Video Message at the End of the Year, Rector of TU Dresden, Prof. Ursula M. Staudinger

English subtitles available

Dear TUD members,

2021 is coming to an end and we would have very much liked to finally having been able to enjoy some carefree Christmas festivities. However, the vaccination rate in Germany - especially in Saxony - is not high enough to curtail the coronavirus pandemic. We are therefore forced to continue to live with restrictions.

It was with a heavy heart that we had to increase the amount of online teaching at TUD once again, in order to minimize health risks. I would like to thank our lecturers very much for their continued flexibility and willingness, not to mention our students for their perseverance.

All of us at TUD, this includes not only lecturers and students, but also the staff working in technology and administration, as well as all researchers, can look back with pride on how we, as TUD universitas, have risen to the challenges of the second year of the pandemic.

Thanks to your extraordinary commitment, your adherence to the Corona public health measures , as well as the large number of people willing to be vaccinated, we have been able to deliver on our promise to enable as many activities on campus as possible up until now. In addition, we have an infection rate on campus that is much, much lower than that of Dresden or Saxony as a whole. For all of this, I am especially grateful!

The pandemic is proving to be an endurance test - but we will continue to persevere in cooperation with our partner institutions on the DRESDEN-Concept Science and Innovation Campus.

2021 isn’t merely the year of the coronavirus.

2021 is also the year of a number of impressive feats in teaching, research and transfer.

Unfortunately, I cannot list all of them here, but I would like to mention a few exemplary ones.

We have successfully increased the availability of hybrid teaching, both in terms of technical requirements and didactic design. This will be a teaching method that we will use to shape teaching at TUD even after the pandemic, so that we can better meet the diverse life situations of our current and future students.

In research, the “Lausitz Art of Building”, an application led by TUD, has reached the second round for the large-scale research centers in Lusatia.  With this and with the coal funds, which are still to be awarded, we are making an important contribution to structural change in Lusatia. TUD will have an even stronger impact on the region.

With SaxoCell and the 6G Hub, we have not only been able to acquire two outstanding BMBF projects, but we have also been able to attract further Collaborative Research Centers and Research Training Groups, as well as continue our AI Center scads:AI and the headquarters of the National Data Infrastructure for Earth System Sciences.

To keep our research at the highest possible level, we were able to attract outstanding national and international researchers to our university this year - even during the pandemic - with the help of our Clusters of Excellence and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.

And in our administration, we have successfully soldiered on with digitalization. Even though we have not yet reached the end, we have surely cut through at least one gordian knot.

Our TUD universitas has once again proven to be resilient in the face of the challenges of 2021.

Not least, we owe this to our common understanding of values, to which we are all committed and which are embodied in our respectful and appreciative interaction with one another. This set of values includes, in addition to the pursuit of excellence and innovation, the values of good scientific, administrative and interpersonal practice, appreciation as well as the promotion of diversity of perspective, participation, transparency and openness to change.

These values will continue to guide our actions in 2022.

A year that will certainly entail new challenges for us.

But we are now well positioned to master them.

I would like to express my heartfelt appreciation and deep respect for your extraordinary commitment to TUD!

On behalf of all members of the Extended University Executive Board, I would like to wish you a relaxing and festive Christmas and a happy new year!

Stay healthy!