Greeting from the President of Freie Universitaet Berlin

Prof. Dr. Peter-André Alt
© Freie Universitaet BerlinDear Alumni and Friends of Freie Universitaet Berlin,

To those of you who studied at Freie Universitaet Berlin, or perhaps also worked here, and spent a great deal of time at this university, we hope that you profited from the years spent at your alma mater, that it was a time of success and discovery for you, and that you retain good memories from that period. The character of a university is molded by those who study, teach, work, and perform research on its campus. All the members of the university contribute to shaping the image that distinguishes Freie Universitaet Berlin from all the other universities in the eye of the public. It is important to us to maintain contact with you in the future because as alumni you also contribute to the image of your alma mater. Alumni represent their alma mater and contribute to its reputation, visibility, and ultimately to its role in society.

Perhaps you reflect back on your university with a certain amount of pride. After all, Freie Universitaet Berlin has a special place among German universities. Unjustly somewhat forgotten after German reunification, your Freie Universitaet Berlin has experienced a unique success story since then. Its annual total of acquired external funds recently reached almost 60 million euros, an increase of over 80% since 1992. During the same period of time, the number of its publications as well as the quota of graduates per professor both doubled. Freie Universitaet has not only continuously increased its output, but also when taking into account the greatly reduced number of professors due to reductions in public funds, its efficiency.

With approximately 34,000 students—including 15% from abroad—studying over 100 subjects, Freie Universitaet Berlin is today one of the largest and highest-performing universities in Germany. It is known for its modern and international character. In light of its goal toward becoming a competitive international network university, Freie Universitaet began very early to offer bachelor and master courses of study. By now the change-over to these internationally recognized degrees has been completed across the board. The successive implementation of plans for the university's development as a cluster university in the traditional science district of Dahlem will further strengthen the research profile and achievements of Freie Universitaet. Our success thus far in the federal and state Initiative for Excellence competition is an additional indication that we are heading in the right direction.

Freie Universitaet Berlin aims to expand upon its strengths in research and teaching and to form future-oriented clusters of competency with external institutions, enterprises, and organizations, thereby increasing economic, political, and societal efficacy. To this end we need your assistance. Many of you hold significant positions in these areas and could help us in gaining new connections. In discussions with representatives of business, science, and politics, we would like to demonstrate the excellence of this university and to represent what we are—the best location for research and education.

Please contact us by sending me an email (praesident@fu-berlin.de) to let me know, where your path in life has taken you. Perhaps you can help us to bring the family of Freie Universitaet Berlin closer together. Perhaps you have ideas on how you can support us—for the future from the very beginning.

I hope that you will remain loyal to us, and I wish you every success.

Sincerely yours,

Prof. Dr. Peter-André Alt

President