2015 will be a year of celebrations

Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University was founded under the name of ‘Fachhochschule Bonn-Rhein-Sieg’ on 1st January 1995. It owed its founding to the Bonn-Berlin Act, which required that the German parliament (Bundestag) and parts of the government move to Berlin and that the Bonn/Rhein-Sieg/Ahrweiler region be compensated accordingly. At that time, meeting the needs of political representatives was a major driver of the regional economy. As a consequence, Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University was established as a compensatory measure. It was intended to become the driving force for structural change and has more than exceeded this expectation.

“Popular opinion is that Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University is the most successful compensatory measure,” University President Hartmut Ihne said. “The DM 515 million that were made available at the time of its founding have brought significant return.”

The original target figure of 2,300 students was soon exceeded, and today nearly 7,500 young people are enrolled in one of the university’s 25 study programmes. At the beginning there were plans to establish seven programmes – a number that was soon afterwards raised to nine. In 1999 the university left the rooms rented in its early stages, moving to new buildings that were soon, once again, too small. For this reason, the Rheinbach and Sankt Augustin sites were extended in 2004, and now there are new plans to set up additional buildings.

Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University has 70 partner universities in 30 countries. Above and beyond this, it has founded nine research institutes and instigated the establishment of a cross-university graduate institute along with other universities of applied sciences in North Rhine-Westphalia. The institute ensures a high standard of supervision for graduates from universities of applied sciences who are pursuing PhD programmes.

All this not only proves that the university is growing, but also clearly shows that the region is prospering economically. This is highlighted by the following examples: to date, roughly 100 companies have been founded by students and graduates of Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University. A large number of them have utilised the services of BusinessCampus GmbH, be that for advisory purposes or as temporary tenants. The shareholders of the private limited company (GmbH) include Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University, Kreissparkasse Köln (a German savings bank) and the Rhein-Sieg District.