Photo: Kevin Ryl
“Hardly any other German university has seen as much growth as we have these past few years,” the President recapitulated. “Thanks to the increase in funding from the State of Brandenburg, we were able to not just do more of the same, but to significantly improve in terms of quality. New programs and faculties were added and we were able to boost the quality of academic studies fundamentally. In the course of the generational change and owing to our innovative tenure-track program, we filled several professorship positions with high-profile candidates,” Günther explained. The university has also been put in a position to brave upcoming challenges through restructuring, including the creation of a CIO unit that oversees the Center for Information Technology and Media Management and the University Library, or of the new Division 5 “Construction and Facility Management”. “All these measures have led the University of Potsdam to improve its position in almost all relevant university rankings – from the mid-tier into the top third or even top quarter of all German universities,” the President of the University summed up. He wants to stay on this course for his third term of office: “We are hoping for positive results as we compete for Collaborative Research Center (DFG) and Clusters of Excellence funding – the German gold standards when in comes to evaluating research strength.” In negotiations with the state government of Brandenburg, Oliver Günther aims for “more legroom in terms of our principal contractor role and funding models.” His focus for teaching and transfer will be an even better integration of international students and researchers: “International exchange with our partner institutions – including the European University Alliance EDUC – is an integral part of our students’ personality development and also helps with the skilled labor shortage, by the way, as it helps highly talented individuals find their way to Brandenburg. Günther will center his attention on these various challenges in the next six years just as much as on the potentials “to contribute even more to common welfare and to safeguarding our free democracy in politically eventful times.”
Born in Baden-Wuerttemberg in 1961, information systems expert Prof. Oliver Günther, Ph.D., has been at the helm of the University of Potsdam since 2012. Prior to this, he was Dean of Humboldt Universität zu Berlin's School of Business and Economics and was head of its Institute of Information Systems. He studied industrial engineering and mathematics at the Universität Karlsruhe. He earned a Ph.D. in Computer Science form the University of California Berkeley. Günther has gained experience in various fields, both nationally and internationally. He worked at the International Computer Science Institute (ICSI), the University of California Santa Barbara, and the Research Institute for Applied Knowledge Processing (FAW) in Ulm.
Photo: Prof. Oliver Günther, Ph.D., pictured here with Senate Chairman Prof. Dr. Andreas Borowski, was re-elected for a third term of office as President of the University. Photo: Kevin Ryl
Contact:
Dr. Silke Engel, Spokesperson of the University of Potsdam
Phone: +49 331 977-1496
E-mail: silke.engeluuni-potsdampde
Media information: 20-09-2023 / No. 095