Glittering job prospects:
New Bioenergy courses at the Universität Hohenheim and the Rottenburg University of Applied Forest Sciences [02.12.07]
Unique courses from the coming autumn with close cross-university collaboration
Baden-Württemberg’s Minister for Agriculture Peter Hauk welcomes the new courses and the expansions of skills and expertise in the state.
The boom in bioenergy runs the risk of coming to a halt because of the staggering lack of specialist staff. Help is at hand with two new courses, which the Universität Hohenheim and the Rottenburg University of Applied Forest Sciences will be starting up this coming winter semester. The new Bachelor degree courses ”Sustainable Raw Materials“ and "BioEnergy" are unique in Germany. What is also exceptional is the collaboration between Germany’s premier agricultural university and the Rottenburg University of Applied Forest Sciences, by means of which students will be able to attend lectures at both universities and professors from both universities will be able to enhance and complement the specialist fields of the other. With this collaboration, both universities are putting into practice the remit of the Federation of Universities in the Tübingen-Hohenheim region, which was set up one year ago.
The job prospects are glowing: with the proportion of renewable energy set to double in the EU by 2010 and with bioenergy (75%) making the biggest contribution to this, the EU Commission decided in 2005 to launch its Biomass Action Plan. This is a market that has created 170,000 new jobs and will continue to increase in the future.
The range of training on offer in this sector is currently inadequate. "The new boom demands specialists with a broad background", explains the Rector of the Universität Hohenheim, Prof. Dr. Hans-Peter Liebig. Ultimately many classic disciplines are affected, from the breeding of new energy plants to their production and re-engineered buildings.
It is disciplines such as these that form the core of the new Hohenheim Bachelor degree course "Sustainable Raw Materials and Bioenergy." "Over six semesters, we will be providing practice-related training in Crop Production, Engineering and Economics", states Prof. Dr. Joachim Müller from the Agricultural Engineering department at the Universität Hohenheim and Head of the working group for setting up the new course.
“Baden-Württemberg, because of its structure, has great potential for generating energy from agricultural and forestry biomass, as well as for research and development in this sector", commented the Minister for Nutrition and Rural Areas, Peter Hauk. "The demand for an ecologically responsible and economically useful use of biomass is increasingly ascribed to the good qualifications of those involved and a well-oiled network. In order to maintain and expand the multifaceted skills and expertise which exist in the countryside, which this new course will enhance, the Ministry for Nutrition and Rural Areas will approve the allocation of funding for the Baden-Württemberg Bioenergy Research platform made up of different interdisciplinary research projects up to September 2007,“ Minister Hauk went on to say. The Universität Hohenheim and its institutions will also be involved in these projects.
Forests, as a reservoir of new energy, are at the very heart of the Bachelor degree course at the Rottenburg University for Applied Forest Sciences. "Over the years we have gained skills and expertise in terms of the transportation and use of existing, for the most part untouched reserves, particularly in smaller private forests, something that will now act as the “hinge“ between our existing courses (Forestry and SENCE – Sustainable Energy Competence) and our new course", said Prof. Dr. Bastian Kaiser, Rector of the Rottenburg University of Applied Forest Sciences.
What is key with both courses is that instead of competing within a restricted area, the two universities are hoping to collaborate with each other across university boundaries. Students can attend lectures in Rottenburg and Hohenheim and professors will enrich the courses at both universities by giving guest lectures.
"This cooperation is something quite unique as the two different types of university are collaborating in an innovative future-looking research field," Prof. Dr. Bastian Kaiser went on to explain. This was preceded by a Framework Cooperation Agreement between the universities in the Tübingen-Hohenheim region, by means of which a total of six universities in the region are working towards cooperating with each other, both in terms of lecturing and research. This is the first time that both types of university - academic university and vocational university -are working together in this area of Germany. Admittedly the lectures at the Universität Hohenheim and the Rottenburg University of Applied Forest Sciences have always been open to students from both universities, but things have taken on a new dimension with this collaboration and the new Bachelor degree course.
Background:
With its new course ”Sustainable Raw Materials and Bioenergy“, the Universität Hohenheim is now translating its many years of research in this area into teaching. Since 2005, the Universität Hohenheim has had the largest biogas laboratory in Europe and currently at one of the University’s test and experimental stations, a biogas plant is being put into practice, which will act as the bioenergy platform for all research work within Baden-Württemberg.
The new Bioenergy course in Rottenburg ideally complements the curriculum at the Rottenburg University of Applied Forest Sciences (HFR). This will bring about a mutual and multifaceted enrichment of the in-house courses, but also within the wider Tübingen-Hohenheim university environment. It will also complement the wide and varied research work at the university in relation to improving production, preparation and adding value to the use of wood and other biomass from forestry, both in terms of material and energy. In these sectors, the University enjoys the reputation of a proven competence centre and was officially recognised in February 2006 by UNESCO for its work towards greater sustainability.
Contact for press:
Prof. Dr. Joachim Müller, University of Hohenheim,
Dept. Of Agricultural Engineering in the Tropics and Subtropics,
Tel.: 0711/459-23464, e-mail: joachim.mueller@uni-hohenheim.de
Prof. Dr. Bastian Kaiser, Rector of the
Rottenburg University of Applied Forest Sciences,
Tel.: 07472/951-204, e-mail: BKaiser@fh-rottenburg.de