[
Sep
24, 2001]
With these words former Chancellor Helmut Schmidt addressed 1400 invited guests who were present last week on the campus of International University Bremen to celebrate the university's official opening.
At the beginning of his talk, Schmidt made clear his position regarding the recent terrorist actions in the US, which he described as monstrous crimes against humanity. Schmidt underlined Germany's undivided solidarity with the American people; at the same time he warned against hysterical reaction and called for calm reasoning.
The former chancellor of Germany then went on to look at the challenges that globalization raises for Germany and made the case that America's leading position in the areas of research and implementation are due to a better system of higher education which includes extensive independent and elite universities.
Schmidt also criticized the "failed educational planning of the last decades" and the "purposeless centralism of the German higher education system," insisting that Germany needs universities like those in the US, universities free of the apron strings of government, success-oriented and international in scope. IUB's founding is, in Helmut Schmidt's opinion, the right answer to the challenges of globalization.
IUB's graduates will gain the ability to make their own decisions and should be prepared to take on roles of leadership and responsibility. Addressing IUB's first class directly, Schmidt said, "You have my respect; you are on the right path."
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