Media informations

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Karl Beucke will be appointed as new vice-chancellor of the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar in April 2011, succeeding the long-term vice-chancellor Prof. Dr. Gerd Zimmermann. The resolution for the new appointment was passed by the Senate on Wednesday, 1 December 2010 by secret ballot, confirming the corresponding election by the University Council. 

After receiving word of the Senate's decision after its special joint session, Professor Karl Beucke issued the following statement: "I wish to thank the University Council and the Senators for placing their trust in me. I look forward to this new task and shall take it up with the utmost responsibility. Great challenges lie ahead and I, as vice-chancellor, together with all the members of the university, look forward to meeting them head on."

Professor Beucke will begin a six-year term as vice-chancellor starting in the summer semester 2011. The 59-year-old has been the Dean of Research in the Executive Board of the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar since 2005. As Dean of Research he significantly expanded the university's research department and improved the visibility of its research activities at the international level. He was also strongly committed to expanding scholarship funding for students in the artistic and design-related disciplines at the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar. 

Karl Beucke was appointed Chair of Information Studies in Construction at the Faculty of Civil Engineering in 1995. His main areas of research include communication in building planning and construction, network distributed collaboration in the construction sector, construction process modelling and construction-related business and management IT systems. He also supervised several important externally-funded projects at the faculty.

Professor Beucke has an excellent relationship with internationally renowned universities, such as the University of California in San Diego and the Stellenbosch University in South Africa. In the winter semester 2006/07, he was a guest lecturer at the Jacobs School of Engineering at the University of California. In 2008 Professor Beucke became president of the International Society for Computing in Civil and Building Engineering (ISCCBE).

Apart from a short hiatus, Gerd Zimmermann, a professor of Architectural Theory and Architectural History, has been the vice-chancellor of the university since 1992. At the end of his current term, he will transfer his official duties to his successor at an investiture ceremony in April 2011.

For further information, please contact the university press officer and spokesperson Claudia Weinreich:

Claudia Weinreich, M.A.
Press Officer | University Public Relations
Tel.: +49 (0) 36 43/58 11 73
Fax: +49 (0) 36 43/58 11 72
E-mail: presse[at]uni-weimar.de

Minister presents the certificate of office to the new vice-chancellor Professor Dr.-Ing. Karl Beucke.

On Wednesday, 6 April 2011, the Thuringian Minister of Education, Science and Cultural Affairs, Christoph Matschie, inducted Professor Dr.-Ing. Karl Beucke as the next vice-chancellor of the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar. Numerous professors, students and university employees attended the momentous event in the university's main auditorium. The university also welcomed a large number of illustrious cultural, economic, political and scientific representatives, including the vice-chancellors and presidents of all the universities in Thuringia.

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Karl Beucke has been a professor of Information Science in Construction in Weimar since 1995 and will now commence a six-year term as the university's new vice-chancellor. In his inaugural speech, he described his view of universities in Germany and the future challenges he will likely face as vice-chancellor. "For the most part, we are well-aware of the major tasks ahead of us. The Higher Education Pact will have to be renegotiated, the state's funding criteria will have to take the unique profile of the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar into account, and the specific role of the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar will have to be firmly anchored in the current process of "differentiation among universities" in Germany.  

He also emphasized that the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar is well positioned for future challenges. "We at the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar possess a high degree of creative strength. Our programme and our size make it necessary and possible to combine our strength and use it effectively in cross-disciplinary endeavours. Our students and graduates are highly valued wherever they work. Our international reputation offers us great opportunity."

The Thuringian Minister of Education, Science and Cultural Affairs, Christoph Matschie, congratulated the new vice-chancellor, saying: "I am certain, Professor Beucke, that the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar is in good hands with you. Under your guidance, the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar will continue another important chapter in its future. And this means continuing to shape the profile of the university in Weimar." The Minister also expressed his admiration for Prof. Dr.-Ing. Karl Beucke's scientific and professional achievements, as well as the respect and trust he receives from his fellow professors and students at the university.

Several other speeches were given by the departing vice-chancellor, Prof. Dr. Gerd Zimmermann, Prof. Wolfgang Sattler as deputy chairman of the University Council and Katrin Jahr and Jan Frederick Eick, representatives of the student government. During the investiture ceremony, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Karl Beucke publicly introduced his two new deans for the first time which complete the staff appointments in the Vice-Chancellor's Office. The Senate had approved Prof. Beucke's recommendations for the dean appointments that same afternoon. Prof. Dr. Hans-Rudolf Meier will immediately take office as Dean of Research. The 54-year-old Swiss professor has been Chair of Monument Preservation and Building History at the Faculty of Architecture since 2008. The new Dean of Study and Instruction is Prof. Dr. Andrea Dreyer who was appointed Junior Professor of Art and Art Didactics in 2008 at the Faculty of Art and Design and who also worked as Dean of Studies there.