Expulsion from university

Exactly 717 students successfully completed their studies at Mittweida University of Applied Sciences between October 2022 and early April 2023. On 5 May, the university hosted a Graduation Ceremony (Feierliche Exmatrikulation) at the Evangelical City Church. 240 graduates from the previous winter term attended and, together with relatives and friends, filled the late-Gothic nave almost to capacity.

In his first year as the new rector of Mittweida University of Applied Sciences, Professor Volker Tolkmitt presided over the academic send-off.

The university was delighted to welcome Friederike von Hofe, Managing Director of the Berlin Stock Exchange, as the keynote speaker. “Be proud of yourselves, but also of those around you,” she emphasised. Parents, lecturers, fellow students and friends have accompanied and supported you in various ways throughout your studies – and: “Even in the future, nobody expects you to go it alone. Our world is far too complex for that.” In professional life, this support is known as ‘the ability to work in a team’; at the intersection of work and private life, it is the ‘work-life balance’ – but: “There’s nothing to balance here; there’s simply something to add,” emphasised von Hofe, speaking from personal experience, and encouraged students to seek support in this area too.

The emotional highlight of the ceremony is traditionally the ‘capping’ ceremony. The professors congratulate their former students, present them with their certificates in person and crown them with the Mittweida University of Applied Sciences graduation cap. Amongst them this time was one of Mittweida University of Applied Sciences’s most successful elite sportswomen of recent years. Having won numerous medals – including a silver in the canoe four at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio – she now has a cap to add to her collection: canoeist Steffi Kriegerstein.

During the Graduation Ceremony (Feierliche Exmatrikulation), the university awarded the Carl Springe Prize to Heiko Paal and Fabio Bonitz for their outstanding academic achievements and final dissertations in engineering, as well as for their commitment to their fellow students. Carl Springe (1877–1958) studied in Mittweida. His grandson, Helmut von Dreising, donates the prize money.

Here are the figures: the ‘Bachelor’ degree is the most common, with 448 graduates, followed by Master’s and Diplom degrees, which are almost neck and neck with around 130 graduates each. International students successfully completed their studies in Mittweida on 152 occasions. Men were in the majority, with 422 graduates. Whilst the overall average mark for all graduates was 1.9, the top mark of 1.1 was awarded on eight occasions. The oldest graduate this time was 63 years old. He studied on the Master’s programme ‘Sustainability in macroeconomic cycles’, whilst the youngest was 21 years old, a graduate of the ‘Business Management’ programme.