University of Freiburg Celebrates Andreas Barner’s Retirement from University Council Chair
The University of Freiburg marked the retirement of Prof. Dr. Dr. Andreas Barner from his post as the longest-ever serving University Council chair on 30 September 2024, after nine years and three terms of office. ‘With his outstanding personality, Andreas Barner has played a decisive and unique role in shaping and guiding the University of Freiburg’s successful development’, says Prof. Dr. Kerstin Krieglstein, Rector of the University of Freiburg. ‘I would like to express my sincere thanks for this, both on behalf of the entire University and in my own name!’
‘During my time on the University Council, I have seen time and again that the University of Freiburg is one of the strongest research universities in Germany, but also in international comparison,’ says Andreas Berner, looking back on his term of office. ‘My hope for the University of Freiburg is that it will achieve recognition for the proven quality of its research and teaching as a University of Excellence on the basis of its forward-looking overall strategy in the next round of the Excellence Strategy. The University of Freiburg enjoys great credibility in the field of sustainability, not least on account of the high level of its interdisciplinary research.’
Andreas Barner worked intensively with the University Council on preparing proposals for the Excellence Strategy of the federal and state governments as well as on drafting structural and development plans. ‘Andreas Barner’s perspective on and involvement in these and many other processes have always been invaluable to the University of Freiburg’, says Krieglstein. ‘I am particularly pleased that the recent successful step forward for the University of Freiburg in the “Clusters of Excellence” funding line of the Excellence Strategy of the federal and state governments occurred in his final term of office.’
‘Andreas Barner is more active than almost anyone else in a wide range of social areas’, says Krieglstein. ‘It is to our great benefit that he has always also offered his extensive experience and expertise for the good of the University, both internally and externally.’ Barner has also made a significant and successful contribution to the University’s economic interests time and again – at the local, state, and federal level, for example in the funding negotiations of Baden-Württemberg’s state universities (University Funding Agreement 2021–2025).
‘Last but not least, I would like to emphasize the great and rare good fortune that Andreas Barner has remained loyal to his alma mater from his time as a medical student to this day’, says Krieglstein. ‘Such a close bond is of inestimable value for the office of a University Council chair.’
Kerstin Krieglstein also expressed her sincere gratitude for the commitment of the other University Council members of the ending term of office. The members of the coming term of office will be appointed by the Ministry of Science of the State of Baden-Württemberg. The chair will be elected by the members at the inaugural meeting, which is to take place in the coming weeks.