nine Questions to the New President of TU Dortmund University

1. Congratulations on your election as president, Mr. Bayer. What have you got planned for teaching when you take up office in September?

I want to further improve conditions for our students, in particular the supervision ratio. Now that the funds from the University Pact are a stable source of income, universities can plan more reliably and create additional posts for lecturers. Senior professorships could also help to improve the student/professor ratio. In addition, we need to further increase students’ success rate, for example, through a zero semester…

…a question, please: A zero semester? That could lead to problems with the standard program duration…

My motto here is: There’s no such thing as impossible. We could use models here such as extended preparatory courses that already start in the early summer. If word gets round among prospective students that such an orientation phase makes it far easier to start studying, then this can become a success after two or three years. It’s not just a matter of learning the subject but also of getting to know the city and the campus and of contact to other students.

2. Due to the co­ronavirus­ crisis, campus life has come to a standstill. What do you think of digital teaching?

It’s working and we’re doing a good job. I already said in my application speech on 16 January – so before the co­rona­virus crisis – that I would like to expand digital teaching and digital exams. But to be honest, I personally miss above all the lecture hall right now: Looking up into the rows of students’ faces: Did they understand what I just said? Am I not expressing myself clearly? You don’t get this feedback when a lecture is streamed. Right now, I really miss direct contact to the students.

3. How do you view TU Dortmund University’s position in research?

TU Dortmund University is strong in research but could profit further from more coherent programs within the faculties and across faculty boundaries. For certain areas, the acquisition of external funding is important in order to keep pace in the research competition. TU Dortmund University is already good in some programs, for example, as far as Collaborative Research Centers are concerned, while we could get more out of other programs, such as the exchange programs of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.  

4. Which of the Rectorate’s business divisions do you intend to develop further?

The existing departments are all important: Teaching, research, finance and diversity management. But internationalization should also one of the Rectorate’s business divisions. This is an area to which I’d like to devote more attention within the Rectorate.

5. In your view, what is still missing with regard to internationalization?

We should invite more international researchers to Dortmund because they can serve as excellent ambassadors for our University and the city after they return home. For this, we must make their stay as easy and unbureaucratic as possible. An important component in this context is undoubtedly the new guesthouse planned for the University. English-taught Master’s programs could also help foster internationalization.

6. Apart from internationalization, what role does the Ruhr area play for you as a science region?

In Dortmund and the Ruhr area we’ve got strong local partners: We already work very closely together with a number of non-university research institutions, such as the MPI of Molecular Physiology or the two Leibniz institutes. Collaboration with other organizations could be still closer, such as with the Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. We could also work even more closely with Dortmund University of Applied Sciences, for instance in the area of transfer. Collaboration within the UA Ruhr alliance will certainly further intensify – without cooperation we won’t profit from the billions of euros in the coal phaseout plan which – according to a Ruhr Conference resolution – are reserved for joint research centers. And collaborating with the City of Dortmund is naturally also very important for us, for example, in the implementation of the Science Master Plan.

7. A big problem at TU Dortmund University is space. How could this be resolved?

New buildings are already in the planning in order to create more space. As TU Dortmund University, we could additionally profit if Dortmund University of Applied Sciences were to move in the medium term to the Hoesch Spundwand brownfield on Rheinische Strasse. TU Dortmund University might perhaps then be able to move into the University of Applied Science’s building on North Campus. That would really relieve the University’s acute and enormous space problem.

8. Will the Rectorate have a student member?

Staying in close and constant contact with students is tremendously important to me. Having a student member in the Rectorate is not necessarily needed to achieve this, it’s possible to work together well in other ways in order to put in place the very best study conditions. Official duties in the Rectorate take up so much time that a student member would not get round to doing what he or she is actually here for: To study. Moreover, it’s important for the Rectorate to work together over several years in the same constellation.

09. You’re originally from Franconia but have lived in Dortmund for 18 years. Where do you feel at home?

I’m a Borussia fan and have two season tickets. That hopefully answers your question! I felt welcome and comfortable here straight away. Dortmund is now my home, even if I miss Franconian wine and sausages now and again.

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