Hochschule Bonn-Rhein-Sieg welcomes its first semester students for the winter semester 2023/24

Hochschule Bonn-Rhein-Sieg welcomed the newly enrolled students with a relaxed and varied programme. Activity areas, information stands and hands-on activities on the Sankt Augustin Campus gave the morning the character of a family festival. The university had developed a new concept for the start of the winter semester to welcome the first semester students. The official part in the large lecture hall, to which all students and employees were invited, was therefore compact and entertaining.

As of 25 September, around 1730 students had enrolled for one of the 40 degree programmes at the H-BRS. The vast majority of them, about 1,560, are starting a Bachelor's programme and will thus begin their student life in the winter semester. However, not all prospective students have enrolled yet. By the end of the enrolment period, the H-BRS expects around 2250 new students, distributed among the three campuses in Sankt Augustin, Rheinbach and Hennef. With the Bachelor's programme in Sustainable Chemistry and Materials and the Master's programme in Cyber Security & Privacy, the university has two new programmes on offer.

Patrycja Muc, who herself studied at the H-BRS and is now doing her doctorate, led the first semester welcome at the Sankt Augustin Campus.

University President Hartmut Ihne welcomed the new students on behalf of the university and encouraged them to be curious, to be open and to travel to get to know the world. And he named the health of the planet as the university's work programme and goal and invited the new students to participate:

"As a university, we are facing up to what is coming - and where we are actually already in the middle of it. Namely, the need to secure our ability to live and survive and to help shape a sustainable and humane future on our planet."

After the President's speech, moderator Patrycja Muc immediately transitioned to a short round of talks in which representatives from AStA, the student parliament and diversity management provided information about opportunities for participation and sports.

Vice-President Marco Winzker gave the new students a first-hand impression of what interactive teaching at the H-BRS can look like by encouraging them to take part in a spontaneous, not entirely serious online survey in the lecture hall. In this way, the Vice President for Studies, Teaching and Continuing Education not only found out what goals the first semester students were pursuing with their studies, but also which personality they would favour as a speaker for their graduation ceremony. Professor Winzker did not want to make a commitment to the Bonn rapper SSIO, who was mentioned by the majority, but he noted the name.

Market of Opportunities

The official part, which lasted a good hour, was framed by the "Market of Opportunities" with its activity areas and hands-on opportunities. Numerous institutions, initiatives and projects of the university populated the ground floor of the main building with their stands. The racing simulator of the student motor sports team was very popular. The cups, which could be won in the virtual races, were specially produced at the university using 3D printing. The student councils and other student associations such as the e-sports team, the "Finance Club" and the game development group also used the Market of Opportunities to promote themselves and to talk to their new fellow students over popcorn and ice cream.