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On November 13, 2002, the power companies e.on Energie AG, Essent N.V., Ruhrgas AG and swb AG endowed 2.48 million Euro for the establishment of the new IUB chair in “Utility Management“.
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Nov
15, 2002]
Major task of the chair will be the installation of an advanced study course for engineers and economists that prepares future utility managers for their job and specially focuses on the new demands of the changing European and global energy markets. English as language of instruction and the Professional Master certificate aim at qualifying the graduates for international job opportunities.
Curricular topics cover the new structure of a liberalized energy market, energy and corporation politics, and new technologies and policies for sustainable energy use. Additionally the course is designed to promote the professional personality development of future managers: Communicational, rhetorical and presentational skills will be trained in contexts relevant to utility management. Twenty selected students will begin with the study course ”Utility Management“ in fall 2003. Furthermore the new chair will supplement the present IUB study program ”Integrated Social Sciences“.
”Combining fundamental and applied research”
Appointed to the endowed chair was Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Pfaffenberger, head of the Bremer Energieinstitut since 1997 and expert in energy economics and energy politics. For work on questions of future energy supply he considers the fundamental research approach of the IUB an ideal complement to the more applied approach of his institute. “Customer orientation and efficiency will have to be the new focus of the energy companies to survive competitive markets. Also the power industry has to become ‘cleaner’ and more economic to comply with politically mandated environmental regulations. Future power managers will need practice-oriented preparation for these new challenges,“ Pfaffenberger says.
”Crossing country and disciplinary borders”
IUB president Fritz Schaumann expressed his gratitude for the generous endowment, that provides lasting financial security for the chair beyond the customary five-year-sponsorship. He sees high innovative potential in the new program and a close fit to the IUB profile of cross-border and transdisciplinary research.
IUB’s guiding principles of internationality and transdisciplinary teaching were a major motive for the sponsors to establish the chair of utility management at IUB. Hans-Dieter Harig, e.on’s CEO, emphasized that the energy business is in need of interdisciplinary and open-minded managers to cope with the increasingly complex and international development of the power industry. This view was shared by Gerhard Harder, swb-CEO, who stressed the necessity of future executives to act on a European rather than a regional scale and to cope with the de facto ”multi utility“ within energy companies. “Appropriate know-how is our most valuable resource to secure a competitive position,” says Harder.
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Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Pfaffenberger |
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• Professor of Economics at the IUB
since fall 2002
• Doctorate in economics at the
Free University Berlin in 1970
• Lecturer of economics at the
University of Birmingham prior to
finishing his doctorate
• Associate Professor of Economics at
the Free University Berlin
• Professor of Political Economics at
the University of Oldenburg from
1975-2002
• Director of the Bremer
Energieinstitutes since 1997
Visit the Bremer Energieinstitut
more info »
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