First port of call for students: the brand new Studierendenhaus on the h_da main campus. (photo: h_da/Gregor Schuster)

The new h_da ‘Studierendenhaus’ was inaugurated on Friday the 15^th to mark the beginning of the current winter semester. The five storey building sited alongside the ‘h_da Hochhaus’ houses the primary service and advisory facilities for students. It provides study areas and meeting places – for example sitting on the terrace of the ‘Schöffers’ campus restaurant. At the presentation of this representative building, as part of the ‘h_da PREMIERE’ (see the following article), Hesse’s Minister of Science, Angela Dorn and Darmstadt’s Lord Mayor, Jochen Partsch, among others, took part in an introductory tour. Its structured metal facade matches the Hochhaus’s characteristic exterior. The building was initially planned to be fully fitted out and functioning for the semester’s commencement, plans sadly thwarted by water damage occurring in June. The inauguration went well, however. Our current aggregate of 16,200 students, along with many h_da staff, will endeavour to fill it with vibrant life as of the start of the new year.

The second virtual welcome to freshly enrolled students at the h_da once again attracted several thousand participants. (photo: h_da)

As much face-to-face contact as possible – but not yet quite up to the normal level of campus-activities as in ‘pre-Covid times’. The winter semester will provide students with a combination of online, hybrid and in-class tuition formats. Nonetheless, in order to provide our over 3,000 new students with a suitable start, the ‘h_da PREMIERE’ saw a second edition since 2020. The digital welcome live stream for first year students on Friday (15.10.) was watched and avidly commented on via YouTube by the students themselves – along with plenty of other viewers. Well over 7,000 people had watched the show within a few days. It is once again fascinating to see just what media students, supervised by Professor Felix Krückels in conjunction with the university communication team have achieved. A tip for our Alumni: fetch that beverage, get cosy, and sit down to the feature-film length version of h_da PREMIERE on YouTube.

Susanne Mertz (left), the previous head of the central Alumni management team, left the h_da on October 15th. Her successor is Anna Herbst. (photos: personal material)

It was one of those offers which shouldn’t be refused: Susanne Mertz, the previous head of the central Alumni management team at the h_da, has faced up to new professional challenges. The farewell was difficult for both sides – and filling the gap will be no easy task. But our work will naturally continue, seamlessly. As of October 15^th Susanne Mertz handed over the reins of the central Alumni management to Anna Herbst. So our messages are take care Susanne! and a hearty welcome to Anna!