"25 years and 450 days" was the motto of the University Society of Oldenburg (UGO) for its anniversary celebration, which took place on 13 July in the university's new lecture hall building in the presence of numerous representatives from regional politics, business and culture.

The society was founded on 26 April 1972 in the Oldenburg railway station restaurant - as a bridge between the university and the region and as a regional lobby that also promotes the interests of the university in Hanover. Through its continuous work, it made a significant contribution to overcoming the clearly noticeable gap between the university and parts of the population in the 1970s. The second decade of the UGO was characterised by support for the successful efforts to expand and extend the university's range of subjects.

Another important task of the University Society is to provide material support for "its" university. In addition to the selective funding of smaller projects, programmes were set up to promote academic activities. Since 1981, the Gerhard Wachsmann Prize, named after the late Chair of the Society, has been awarded annually to young academics. The Wolfgang Schulenberg Programme, established in 1994, supports trips by young scientists, and the Peter Waskönig Foundation, set up by the current Chair, awards three prizes annually to students at the university. Two large donations made it possible to build the University Guest House in the 1980s.

The UGO acted as a mediator between the university and industry with the newly established endowed professorship in Information Systems in the Department of Computing Science.

On the occasion of its 25th anniversary, the University Society has published a brochure entitled "25 years and 450 days ...Universitätsgesellschaft Oldenburg e. V. - Promotion and critical support of a young university". The A5-sized brochure contains information on the organisation and history of the University Society, the university and interviews with people who have been involved with the University Society. The design is based on the university brochure "Open for new paths".

As part of the celebrations to mark the 25th anniversary of the University Society, the University was officially presented with the four plaques listing the honorary senators, honorary citizens, honorary doctorates and winners of the Gerhard Wachsmann Prize. The plaques were installed in the new lecture theatre centre on Uhlhornsweg.

The Chair of the University Society, Peter Waskönig, awarded silver medals of honour to long-standing supporters and friends of the Society and the University. The recipients were Deputy Managing Director of the Chamber of Industry and Commerce Dr Günter König, banker and Honorary Senator Dr Christopher Pleister, Senior Church Councillor Prof. Dr Rolf Schäfer, Prof. Dr Horst Kurt Schminke, Director of the Oldenburgische Landschaft, Ursula Schute, management consultant Heiko Büsing and, last but not least, outgoing University President Prof. Dr Michael Daxner, whose extraordinary services to the development of the University were expressly recognised by Waskönig.