Welcome (back) to the winter semester 2022/23
Dear colleagues,
Dear students,
I hope you are all well and have enjoyed the summer and had a relaxing break. Now, on 1 September, the winter semester 22/23 has begun and we will soon start with courses. We also welcome many new students every autumn - and I am personally very much looking forward to the campus filling up with more and more life again.
In addition to the fact that we still have to keep an eye on the corona pandemic in connection with our teaching, there is currently another very difficult issue that affects us all: the energy problem connected with the war in Ukraine and the obligation to save energy also have an effect on universities, of course. We, too, are facing a challenge (30% energy savings - that's the target) and must prepare ourselves for the fact that the coming winter semester will also be anything but "a normal" semester.
The Brandenburg university administrations and the Ministry of Science, Research and Culture have therefore already agreed in recent weeks and months on how we will face this new challenge together. Among other things, we will continue to meet online on a weekly basis until further notice in order to be able to react quickly and in a coordinated manner to new situations. At the same time, we agree that we will do everything we can to ensure the best possible attendance at the universities. After more than two years of "corona operations" affecting many different aspects of university life, we see it as extremely important to promote face-to-face encounters and to maintain on-site learning. However, we must all be aware that on-site operations will be subject to significant restrictions in the coming weeks and months. We are currently finalising an emergency plan as well as an "energy etiquette", are preparing our own "energy website" with all relevant information, and have expanded our crisis team to include experts from the fields of building services and sustainability.
From now on, information on this will again be provided via the crisis team account krisenstab(at)th-wildau.de and I ask you to take very careful note of it. I also kindly ask you to send enquiries on this subject exclusively to this e-mail address as well.
I think we are all very clear: there will be challenging months ahead - both in our private lives and in terms of our university operations. As university leaders, we will set a framework that will enable the energy savings we are committed to. Beyond that, however, it is fundamental that we all "pull together" and that everyone acts and works very consciously and sparingly with regard to energy consumption in their respective environments. All energy costs are to be borne by the universities from their basic budget and we all know how prices are literally skyrocketing at the moment.
I would therefore like to thank you in advance for your cooperation and understanding, and despite everything, I am very confident that we will also overcome this challenge together.
In this spirit, I look forward to seeing you again on campus and send you all my warmest regards!
Welcome (back) dates at a glance: https://en.th-wildau.de/study/welcome-back/
Ihre Ulrike Tippe
Prof. Dr. Ulrike Tippe
Präsidentin / President
Technische Hochschule Wildau