Dual Degree Followed by a PhD Programme

True, Marcel Dombrowski and Konstantin Nasartschuk are not the first students at the Department of Computer Science to have been awarded a dual degree by Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University (Master of Autonomous Systems) and the University of New Brunswick (UNB) in Fredericton, Canada (Master of Computer Science); nevertheless, the two students were the first graduates of a dual degree programme to have participated in the graduation ceremony at Fredericton.

They told a reporter from the local newspaper “Daily Gleaner” that the graduation ceremony at home hardly deserved the name by comparison to the one in Fredericton. This was not least of all due to the fact that the UNB graduates parade through the city towards their university, dressed in academic gowns of various colours, and to the fact that car drivers immediately stop when one of the participants is about to cross the road.

Having obtained their Bachelor’s degrees, Dombrowski and Nasartschuk immediately enrolled in a Master’s degree programme in the 2009/2010 winter semester. In total, they both studied three semesters of Computer Science at UNB, specialising in Visual Computing. They are both going to take their PhD now. Dombrowski has been awarded a so-called “PhD scholarship” by IBM for his project. The doctoral theses will be supervised by Professor Ken Kent in Canada, who was recently appointed Honorary Professor at Sankt Augustin.

The photo shows (from left to right): Prof. Dr Ken Kent (Programme Coordinator at UNB), Prof. Dr Rainer Herpers (Programme Coordinator at Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University), Marcel Dombrowski und Konstantin Nasartschuk (graduates of the dual Master’s degree programme), Prof. Dr Ali Ghorbani (Dean of the Faculty of Computer Science, UNB), Prof. Dr Gerhard Dueck (Programme Coordinator at Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University), Prof. Dr H.E.A. (Eddy) Campbell (UNB President and Vice Chancellor). Photo: UNB/Rob Blanchard