Geschäftsbericht 2009

Excellent teaching Studying in Aachen RWTH Aachen was awarded a prize by the Stifterverband für die Deutsche W issenschaft (German Science Foundation) and the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs in 2009 for the excellence of its teaching. More than 33,000 students benefit from the excellent standard of education of fered in the university’s over 100 degree programmes.

The award means that RWTH joins the universities in Fr eiburg and Munich as one of three that have been designated “excellent” in terms of both teaching and research. “I’m convinced the holistic appr oach of our concept “Studierende im Fokus der Exzellenz” (Students in Focus of Excellence) won the jury over,” said Prof. Dr. Aloys Krieg. As vice-r ector for teaching at RWTH, the mathematics professor coordinates and oversees the various pr ocesses at the university that regularly monitor and evaluate the quality of teaching (for more details on the RWTH teaching concept, please see “Good teaching is rewarded”, p. 91). The university plans to use the prize money of € 1 million to improve support for beginning students with an individual mentoring system and to fund innovative teaching and study pr ojects. “We all know how important a student’s first months at university ar e,” said Prof. Dr. Aloys Krieg.

“That’s why we put together a whole package of measur es to help make things easier for students starting out at R WTH.” And there are more newcomers than ever before: For the first time in the university’ s history, more than 6,000 new students enrolled for the 2009/2010 winter semester. The Faculty of Mechanical Engineering accounted for the most new enr olments (1,723), followed by the Faculty of Mathematics, Computer Science and Natural Sciences with 1,140 and the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology with 739.

Under the new programme, all beginning students will be assigned to mentors who can provide competent advice on study-r elated issues. In addition, the RWTH Aachen’s International Office launched the BeBuddy pr ogramme in 2009 to help the over 1,000 for eign students enrolling here each semester to adjust to their new envir onment. In the BeBuddy pr ogramme, experienced students who know Aachen will of fer their fellow students fr om abroad advice, often even prior to their arrival, and then welcome them and continue to of fer help and guidance when they get to the city . The programme is very popular: 160 “buddy pairs” teamed up in the first few months alone.

RWTH also offers special support to students with disabilities and chr onic diseases. Two designated helpers performing community service stand at the ready to deliver meals, accompany students to their courses and of fer other assistance when needed. In addition, a special r oom was set up in 2009 wher e students with disabilities can study or r est, and a conference on “barrier-free university teaching” was held in November, which was organised by the RWTH Integration Team – Human Resources, Gender and Diversity Management in collaboration with the student union r epresentative for students with 79