Adlershof has come a long way
In conversation with Sabine Kunst, president of Humboldt-Universität, about the university’s natural science campus
Sabine Kunst became the president of the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (HU) in May this year. A conversation about the challenges faced by the long-standing university, the role of the HU’s campus in Adlershof, the methods of technology transfer, and standby-students in the natural science disciplines.
Adlershof Journal: You have been president of the HU for four months now, what is your verdict?
After meeting a lot of people here, I can definitely say that the HU is a special place with very high potential. Our staff is very dedicated to the HU, many of them see themselves as “Humboldtians“. There are more opportunities than things we can actually do. There is a great discrepancy, for example, between students, lecturers, and the administrative staff. The latter group did not grow proportionately to the other two in the last few years.
Which issues are on the top of your agenda?
To promote digitalization and to ensure the HU’s sustainability. A few keywords: a long-term consolidation of the structure by 2030, ensuring resource security and successfully competing in the new German Universities Excellence Initiative.
When did you first visit the Science City Adlershof?
I was here several times in the past months. I was very surprised how well the place developed since I was first here about ten years ago. New places to meet, the student village, but also more cafés and bistros, all these things are creating a real campus atmosphere. Adlerhof is growing into a Science City more and more.
What role do the natural sciences play in the HU?
Campus Adlershof is a mainstay of HU. Many natural scientists will be part of the cluster initiaves, which are the HU’s contribution to the German Universities Excellence Initiative in April 2017. The close cooperation with non-university institutions is a great plus.
Having the HU close-by, is an important criteria for choosing Adlershof for many companies. How do smaller high-tech companies cooperate with HU?
There is a wide range of ways, which are mostly initiated by the Humboldt-Innovation GmbH. Examples include the event series “Wissenschaft trifft Wirtschaft“ (“Science meets Business“) and “Humboldts Wagniswerkstätten“ (“Humboldt’s Venture Workshops”). The latter is a new platform enabling researchers to work on interdiscplinary and applied research projects with the business community. I should also mention our expertise map and the development programme Transfer BONUS. The establishment of INAM, the innovation network for new materials, in Adlershof is also a clear sign. Many HU spin-offs come from the natural sciences.
Where are start-ups on the university’s agenda?
Translating ideas and research results into businesses is high on the university’s agenda. The HU is among the highest-ranking universities in the ranking of Exist, a technology transfer programme of the German ministry for economic affairs. Many start-ups come from IT and their “survival rate” is good. The newest Adlershof-based HU spin-off is from the life sciences and called Enviropep. The team consists of three PhD chemists, who have developed a procedure to produce peptides more quickly and resource-friendly.
WISTA-MANAGEMENT GMBH is currently building co-working spaces in Rudower Chaussee 17. Do you see a demand from the HU’s perspective?
I think that is a great initiative. There is still not enough room for students willing to start businesses. Supporting such founders is also very important: the HU offers so-called tandem solutions so that young scientists don’t feel left alone.
There is a disproportionately high number of drop-outs in the BA courses of the natural science faculty. What is the HU doing to reverse that trend?
We share this problem with many other universities. Different disciplines have different paths. In our physics majors, only 40% of the students are left at the end of the regular period of study. We are currently examining the reasons and are particularly interested during which semester the drop-outs occur. We also have a high number of so-called “standby students” in majors without entrance limitation. They enroll at university – for example for a BA in physics – but do not actually take part or change over to another major. It is up to us to redefine dropping out in this case. However, the high strain faced by students in the natural sciences is a problem. We are trying to inform prospective students about the content of the courses with special programmes. Moreover, there are mentor-tutor programmes.
Will there be constructional changes on the HU campus?
Yes, they include the new IRIS building, the Integrative Research Institute for the Sciences, and the development project UniLab, a laboratory for high school students. There is an integrated long-term plan for a central university building with a large lecture hall.
Is there a roadmap for the psychologists leaving Adlershof?
No.
Sylvia Nitschke conducted the interview for Adlershof Journal