Dr. Dietmar Ertmann, Chancellor of the Universität Karlsruhe, will leave the university to take over new tasks. He will not extend his regular working time that will end on September 30, 2008, but establish the first German technical university at Lahore/Pakistan.
“The offer of the Pakistani government to establish a German technical university is highly attractive. Moreover, the function of a chancellor as the head of administration will no longer be up-to-date at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) in the future”, said the chancellor at yesterday’s meeting of the university senate. Professor Horst Hippler, president of the university, thanked Ertmann for his commitment and successful cooperation and wished him much success for his future work.
The Pakistani government had contacted several European and non-European states with the request to establish various technical universities in their country. Following the consent by the German side, the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD, German Academic Exchange Service) took over the mediator’s role and set up a foundation association of nine German universities. Ertmann was given the managing function of a foundation commissioner.
Since 2000, Ertmann has been chancellor of the Universität Karlsruhe. Before, he had been chancellor of the Universität Mannheim for ten years.
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 cooperation partner of industry.
zk, June 17, 2008