The university community is stepping up

In the very same venue where Saxony’s most beautiful harvest queens had been crowned just the previous Sunday, Mittweida University of Applied Sciences formally welcomed its most outstanding first-year students from the 2024/25 intake into the university community on Wednesday 2 October. Many parents and friends accompanied the freshers as they embarked on this new chapter in their lives. With over a thousand visitors, the church was filled to capacity. And with his promise, Rector Volker Tolkmitt was certainly able to allay one or two concerns regarding the future of the students’ children: “Dear parents, dear grandparents, dear sponsors, you can rest assured – from now on, the university family will take care of them.”

Any of the 1,528 first-year students who had not already gained an easier (re)entry into key subjects such as mathematics, physics, chemistry and English, had the opportunity, by the orientation week at the latest before lectures began, to get off to a smooth start in their studies. A wide range of activities helped ensure the best possible start, including campus tours, guidance on using the university library’s research resources, the ‘Study Start-up ABC’ and programme-specific advice from the faculties for their new students. The ‘senior students’ presented their projects, and the Students’ Council organised traditional get-together events such as the freshers’ breakfast and the freshers’ barbecue.

Over 1,500 new enrolments – even more than last year, and bucking the trend elsewhere in Saxony. That’s 1,500 people who are entrusting Mittweida University of Applied Sciences with their education and preparation for their personal futures over the next two or three years. All the speakers that afternoon assured the students that they had made exactly the right choice in coming to the university and to the university town of Mittweida, and they were also offered best wishes.

Although the administrative formalities had long since been finalised, the enrolment ceremony in the town church provided Rector Volker Tolkmitt with a fitting setting for the symbolic gesture: “We want to make it clear to you that, from now on, we are entering into a relationship with one another.” He continued: “I hereby enrol you in the community of teachers and learners. I enrol you in the community of researchers and in the community of administrative and technical staff who make teaching and research possible. I am enrolling you in the community of Mittweida University of Applied Sciences. You are now members of our university family. A very warm welcome.”

Earlier, the ‘hostess’ and Protestant student chaplain Nina-Maria Mixtacki, Lord Mayor Ralf Schreiber and the Managing Director of the Students’ Union, Maximilian Schulze, had welcomed the first-year students. As if they’d planned it, all three highlighted – each in their own way – the committed, peaceful and constructive spirit of community that characterises the university and the university town with their diverse population.