In spite of the present crisis, the HECTOR Technology Business School of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and enterprises will celebrate young managers: At the graduation ceremony on Friday, April 24, in the castle of Karlsruhe, master’s certificates will be awarded to engineers, information scientists, and bankers from all over the world. Most graduates of this extra-occupational further training are supported by their employers. Among the speakers will be the former Minister President of the state of Baden-Württemberg, Lothar Späth.
The international approach adopted by the Technology Business School founded in 2005 has proved to be successful – 22 young professionals from four continents have successfully passed the five extra-occupational master programs. These programs combine management and technical issues. “I wanted to pass a general further training, but still related to vehicle development”, says the graduate Alexander Schwarz from BMW Munich. He decided to take part in the master program “Management of Product Development”. “On the one hand, I wanted to learn to consider business management relationships. On the other hand, I wished to focus on issues of product development. And I wanted to acquire an internationally acknowledged degree.”
Seven to twelve participants are studying in the five extra-occupational master programs that focus on machine and plant construction, product development, development of electronic systems, information systems, and risk management. For Dr. Judith Elsner, Director of the HECTOR School, the reason for the success of the graduates is obvious: “The exclusive size of the studies program, varying professional experience, and not least internationality provide for an optimum learning atmosphere.” According to Elsner, all programs are aimed at reaching the three objectives of the HECTOR School: Being an excellent forum for life-long learning, offering comprehensive further training in both the engineering and the management sector, and supporting unrestricted exchange of methodological and conceptual knowledge between industry and the university. The director underlines that all this “happens in internationally competitive, English-speaking structures.”
Globally active companies like Thyssen Krupp Technologies, Bosch, MAG, BMW, DZ Bank, and Bombardier Transportation have focused on the further training of their managers to be at the HECTOR School for several years now. This training is completed by a master’s thesis at the respective enterprises, which is supervised by KIT professors.
Apart from Lothar Späth, the HECTOR School will welcome Mo Meidar, Chairman and CEO of MAG Industrial Automation Systems, one of the leading enterprises in the construction of machine tools. Welcome addresses will be presented by the President of Universität Karlsruhe, Professor Horst Hippler, and Professor Kai Furmans, Academic Director of the HECTOR School. On behalf of the graduates, who will follow the American tradition of wearing caps and gowns, David Judge and also Professor Clemens Puppe, winner of this year’s HECTOR teaching award, will look back on the studies.
The Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) is the merger of the Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe, member of the Helmholtz Association, and the Universität Karlsruhe. This merger will give rise to an institution of internationally excellent research and teaching in natural and engineering sciences. In total, the KIT has 8000 employees and an annual budget of 700 million Euros. The KIT focuses on the knowledge triangle of research – teaching – innovation.
The Karlsruhe institution is a leading European energy research center and plays a visible role in nanosciences worldwide. KIT sets new standards in teaching and promotion of young scientists and attracts top scientists from all over the world. Moreover, KIT is a leading innovation partner of industry.