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On June 3, 2008, Jacobs University Bremen honored its fifth graduating class, the Class of 2008. The 333 young people from 58 countries – 186 bachelor’s, 93 master’s, and 54 doctor’s degrees – once again achieved a nationally outstanding passing rate of 97% for bachelor’s and master’s degree recipients; average age of the graduates is 22 and 25, respectively. A special highlight of Graduation Ceremony 2008 was the key note given by Prince Asfa-Wossen Asserate.
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Jun
03, 2008]
“We are pleased and honored that so many have come, from every corner of the world, to celebrate with us today the loveliest event of the academic year!” With these words Prof. Dr. Joachim Treusch, president of Jacobs University, greeted the roughly 1000 guests gathered at this year’s graduation ceremony, among them honorary guests Dr. Christian Jacobs, President of the Jacobs Foundation; Prof. Dr. Reimar Lüst, honorary chair of Jacobs University; and Bremen’s past mayor, the Hon. Henning Scherf. The ceremonies began with the festive entrance of the Class of 2008 – for the first time wearing the newly designed Jacobs University gowns – into the commencement hall, for the granting of diplomas in diplomas in 32 different fields of study in engineering, the humanities, and the natural and social sciences.
In his welcoming address, Joachim Treusch called upon the new graduates to put into practice the knowledge as well as the intercultural skills they have acquired by becoming global citizens courageous enough to take up responsibility for tomorrow. “Science, which has been the dominant culture of the twentieth century, is set to become even more dominant in the 21st. To survive we shall have to make wise judgments on how the powerful new technologies are to be harnessed to ensure that there will be a net benefit to society. It is unlikely that this will be achieved unless those in positions of power develop a profound understanding of how science works and its methods,” admonished President Treusch, quoting the Nobel Prize laureate in chemistry Harold Kroto, who recently was a guest on campus. “It is You, who will shape the future, it is You, who will have to make a difference! We expected a great deal from you when you were admitted to Jacobs University, but we expect even more from you today, as you prepare to take leave of your alma mater,” the president told the graduating class.
“Intercultural exchange as the primary challenge of globalization” was the leitmotif of invited keynote speaker Prince Asfa-Wossen Asserate’s address. “In light of the climate change and other ecological threats, the idea of a worldwide expansion of the Western-style economic model of production and consumption has revealed itself to be highly problematic; globalized redistribution of privileges and deprivation threatens entire cultures and alternative ways of living with extinction,” is how the Prince characterized the dangers of the globalization process. Globalization, however, is not a phenomenon to be accepted as our fate, but rather a force to be shaped, Asserate explained. “A new global “neighborhood spirit” is required that will overcome the old concepts of nation-state rivalries and aggressions.” Great civilizations have always originated from a confluence of many cultures, the historian and economics expert noted. “Cultural diversity and global citizenship are thus precisely the prerequisites for human existence that are needed in our turbulent times: Only those who acknowledge ‘the Foreigner’ as a reflection of their own face in one of many guises rather then regarding them with hostility will freely accept the responsibility for the common good.” Thus Asfa-Wossen Asserate concluded his address.
Gabriela Elena Olariu (Romania) then spoke on behalf of the new bachelors, followed by Alexis Loie Rossi (USA) representing masters and doctoral graduates. Olariu, who with wit described her scholastic and social travails as student of “International History and Politics”, attributed a definite “addictive potential” to Jacobs University. “One of the most important lessons that Jacobs University gave us in these three years and that definitely is worth mentioning, is the initiative of helping each other in the face of challenge. This the institution has deeply rooted in us.” Alexis Rossi, who today received her master’s degree in “Intercultural Humanities”, had been accepted to an Ivy League university but declined to come to Jacobs University. “My decision to come here was a life-changing one that I will never regret. I found interesting programs, a strong sense of community, a vibrant campus life, professors who treat you as a person not just a student, fascinating people from all over the world and myself. I had to travel all the way to Germany to find out who I am and thank goodness that I did.”
Prinz Asfa-Wossen Asserate
Prinz Asfa-Wossen Asserate (born in Addis Ababa in 1948), a professional management consultant of Ethiopian descent, is best known in Germany for his 2003 award-winning book Manners. He is the grandnephew of the last Ethiopian emperor, Haile Selassie, and son of the former governor and viceroy of Eritrea. Asserate attended the German school in Addis Ababa and studied law, economics, and history in Tübingen, Cambridge, and Frankfurt, where he completed his doctorate in 1978. Due to the communist revolution in Ethiopa in 1974, which led to the fall of Haile Selassie, Asserate was forced to remain in Germany, where he still lives today; in 1981 he became a German citizen.
He has worked as an independent management consultant on Africa and the Near East since 1983;
before this he worked for Frankfurt Trade Fair and later as Head of the Press and Information Office of the Dusseldorf Trade Fair Association. Since the end of the communist dictatorship in Ethiopa, in 1991, Prince Asserate has worked on supporting human rights in his homeland, its democratization as well as the development of its foreign trade relationships. In 1994 he founded the organization Orbis Aethiopicus, which works to support and promote Ethiopian culture through scholarly conferences and other projects. His book, Manners, in which he takes a close look at European and in particular German rules of social behavior, quickly became a bestseller in Germany and was awarded the 2004 Adelbert von Chamisso prize by the Robert Bosch Foundation.
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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