The two Master’s degree programmes Smart Energy Systems (SES) and Sustainable Building Systems (SBS) have started the 2024/25 winter semester with a total of 70 new students enrolled. The official welcome by the President of Ansbach University of Applied Sciences, Professor Sascha Müller-Feuerstein, took place on 1 October in the Onoldiasaal in Ansbach. Afterwards, the individual university institutions as well as interesting regional service providers presented themselves at various information stands on the central campus.

Visitors were treated to fresh apples, pretzels and sweet snacks from the region and had the chance to win lots of great prizes on the wheel of fortune. At the Feuchtwangen campus, the programme directors Prof. Dr.-Ing. Haresh Vaidya (SBS) and Dr. Gerd Hofmann (SES) and their team welcomed the students in person. In addition to general information about studying at Ansbach University of Applied Sciences, the new students also received an introduction to the specific content of their Master’s degree programmes.

The importance of the international orientation of the degree programme was particularly emphasised, as the new students mainly come from India, but also from Iran and Egypt. There are also some local students from the region, for example from neighbouring Dinkelsbühl and the neighbouring Baden-Württemberg region. As part of the welcome address, the 3rd Mayor of Feuchtwangen, Herbert Lindörfer, and the event manager of the cloister town, Wolfgang Guttropf, also addressed the attendees. Lindörfer emphasised the close ties between the university and the region and highlighted the importance of the Feuchtwangen campus as a future location for sustainable energy technology and construction and spoke of “an inspiring environment in the newly built teaching building on the campus in Feuchtwangen.

The topic of energy and buildings is represented here in an exemplary manner and is within reach.” In the lecture theatre, he presented all students with the obligatory StudFeu survival bag filled with apple juice from the Hesselberg and an umbrella, among other things. After the welcome, the students had the opportunity to get to know each other better and make initial contacts during a round of introductions. During the tour of the premises, the new teaching building received much praise for its modern technical equipment. “The conditions here are ideal for practice-orientated training in the forward-looking fields of sustainable energy and building technology,” concluded the students.

With the two Master’s programmes, Ansbach University of Applied Sciences continues to focus on a strongly future-oriented range of courses and is thus responding to the increasing demand for specialists in the field of renewable energies and sustainable construction. The Feuchtwangen campus is increasingly developing into a central location for innovation and research in the Middle Franconia region.