The President of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Professor Horst Hippler, will chair the German Rectors’ Conference (Hochschulrektorenkonferenz, HRK) in the future. The Plenary Assembly of the HRK elected Hippler as its new president during today’s meeting in Hamburg. The German Rectors’ Conference considers itself to be the voice of German universities towards politics and the public.
Hippler succeeds Professor Margret Wintermantel, who has chaired the German Rectors’ Conference since March 2006 and took over the post of President of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) in the beginning of this year. Hippler thinks that the most urgent challenge of his term of office is a solid funding of the universities. “It will be the most important task of the German Rectors’ Conference to set the course for and contribute to the future financing of all universities. This is even more important when thinking of the prognosticated increase in the number of students and the scarce budgets of the states,” says Hippler.
Hippler, who was born in 1946, contributed decisively to the foundation of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and has been its president since 2009. From 2002 to 2009, he was President of Universität Karlsruhe (TH) that merged with the then Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe into KIT. Hippler studied physics and was appointed professor for physical chemistry by Universität Karlsruhe in 1993. Among others, he was the founding president of the TU9 Group and chaired the association of technical universities ARGE TU/TH. Hippler is member of the Council of the German-French University and Deputy Spokesman of the group of universities in the German Rectors’ Conference. Recently, he was elected President of the Consortium of Technical Universities in Europe “CLUSTER”. From 2010 to April 2012, Hippler chaired the Baden-Württemberg State Rectors’ Conference.
The German Rectors’ Conference presently comprises 266 member universities with about 94% of all students in Germany. The term of office of the President of the German Rectors’ Conference is three years.
Further information of the German Rectors’ Conference (HRK) may be obtained at http://www.hrk.de/de/home/home.php.
Being “The Research University in the Helmholtz Association”, KIT creates and imparts knowledge for the society and the environment. It is the objective to make significant contributions to the global challenges in the fields of energy, mobility, and information. For this, about 10,000 employees cooperate in a broad range of disciplines in natural sciences, engineering sciences, economics, and the humanities and social sciences. KIT prepares its 22,800 students for responsible tasks in society, industry, and science by offering research-based study programs. Innovation efforts at KIT build a bridge between important scientific findings and their application for the benefit of society, economic prosperity, and the preservation of our natural basis of life. KIT is one of the German universities of excellence.