We Are the Future

Fast-forward to the future. We would like to know what the University of Mannheim will look like in a few decades. Even though we cannot fast-forward time, in this edition we take a closer look at the university’s young people—because, after all, they are the future.

We start young and, turning the pages, grow older. So first, it is about those who are yet to arrive at university. “Is the University of Mannheim ready for the next generation?” is what we asked Prof. Annette Kehnel, Vice President for Student Affairs and Teaching, and Prof. Henning Hillmann, Ph.D., Vice President for Research and Early-Stage Researchers, and received insightful answers. Then Bennett gave us further unique insights. The twelve-year-old was one of 300 pupils to take part in the spring semester’s Kids’ University. We had the chance to accompany him to his first-ever lecture.

From the lecture hall, we made our way to the University Library to meet Tanja Biedermann between the shelves of books. She is training to become a Specialist in Media and Information Services and is one of currently seven trainees learning various professions at the University of Mannheim.

We proceeded outside to the Ehrenhof. There, we listened to Mma Visser-Koomson while enjoying the first rays of the spring sun. The student, who just recently left Ghana's capital, Accra, to start a master’s in Mannheim, has many stories to share—as do Jannik Abbou, Hannah Müller, Melina Arnold, Sandro Mochan, and Jonas Wenzel. They are all students at Mannheim and told us about their student life, commitment, their dreams, and goals. Our next stops were the five schools of the University of Mannheim. 15 early-stage researchers revealed more about themselves and the topics of their doctoral dissertations to us. Finally, we left the “city of squares” and headed off to Berlin to interview Victoria Engelhardt, a Mannheim alumna and successful start-up founder, about the idea behind her femtech app.

We met inspiring young people who, together, are the future—which fills us with joy. Because this future has long been in the making, here at the University of Mannheim and everywhere committed young people come together. Read on and learn about the future.