Professor Dr.-Ing. Wolfram Ressel remains rector of the University of Stuttgart. On 30th May 2018 University Council and Senate chose the incumbent rector, who has already been in office for twelve years, to remain in top position at the University. The third term in office of Wolfram Ressel starts on 1st October and will run for another six years.
After the rector was elected in the senate hall of the University, the Chairman of the University Council Professor Bernhard Keimer said, “In his two terms in office as rector, Professor Ressel assured the University’s position as a successful and sustainable world renowned research university at the peak of scientific-technological progress. In the course of his terms in office he has been successful in the past decade to further develop the interdisciplinary research strengths of the university, to closely link the subject disciplines and to intensify the cooperation with regional, national and international partners from science, business and society. His re-election will enable him to continue to consistently pursue these strategic objects in the frame of the excellence strategy of the Bund and Länder.”
Up to now Ressel’s terms in office since 1st October 2006 were characterised by expanding international cutting edge research accompanied by constant quality assurance of teaching, in particular in the implementation of the Bologna Reform. This resulted in a clear increase in external funds provided by the German Research Foundation (DFG), European funding projects and the industry, making up almost half of the total volume of the University of Stuttgart today of over half a billion Euros.
After his re-election, Professor Ressel emphasised that the University of Stuttgart is already in a good overall state today. However, the objective is to further increase this to achieve a very good overall state. This will be achieved in future with more flexible structures like, for example, agile governance and building utilisation, dynamic associations between the faculties and variable allocation of resources. In particular a large-scale infrastructure restructuring with new buildings is required as a result of disproportionate research strengths and increases in student numbers at the University of Stuttgart.
Wolfram Ressel said, “The tasks awaiting us require national and international presence on all levels. We will – providing we receive consent for this – advance together in a targeted and consistent way in the excellence strategy of the Bund and Länder on our “Stuttgart Way” of integrated and interlinked acting.“
A selection committee set up by the Senate and University Council proposed two candidates. They presented themselves on 30th May in a joint meeting of University Council and Senate; subsequently both committees made their choice separately. Wolfram Ressel was able to assert himself against his fellow applicant Professor Michael Resch, the Director of the High-Performance Computer Center (HLRS) and Director of the Institute for High-Performance Computing (IHR) at the University of Stuttgart.
CV Wolfram Ressel
Since 2018: President of the TU9 German Institutes of Technology e.V.
2016-2018: Chairman of the State of Baden Wuerttemberg Rector Conference and Vice-President of the TU9 German Institutes of Technology e.V.
Since 2006: Rector of the University of Stuttgart
2000-2006: Dean of Faculty 2, Civil and Environmental Engineering
Since 1998: Department head, Chair for Road Design and Construction and managing director of the Institute of Road and Transportation Science at the University of Stuttgart
1993-1998: Managing partner of an engineering firm in Munich that specialized in construction engineering and surveying
1994: Awarded PhD by the Chair for Transportation and Road Traffic Engineering at the Bundeswehr University Munich
1987: Graduated with civil engineer degree from the Technical University Munich
1960: born in Munich