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At graduation on 1 June 2007, Jacobs University Bremen, formerly International University Bremen, bid farewell to its fourth successful class and the first under its new name. The campus community, among them graduation key note speaker Klaus J. Jacobs, celebrated not only this year’s graduating Class of 2007 but also the university’s reincarnation as Jacobs University.
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Jun
01, 2007]
“Welcome into the Jacobs University family, welcome to the ‘reincarnation’ of our university!” With these words the president of Jacobs University, Prof. Dr. Joachim Treusch, greeted the roughly one thousand guests who had arrived from far and wide for Graduation 2007. In attendance, in addition to the graduates and their families and friends, faculty, and representatives from government, sciences, and business, were the guests of honor Klaus J. Jacobs and Dr. Christian Jacobs, honorary chairman and chairman, respectively, of the Jacobs Foundation. The celebration began with the festive entrance procession of the Class of 2007 – 333 graduates from 64 countries – into the commencement hall, for the granting of diplomas in 30 fields of study in engineering, the humanities, and the natural and social sciences.
President Treusch characterized his role in presenting the diplomas as one of the finest opportunities and privileges that his position as university president affords. In his welcoming address he pointed out that each individual success – but at the same time the overall, nationally outstanding success rate of the graduating class, with a degree completion rate of more than 90% among bachelor and master students – is the best possible message that Jacobs University’s graduating class could carry out into the world together with the new university name. Treusch added that it is not only the academic engagement with which the graduates prepared themselves for their future assignments that is exceptional: “The unique intercultural microcosm that is the Jacobs University community with members from more than 80 countries, unlike any other place hones the ability to successfully live and work together with people from around the world.” His final challenge to the new graduates – 207 bachelors, 80 masters, and 46 doctoral graduates: “Put your skills to work: Make a difference!”
“No success without risk, no reward without effort, no quality without focus” was the central theme of commencement keynote speaker Klaus J. Jacobs in his address to the graduating class. He congratulated the new graduates and praised their courage in choosing to enter the initially unfamiliar world of a new university far from home in order to seek – not only through talent, but above all by means of achievement and a willingness to communicate – the success that they were celebrating today. “The graduates are proud of their achievement today, and rightly so – they have put to good use the excellent education offered by Jacobs University and will now enter the international job market with the best of qualifications.”
Klaus Jacobs, founder and honorary chairman of the Jacobs Foundation, indicated that the Foundation’s decision to commit not only 200 million euros, but also their family name to the university, reflected a willingness on their own part to take a risk and was an investment in the future with a focus on the essentials. He went on to say that he is nonetheless already convinced that the Jacobs University is on the right path to successful implementation, together with the Foundation, of its future plans and milestones. Jacobs told the audience that providing young people with an excellent and lasting education is the key to the future of our society and a goal that Jacobs University embodies in an exemplary way.
“To let you go out into the world today, as the first ambassadors of this unique university, the Jacobs University, is for me personally – and certainly for you – a day of emotions. I wish you, also on behalf of the Jacobs Foundation, a successful start in your professional lives. Let me just offer you this challenge: Graduating from this university will open the doors to your professional careers. But do not stop there, do not rest on your laurels. Make learning your life-long companion!” Jacobs furthermore encouraged the new graduates to stay connected through the alumni network and to become lifelong partners of the University.
Leon Attic Keefer (USA) then spoke on behalf of the new bachelors, followed by Özen Odag (Germany) representing masters and doctoral graduates. Keefer, who spoke with wit and irony about his scholastic travails as biology student, was unable to hide a tinge of melancholy that necessarily accompanied the day’s many farewells. “Seriously, couldn’t we just postpone this graduation thing until next semester? I’m just not ready to leave!” Özen Odag likewise offered a very personal look back at her years as a doctoral student in psychology at Jacobs University. As a woman of Turkish descent born in Germany, she explained, no where else had she ever been more able to be herself than at Jacobs University. “Suddenly it was no longer a problem to have two cultural backgrounds, but rather a privilege,” she said, and concluded her address with a special declaration of love: “What if I never again find a place where such diversity is possible?”
The first three graduating classes of 2004, 2005, and 2006 have already successfully managed the transition into international careers. Two-thirds of Jacobs University’s five hundred alumni to date have chosen to continue their academic studies in graduate programs at universities such as Berkeley, Cambridge, Cornell, the Handelshochschule Leipzig, Harvard, the London School of Economics, Oxford, the CDI in Paris, Rice University, Stanford, TU Munich, and Yale. One-third are already acquiring their initial professional work experience with globally active companies such as Accenture, Adecco, Agilent, AOL, Bain & Company, Boston Consulting Group, Commerzbank, DaimlerChrysler, Deutsche Bank, EWE, Goldman Sachs, Google, Infineon Technologies, Masterfoods, McKinsey, Morgan Stanley, Novartis, Proctor & Gamble, Shell, and Siemens. Almost all Jacobs alumni – just under 90% – indicate that they are prepared to work anywhere in the world. Many could also see themselves returning in the medium term to their own home country. Most alumni are presently living in Germany, other EU countries, above all Great Britain, and in the USA.
Jacobs University Bremen
Contact: Corporate Communications and Media Relations
Tel: 0421 200 4455
Fax: 0421 200 4453
http://www.jacobs-university.de
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