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© TUD

​Interview with Gunda Röstel, Managing Director of Dresden's Municipal Water and Sewage Company

TU Dresden: First of all, thank you very much for supporting our campaign. I would like to hear again, though, why you decided to help us.

Gunda Röstel: Our help has never been in question. Dresden is a city which not only lives on its history and culture, but also particularly on science. We need young people and we need science if Saxony and Dresden are to have a future. Science and research are our future and if TU Dresden becomes a University of Excellence, then it is not only the city but the whole of Saxony as a science location that will benefit. That's the reason we are committed to the project.

TU Dresden: In your view, what role does TU Dresden play for the economy in Dresden and in Saxony as a whole, independently of the application to become a University of Excellence?

Gunda Röstel: I can answer that very clearly for our company: for Gelsenwasser AG (Gelsen Water Plc), TU Dresden was a major factor for us to make a bid here in Dresden (at that time via the municipal water and sewage works). At TU Dresden we have, for example, in the fields of water and the environment the best scientific departments in the whole of Germany. That is also the reason for our close professional collaboration with TU Dresden.

TU Dresden: As an economics expert, do you have any good advice you would like to give TU Dresden?

Gunda Röstel: TU Dresden is on the right track. In my view it would be important for the university to find a good mix between learning even more about one or two economic processes than it has done so far, while at the same time preserving the special position it has as a university, its freedom of spirit and high degree of participation.

TU Dresden: Why do you think TU Dresden has what it takes to become a University of Excellence?

Gunda Röstel: For several years now I have had close links to TUD and, particularly so as chair of the university council for over a year now. I am constantly amazed and delighted as well as deeply moved by the eminent authorities we have assembled here at TU Dresden. That is something to be incredibly proud of and something we can benefit from hugely. And the thousands of young people from all over Germany and increasingly from all over the world who apply to study here every year, that speaks for itself. And quite honestly, justifiably so. We deserve it.

Interview by Kim-Astrid Magister, July 2011

Gunda Röstel "Knowlegde creates Jobs" - Download (4,3 MB)

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