The University Senate and the University Council today voted in favour of appointing University President Ralph Bruder for a second term of office ahead of schedule and without a call for tenders. The occupational scientist took up his first six-year term of office on 1 August 2021. The University Senate's vote, together with the University Council's statement, will now be submitted to the Lower Saxony Ministry of Science for a decision.
"The re-election of Professor Bruder is a strong signal for a university that has developed excellently in recent years and wants to implement further bold plans for the future. The University Council sees in him an outstanding personality who convincingly combines academic excellence, innovative strength and social responsibility," explained the Chair of the University Council, Felix Thalmann. The vote by the University Senate and University Council testifies to the great confidence in Bruder's high level of expertise and strategic foresight.
Bruder thanked both the University Senate and the University Council for their trust - and also expressly thanked all those who work for the University of Oldenburg on a daily basis in a variety of ways: "The positive development of our university is largely due to the close cooperation and strong commitment of the employees and students at our university. I am very much looking forward to continuing to raise the profile of the University of Oldenburg as an excellent university with social responsibility as part of this special team."
Bruder emphasised to the University Senate that he wanted to use his second term in office to develop the "Northwest Alliance" - with the University of Oldenburg as a central player - into an even more internationally visible research and transfer area. "I am convinced that we can anchor our successes in the long term and increase them even further," says Bruder. The culture of the university is equally important to him: "The University of Oldenburg is a place of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and diverse openness - now and in the future," emphasised the President.
In recent years, the University of Oldenburg has been able to impressively demonstrate its research excellence - including the fact that all three clusters of excellence applied for in the federal and state governments' 2025 Excellence Strategy were approved. "With this tailwind, we decided, together with the University of Bremen, to apply as a Cluster of Excellence - a unique opportunity in the history of the University of Oldenburg. Numerous people from both universities were involved in the application process, including the proposal and the inspection, with the highest level of commitment. It makes me proud to see what we have achieved so far - and what we could still achieve," explained Bruder with regard to the decision in the Universities of Excellence funding line in October.
The founding of the "Northwest Alliance" of the universities of Oldenburg and Bremen with the Rijksuniversiteit Groningen as a privileged partner at the beginning of 2025 is one of the milestones in Bruder's time in office so far. Strongly anchoring the university in the city and region was and is a major concern of his. In 2023, the university and the city concluded a strategic cooperation agreement to intensify the collaboration that has existed for decades and to dovetail their activities even more closely, for example in terms of climate neutrality and internationalisation.
Bruder emphasised that the university has always been able to rely on the support of the city and region in its - now successful - efforts to establish University Medicine Oldenburg (UMO) in the long term. For example, the budget for the increase to 200 medical study places per year and the necessary buildings has been anchored in the state budget since 2024.
Lower Saxony's Science Minister Falko Mohrs congratulated Bruder "very warmly" on his re-election. "This clear vote is a convincing sign of confidence in his successful work. The University Medicine Oldenburg has made outstanding progress in recent years - from the further development of university medicine and international networking in the Northwest Alliance to the competition for the title of University of Excellence," said the Minister. "I am convinced that it will continue on this successful path under his strategic leadership and further sharpen its profile as a high-performance and internationally networked university."
