from University President Hartmut Ihne

Foreword

Expanding one’s own potential

“Expanding” is the title of this annual report. This word brings to mind the piece of paper that we unfold. We think of the flower that opens, expanding its petals to unfold. But “expand” means much more. It stands for shaping, developing, intensifying, making visible. Hochschule Bonn-Rhein-Sieg expanded in many ways in 2021. We have ensured that talents, ideas and partnerships come to fruition, in close exchange between applied science, society and business. We have also seen positive developments across universities, especially in the establishment of the Graduate School for Applied Research in North Rhine-Westphalia (PK NRW) of the universities of applied sciences. The German Science and Humanities Council recently recommended to the state government that the Graduate School become a doctoral college with the right to award its own doctoral degrees – an important milestone! The coronavirus pandemic was the main factor shaping daily life in 2021. Nevertheless, the university succeeded in setting an example. It has once again proven that it uses the tools of science to address the issues of the present day. The first Institute for Digital Consumption was founded in Germany, for instance. Topics close to daily life, such as mobility, are the subject of research there.

Especially in regard to digitalisation, we have had and continue to have to deal with enormous challenges – keyword “security”. When crime shifts to the digital space, society and security authorities must arm themselves accordingly. As part of the Cyber Campus NRW (CCNRW) cooperation project with Hochschule Niederrhein, we launched the new Cyber Security & Privacy degree programme in 2021, as well as the Institute for Cyber Security & Privacy. With our teaching and research, we contribute to ensuring that hackers don‘t stand a chance and that people can safely navigate through digital space with protection. Meanwhile, the CCNRW project has also developed into an agreement with the NRW Ministry of the Interior for the training of cyber criminologists.

Moreover, Hochschule Bonn-Rhein-Sieg has opened the Biometric Evaluation Centre (BEZ) at the Sankt Augustin campus in conjunction with the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI). Based on scientifically sound methods, they are testing digital fraud detection there.

However, the major guiding theme that ran like a common thread through the year 2021 is sustainability. We have not broken any new ground because the university has already been active in this field for many years. But we want to become even better. That is why we are joining forces to contribute to a successful transformation into an eco-social market economy. We want to expand our potential

in a targeted manner and bring it to fruition. Hochschule Bonn-Rhein-Sieg aims to be a pioneer, both in the higher education sector and in the region. Sustainability is not just a word to us. The university has firmly integrated this topic into teaching, research, transfer, the facilities and daily campus life. The topic of sustainability plays a major role in University Development Plan 3, which defines our strategic goals until 2025. The entire university was involved in developing this plan.

We do not want to lose any time before implementing it because climate change is relentlessly setting the pace. Extreme weather events are on the rise, as we have experienced first-hand. The catastrophic storm of 14th July 2021 claimed many lives and devastated entire towns and landscapes. The flood also left its mark on Rheinbach. Our campus was severely damaged. Fortunately, no people were injured there.

But the challenges were great. With a lot of commitment, energy and pragmatism, the university tackled the issues together, from the interim quarters and the organisation of teaching and research to repairing the buildings. The university stood together across disciplinary and institutional boundaries. In this way, it has also expanded its potential. This was extremely valuable, also with regard to the outpouring of help that we experienced – in the scientific community as well as among local authorities and politicians. We are very grateful for this support.

Reconstruction of the buildings is now underway, and we will make our Rheinbach campus usable again bit by bit.

The Annual Report 2021 reflects the great diversity of topics at the university. I wish you a thought-provoking read.

Prof. Dr Hartmut Ihne President of H-BRS