Founding President of Hochschule Bremen Ronald Mönch has died

Kathrin Moosdorf, Senator for the Environment, Climate and Science, commented: "Ronald Mönch has been in charge of Hochschule Bremen for around twenty years and did an outstanding job in shaping the important early years. Uniting four independent universities and turning them into an institution that radiates far beyond Bremen's borders is and remains his achievement. The state of Bremen owes a great deal to Ronald Mönch. Today we honour the memory of this spirit of scientific enthusiasm, which will live on at HSB."

'Hochschule Bremen owes a great deal to Ronald Mönch,' says Prof Dr Konrad Wolf, President of HSB. "He has led, developed and decisively shaped HSB with great creative power. Without him, HSB would not be where it is today: an international University of Applied Sciences (HAW) with practice-orientated teaching and research. We are deeply saddened by the death of Ronald Mönch. We mourn with his family. Our sympathies go out to them and to his friends and companions."

Recognised the importance of opening up universities early on

Ronald Mönch was President in Bremen for more than 20 years. His work began in 1979 at the then Hochschule für Wirtschaft. When Hochschule Bremen was founded in 1982, it emerged from the University of Applied Sciences for Economics and the three other universities for Technology, Social Sciences and Nautical Science. Ronald Mönch was the founding president of Hochschule Bremen. His elected term of office as President of HSB lasted until 2001.

Ronald Mönch recognised the importance of opening up the universities early on: in terms of the further development of studies and research as well as internationalisation. During his tenure, new degree programmes were created at Hochschule Bremen and the university concluded binding cooperation agreements with numerous universities in Europe and around the world. These made it possible for students to spend a semester abroad. This made HSB one of the pioneers in Germany when it came to internationalisation at universities of applied sciences.

Today, with around 9,000 students and more than 70 degree programmes, HSB has around 350 partnerships worldwide and is a member of the EU-funded European University Alliance STARS EU. Prof Dr Ronald Mönch laid the foundations for this.