Notes from the university
- In co-operation with the University of Bremen, the first Collaborative Research Centre of the German Research Foundation has been established at the university. An interdisciplinary research group is working on the major “Neurocognition” project, which has received funding of 2.5 million marks. President Prof. Dr Michael Daxner described the establishment of the Collaborative Research Centre as a further step towards raising the university’s profile.
- High honour for the Karl Jaspers lectures on contemporary issues. They were designated by UNESCO as Germany’s contribution to the “World Decade for Cultural Development”. Past guests of the lecture series, founded in 1990, have included Lew Kopelew, Richard von Weizäcker and Ivan Illich. In future, the series – which is funded by the Lower Saxony Foundation – is to continue with lesser-known but highly promising young academics.
- Friedhelm Hachmeister, a board member of Botterbloom Milch e.G. in Oldenburg, is the chairman of a support association founded by Department 4 (Economics and Law), which aims to build bridges of cooperation between the business world and the field of economics. Alongside the Department of Economics, the Employers’ Association, the DGB and the City of Oldenburg were involved in its establishment.
- The first scholarships from the newly established Heinz Neumüller Foundation have been awarded to five doctoral candidates in the fields of economics, natural sciences and Law. With a monthly grant of 800 marks, the scholarships are valid for one year.
- Dr Thea Dückert, Head of the Office for University and Trade Union Co-operation, has been appointed to lead the newly established “Work and Science” programme. From the summer semester of 1996, the programme is to offer full-time and voluntary trade unionists the opportunity to participate in research and teaching at the University of Oldenburg as guest students for two semesters. The founding charter was signed by Heinz-Hermann Witte, Chair of the DGB Lower Saxony, and Prof. Dr Michael Daxner.
- The Jewish Studies degree programme was officially launched in the presence of Lower Saxony’s Minister for Science, Helga Schuchardt. Other guests included Prof. Dr Aron Bodenheimer, an honorary doctorate holder of the university, the Heidelberg theologian Prof. Dr Rolf Rendtorff, and the Oldenburg rabbi Bea Wyler. The Jewish Studies degree programme has been available as a minor subject within the Magister degree programme since the summer semester of 1995.
- He had always refused to declare a state of emergency in the face of budget cuts, explained President Prof. Dr Michael Daxner on the occasion of a new decree from the Ministry of Science to cut further funds from the university’s already mandated austerity budget. However, there is a point at which one cannot simply adapt to the “new circumstances”.
