Dr. Christina von Behr

Christina von Behr applied for a position in Department 9 (Cultural Studies) from the press office at Humboldt University Berlin in 2004 because she was drawn back to her hometown. Since 2016, she has been the head of the then newly founded HERE AHEAD Academy, a consortium of Bremen's state universities that offers study preparation programmes for prospective international students with and without a refugee background. She loves the diverse mix of her leadership role: personnel management, (higher education) policy coordination, coordinating cross-university cooperation between the University of Bremen, Bremen University of Applied Sciences and University of Applied Sciences Bremerhaven , as well as working out new processes and structures. Above all, however, she is always able to inspire herself (and others) to plan and design the preparatory studies for international applicants with and without a refugee background in such a way that the young people from many countries are optimally prepared for their studies at one of Bremen's universities.

For the University of Bremen in 50 years' time, she hopes that much of what makes it special now will remain. But a "visual update in the central area" could, she hopes, better reflect the cosmopolitan character of the city and university by then, so that students, staff and guests from all over the world can feel even more welcome and at home here.