20.12.2022

Christmas letter for 2022

Dear Colleagues,
Dear Staff,
Dear Students,

The year is gradually drawing to an end. Christmas and the New Year are before us, and it is time to look back. Yet again, 2022 was a year of many challenges. At the start of the year the corona pandemic meant we still faced many restrictions affecting our lives and studies whereas now compulsory masks, mandatory testing and the “3G” rule are just a distant memory. Barely weeks later, Russia’s attack on Ukraine threw all of Europe into a new crisis. Now, as the year draws to an end we are all experiencing the effects of the energy crisis that has arisen as a result of the war. 

One thing unites all these challenges: no matter how remote a crisis might initially seem, an internationally networked university like Tübingen is always directly affected. We could sense this, particularly just after the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, when we received the first inquiries after the fights broke out: Ukrainian and Russian students who were preparing to study at our university got in touch because they were concerned about whether they could still come to Tübingen. And Ukrainian researchers whose universities have been destroyed or closed asked if they could continue their work here with us. 

It makes me extraordinarily proud to be able to say today that the members of our university – not least thanks to the support of our friends and patrons – have done great things in this crisis. So far, the university has been able to offer more than 30 Ukrainian academics the opportunity to reside here and strengthen the research landscape in Tübingen. Since the winter semester 115 young Ukrainians have enrolled with us, more than twice as many as a year ago, while the number of Russian students has remained stable at a high level. They all benefit from a university where freedom of research and teaching is open to everyone, irrespective of their place of origin, and where there is no place for the marginalization of others. 

The challenges of the almost unparalleled energy crisis that has confronted us for several months have been met with great resolve at the university. In this, we all benefit from the frugal nature inherent in many of us, as both native and adopted Swabians. At the moment, it is still too soon to take stock, but initial data suggest that the campaign Simply Saving Energy which has been running since October has led to a discernible reduction in consumption. Please keep it up! Every kilowatt hour we save helps us to get through the winter. 

For me personally, looking beyond our borders makes me very pensive these days. I am moved not just by the pictures from the Ukraine of people having to cook their meals on an open fire because there is no electricity or gas, but also by those from Iran, where especially students have been staging demonstrations for weeks to demand fundamental rights. Once again, such images make it strikingly clear to me how valuable these things are that most of us have taken for granted for decades: peace, material well-being, freedom of thought and speech, the right to self-determination. 

Our society bestows us universities with many things, something we must never forget. But our society also needs universities. They are the places where new things can be tried out, thought through, and discussed freely. They are the places where really important values are created and maintained: ideas and methods for the protection and advancement of the law and democracy, to establish social justice and well-being, to fight diseases and conserve the basis of our lives. Therefore, we should all look back confidently at what we have achieved this year.

On behalf of the entire President’s Office, I would like to express my gratitude to each and all of you for your commitment and hard work. Together we have faced and managed complicated circumstances, and we will also tackle them together next year. As President of the University of Tübingen I am very proud to be part of this fantastic community. I would like to thank you warmly on behalf of myself and my colleagues for your dedication and the trust you put in us.

I wish you and your families a peaceful festive season and a good start to 2023.

Warmest greetings from
President Prof. Dr. Karla Pollmann and all at the President’s Office