Farewell and Thank You: “Bernd Scholz-Reiter Has Achieved Great Results”

He is a successful and respected academic who has led the University of Bremen as President for ten years: Professor Bernd Scholz-Reiter will now retire on August 31, 2022.

“Thanks to the great work of Bernd Scholz-Reiter, the University of Bremen enjoys an excellent academic standing internationally, which Scholz-Reiter has always put to good use with relation to research policy,” says Mayor of Bremen and alumnus of the University of Bremen Dr. Andreas Bovenschulte. “As a result, the University of Bremen is now closely networked with many other universities, institutes, and research institutes, and promotes, with these international alliances, the increasingly important interdisciplinary approach in research and development. Last but not least, through the perception of the university in the city and region, Bernd Scholz-Reiter has significantly advanced the university as a place of good and modern teaching and internationally renowned research.”

Bremen’s Senator for Science Dr. Claudia Schilling adds: “Bernd Scholz-Reiter has made a significant contribution to making the University of Bremen an internationally recognized university that has made it into the top 50 young universities worldwide. This shows that research and teaching are conducted at a high level in Bremen. In many areas, the university provides excellent cutting-edge research. The fact that the university, together with local research institutes and cooperation partners, is the leading research center in northwestern Germany is the result of a long-term university strategy to which Professor Scholz-Reiter has made a decisive contribution. I would like to sincerely thank Professor Scholz-Reiter for his commitment.”

Director of Finance and Administration Frauke Meyer emphasizes: “During his academic career and as President, Bernd Scholz-Reiter has achieved a wide range of achievements at regional, national, and international level for the University of Bremen. Since I took over the post of Director of Finance and Administration, we have been working together in the interests of the institution, but we have also been able to talk openly with one another. We would like to sincerely thank Bernd Scholz-Reiter for his many years of commitment to this university and wish him all the best for the future.”

Strengthening European Networks and Regional Cooperation

On an international level, Professor Bernd Scholz-Reiter initiated the YUFE Alliance for the University of Bremen. The European university network Young Universities for the Future of Europe (YUFE) was recently awarded a grant by the European Union for the second four-year development and funding round. The aim of the association of young universities is to create a true European University. In addition, the University of Bremen is involved in the Allianz Young European Research University Network (YERUN) – a network of young yet high-profile research universities, whose president was Bernd Scholz-Reiter from 2019 to 2021.

During the Brexit period, the University of Bremen founded the Bremen-Cardiff Alliance with Cardiff University in Wales (UK) under the leadership of Bernd Scholz-Reiter. Academics from both countries conduct joint research and teaching projects here.

In order to strengthen cooperation between nonuniversity research institutes and the University of Bremen in the region and to enable Bremen to compete even better in the competition between research locations through synergies, the U Bremen Research Alliance was founded in 2016 as a result of his initiative and commitment.

Research and Strategy Development

As part of the Excellence Initiative, under the leadership of Professor Bernd Scholz-Reiter, measures have been introduced in recent years to strategically strengthen the humanities at the university: based on strategic decisions and measures taken by the University Executive Board, the “Worlds of Contradiction” network has created a cooperation platform that raises the research cooperation of the humanities disciplines to a higher level and also one that is more visible to the outside world. The work is bearing fruit: in November 2021, the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (German Research Foundation – DFG) approved the Research Training Group “Contradiction Studies.”

At the university level, under his leadership, an overall strategy was developed for the University of Bremen for the first time as the result of an extensive consultation process with all members of the university (Strategy 2018–2028).

Successful and Respected Academic

Professor Bernd Scholz-Reiter is not only a long-standing president but also a successful and respected academic. For many years he was director of the Bremer Institut für Produktion und Logistik (Bremen Institute for Production Engineering and Logistics – BIBA) at the University of Bremen, initiator and spokesperson of a Collaborative Research Center, and extremely successful in the acquisition and execution of research projects. They were funded by the DFG, the European Union (EU), the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), and the Volkswagen Foundation, among others. Accordingly, the University of Bremen and BIBA received many millions of research funding thanks to his work. His academic field has also given rise to successful start-ups and company foundations.

Professor Bernd Scholz-Reiter’s academic standing is also reflected in his election and admission to reputable scientific associations: he is a member of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities, the National Academy of Science and Engineering (acatech), a fellow of the International Academy for Production Engineering (CIRP), and a member of the German Academic Association for Production Technology.

In addition, he has represented the interests of academia for many years in highly respected voluntary elected offices: he was vice president of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) for many years, is vice president of the International Department of the German Rectors’ Conference (HRK), and was president of the European network YERUN (Young European Research University Network).

“My time was shaped by challenges as well as by chances and opportunities”

“Working at the University of Bremen as a scientist, researcher, and university lecturer, and leading it as president for ten years, was a task that I took great pleasure in,” says Professor Bernd Scholz-Reiter. The framework conditions during my time as president were financially difficult and challenging in terms of global politics and the pandemic. So there was a natural limitation of possibilities. But the time was also shaped by the chances and opportunities that I used for the university. We have created new structures and developed the university as a European research university and an inspiring place of education. I would like to thank everyone who has helped shape the University of Bremen and its development over the past ten years, especially the members of the university, all members of the University Executive Board, and all friends and supporters from civil society, politics, the research authority, and business.”

Personal Profile:

Professor Bernd Scholz-Reiter studied Engineering and Management at TU Berlin. After several positions in Germany and abroad, he first took up a position at the University of Bremen in the year 2000: there, he initially worked at the Faculty of Production Engineering in the area of planning and controlling of production systems. From 2002 to 2012, he headed the Bremer Institut für Produktion und Logistik (BIBA). Bernd-Scholz Reiter has been President of the University of Bremen since 2012.

Professor Jutta Günther will assume the office of President as of September 1, 2022. The Bremen scientist was elected by the Academic Senate on 2 March.