Communications and Marketing

Promotionskolleg NRW receives right to confer doctoral degrees

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Tuesday 8 November 2022

With a handshake, the milestone became legally binding for the universities of applied sciences (HAW) in North Rhine-Westphalia: NRW Minister of Science Ina Brandes (CDU) awarded the doctoral college NRW the right to award doctorates at a ceremony in Essen on Thursday evening by shaking a hand of the Chairman of the Board, Professor Martin Sternberg. Now the academic institution can independently conduct doctoral procedures and award doctoral degrees. There was a standing ovation from the guests in the hall - including a large delegation from research-strong H-BRS.

In his speech beforehand, Sternberg had emphasised the great importance of the independent doctoral right for the doctoral college, whose sponsors are the 21 HAW in the state, and had spoken several times of the milestone. Minister Ina Brandes was also full of praise and underlined the importance of higher education policy for science and industry: "This is a great opportunity for North Rhine-Westphalia," she said. It didn't matter that the sign, which was produced especially for the occasion, was too big for the presentation on stage and that the handshake had to suffice, as the Minister told the audience.

Enthusiasm at H-BRS

There is great joy at Hochschule Bonn-Rhein-Sieg about this milestone. "The granting of the right to confer doctoral degrees is a very important step for the Universities of Applied Sciences in North Rhine-Westphalia, and one that is consistent in terms of science politics. The Science Council recognised and highlighted the excellent quality of the research environment for doctoral students at the doctoral college and the HAW in its report. The right to award doctorates to the HAW will give applied research in NRW a significant boost and further strengthens NRW as a science state overall," says University President Hartmut Ihne.

Herpers: We are overjoyed

 "Finally. We are overjoyed," says Prof. Dr. Rainer Herpers, founding director of the Graduate Institute at the H-BRS and also founding director at the Doctoral College NRW. "We have been working towards this for twelve years."

Gruppenbild Delegation H-BRS Verleihung Promotionsrecht in Essen 17112022 Foto Pascal Kimmich
Great joy: The H-BRS delegation with professors and employees at the awarding of the doctorate in Essen. Photo: Pascal Kimmich

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There it is! Doctoral College Chair Professor Martin Sternberg and University President Hartmut Ihne with the custom-made sign from the NRW Ministry of Science. Photo: Pascal Kimmich

Kontakt

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Daniela Greulich

Deputy Head of executive department Communications and Marketing/Press and Public Relations, Press Officer

Location

Sankt Augustin

Room

E 237

Address

Grantham-Allee 20

53757, Sankt Augustin

Telephone

+49 2241 865 641
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Pascal Schröder

Science Editor

Tuesday until Friday

Location

Sankt Augustin

Room

E 241

Address

Grantham-Allee 20

53757, Sankt Augustin

Telephone

+49 2241 865 9969

Monday

Location

Rheinbach

Room

H 008

Address

Von-Liebig-Str. 8

53359 Rheinbach

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Rainer Herpers

Computer Vision, Computer Graphics, Multimedia Applications

Research fields

Location

Sankt Augustin

Room

F 427

Address

Grantham-Allee 20

53757, Sankt Augustin

Location

Sankt Augustin

Room

C 275

Address

Grantham-Allee 20

53757, Sankt Augustin

Press releases of the Ministry (German)