Category: General

15 years later - The Keynote address at IUB Opening Ceremony by Helmut Schmidt

1/3/2016

15 years ago in September 2001 Jacobs University (then called IUB) celebrated its Opening. The keynote address was given by Helmut Schmidt - highlighting why we need “institutions of higher learning that are modem, performance-oriented,[...] interdisciplinary, and, at the same time, international”.
Sadly we lost Helmut Schmidt in 2015 - his vision, courage and his words of advice will be missed, especially facing the global political and cultural challenges of the 21st century.

Helmut Schmidt presenting his Keynote Address at the Opening Ceremony

In the year 2015 we encountered terrorism as well as economic and humanitarian crisis that will take beyond 2016 to solve. We have faced a similar crisis before - 15 years ago - the opening ceremony of Jacobs University was just days after 9/11. And thus Helmut Schmidt’s words are worth repeating, because they are as relevant today as they were 15 years ago, and to remind us of what we set out to create: “Nobody has only rights; everyone has duties as well. And any elite also has to be an elite of responsibility. “
- Cornelia Scheitz

Helmut Schmidt, Former Chancellor of Germany
Keynote Address IUB Opening Ceremony

When Professor Lust, Chairman of the Board of this university, invited me months ago for today's occasion, I had three good reasons to accept his invitation. First, there was my friendship with Reimar Lust. Second, from the time of my youth, I have felt a special sympathy for the partner city of Bremen – m particular for this very town Grohn-Vegesack, where I spent two years in basic training: face-left, face-right, running, pushups. All pretty senseless, but I still cherish the memory of the Strandlust, the Havenhaus, and the brewer's agent Take. Incidentally, does the "Grauer Esel" still exist?

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A Tale of Two Universities

12/1/2015

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Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Jacobs University Bremen

by Howard L. Resnikoff
Chairman, Jacobs University Foundation of America

Today, MIT is a world famous private university with the 6th largest endowment ($11 billion) in the United States. It wasn’t always so.
In 1859 William Barton Rogers submitted a proposal to the legislature of the State of Massachusetts for a new private institution of higher learning that would be housed on publicly owned lands in Boston. Two years later, on April 10, 1861 the governor of Massachusetts signed a charter that granted land for a new private institution of higher education, the “Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Boston Society of Natural History”. Two days later the American Civil War began.
Because of the war, Rogers, who had been appointed President, had great difficulty raising funds for the new institution. Nevertheless, after the war ended, in May, 1865, MIT’s first classes were held in rented space in Boston, and in 1866 its first building was built. The war was not the only reason it was difficult to raise funds. Most people failed to see a need for, or to understand, the new style of education that MIT represented.
MIT survived for eight years, in a constant state of financial crisis. Then, the Panic of 1873, a severe economic collapse, hit North America and Europe. The subsequent Long Depression lasted 6 years. Enrollments at MIT decreased sharply after 1875 and the financial situation, never easy, became grim. By 1878 – its thirteenth year – MIT had abolished three professorships; reduced faculty salaries; and the Board of Trustees considered closing the institution. Under these circumstances, the second president retired. The trustees were unable to find a successor. They asked Rogers, who was then 75 years of age, to return as interim President.
President Rogers succeeded in finding a young but distinguished successor who assumed the Presidency in 1881 – the 16th year of operation. One reason it was difficult for MIT to build a stable financial foundation in this period was the existence of the Lawrence Scientific School at Harvard – the oldest university in the United States – and potential benefactors were at best indifferent and often hostile to the young institution.
The new President and the Trustees lobbied the Massachusetts Legislature for a $200,000 grant (More than $4 million today). Although MIT was private, they successfully argued that these public monies would aid the industrial development of Massachusetts. The Legislature approved a grant of $300,000 to be paid over two years. In the following years, the State continued to provide grants amounting to more than $1.6 million (Probably more than $40 million today) until the practice was ended in 1921.
Between 1881 and 1897, enrollment quadrupled from 302 to 1,198 students, faculty appointments grew from 38 to 156, and the endowment grew from $137,000 (About $2.8 million today) to $1,798,000 (About $43 million).
One hundred and forty years after the proposal for founding MIT was submitted to the State of

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15 years later - The Keynote address at IUB Opening Ceremony by Helmut Schmidt

A Tale of Two Universities

Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Jacobs University Bremen

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15 years later - The Keynote address at IUB Opening Ceremony by Helmut Schmidt﻿

A Tale of Two Universities

Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Jacobs University Bremen

Archives

Categories

About us

Scholarship Funds

15 years later - The Keynote address at IUB Opening Ceremony by Helmut Schmidt