KU President Prof. Dr. Gabriele Gien confirmed in office unanimously

Prof. Dr. Gabriele Gien will head the Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt (KU) for another five years. The University’s election committee unanimously confirmed the incumbent in office by postal vote, as the chairwoman of the election committee, Barbara Loos, announced: "I would like to extend my sincere congratulations to President Gien on her election to another term of office. It is her leadership that has made the Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt thrive in all areas over the last few years. President Gien and her management team can now seamlessly build on this earlier success. I would like to thank the members of the election committee for the good cooperation and for making everything run so smoothly. The election process, that is already in itself complex and time-consuming has in this time of pandemic asked a high degree of discipline from all involved.” Gien’s second term of office is to officially begin on 1st October.

President Gien herself is sensible of the great honor it is to be able to lead the KU for another term. "I would like to thank the election committee for the trust that both the elected representatives of the University's employees and the church sponsor have thus placed in me. My aim for the coming years will be to continue shaping our vision of an open, committed and excellent university in a participatory process. As a future-oriented university, the KU focuses on the further expansion of its tried and tested strengths when it comes to the choice of scientific topics as well as the planning of future development. At the same time, it promotes the innovative and multidisciplinary advancement of new fields," Gien said. "In addition, I would like to thank everyone who has helped the KU make headway in recent years - in everyday university life, teaching or research. It is all of you who have contributed to our KU weathering this period of the pandemic so well. The students in particular have also demonstrated a great deal of patience and endurance. On such a basis, I am sure that our upcoming projects will succeed!"

On behalf of the Church sponsor of the KU, Prof. Dr. Peter Beer extends his congratulations: "As Chairman of the Foundation Council, I am pleased that this trusting and constructive cooperation between the sponsor and the University will continue. This continuity will contribute to the fact that important reforms, not least due to the new foundation constitution, which came into force just over a year ago, can unfold their effect and help to further strengthen the profile of the KU. Its successes have shown the Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt to be on a good path. Its progress and its good evaluations arouse the interest and the approval of the public. The University needs good leadership and now, with Prof. Gien, it has a tried and tested leader to successfully pursue this positive route. This is in the interest of science, students, Church and society."

In his congratulatory speech, the Bavarian Minister of Science, Bernd Sibler, described Gien as an authentic and convincing representative of the KU. “With Gien, the only Catholic university in Germany has a president who, aware of her roots and her Christian principles, positions the KU with a strong focus on the future and at the same time manages it wisely: During her first term in office, a new foundation constitution was put into effect, which now gives the University even greater scope for its academic work. The successful acquisition of DFG funding and the success in the federal-state program for the promotion of young scientists, as well as in the Bavarian-wide AI competition go to show that this was the right decision.  The KU Eichstätt-Ingolstadt with its particularly good supervision ratio offers a very good study environment for its students as well as for researchers and enjoys great popularity among both groups. I am very much looking forward to our continuing cooperation and I wish Prof. Gien the best of luck for her second term of office“, says Sibler.

Father Friedrich Bechina, undersecretary of the Vatican’s Congregation for Education, emphasizes that under President Gien the KU “has become a model of a Catholic university with the best possible global networking connections.” He said that Gien had played a major role in this success because she had succeeded in awakening and strengthening the potential of many and had been able to direct it toward a worthy cause. At the same time, she had focused on topics that are equally relevant and forward-looking for the Church and for society. “The dialogue between the University, its management and the Congregation for Education in Rome is characterized by a spirit of innovation which contributes to the creation of universities, that are excellent and exemplary, both in academic standing as in regard to its catholic profile.”

About
Prof. Dr. Gabriele Gien, who was born in Munich in 1962, initially served as interim president of the KU as of October 2014 and was elected president in 2016. After her qualification phase at LMU and the University of Augsburg, she represented the Chair of Didactics of German Language and Literature at the KU in 2007. In 2008, she accepted a professorship (W3-Professur in literary studies and literary didactics) in Freiburg and was proposed as deputy director of the institute. In 2009, she was appointed Chair of German Didactics at the KU and elected vice president. From 2013 to 2014, Gien was chairwoman of the Senate of the KU. Her work and research interests include reading research, creative writing processes, international teacher education, and social involvement in study, teaching, and research.
In her role as president, Gabriele Gien has pursued the goal of making the KU a future-oriented, socially relevant University characterized by strong research from the very beginning and has established a strong network in the social and educational fields. She was committed to promoting interdisciplinary cooperation across different status groups and to improving the framework conditions for research and teaching. The KU was successful in major calls for proposals – for example, in the federal states and government initiative “Innovative Hochschule” or in attracting several professorships in the tenure track program, the AI program of the Bavarian government and in the form of endowed professorships. Networking the KU within the region – for example in the context of the “Mensch in Bewegung” project – and with educational institutions worldwide is a major concern for Gien. During her first term, research-based transfer has been structurally anchored as the University’s “third mission” alongside research and teaching. The profile of the studies and teaching area was also more clearly defined: among other things, through the further development the program Studium.Pro and the initiation of the system accreditation process. Rankings regularly award the KU with top positions. It was recently voted most popular university of Germany.

Background on the election process
At the KU, the next presidential election takes place after one term of office of five years. The election statutes regulate the election process, which is conducted by a 27-member committee. It is made up of the eight internal and eight external University councils, a further eight representatives appointed by the Senate from its ranks, and four representatives delegated by the Foundation Council. In this way, all groups of the University – professors, academic staff, research support staff and students – are involved in form of elected representatives. At the same time, the three most important University committees – the Foundation Council, the University Council and the Senate – jointly regulate this important election for the KU.
The procedure leading up to the actual election comprises several steps: After the election committee and a finding commission is formed, the position is advertised. The applications are then examined by the finding commission with regard to the formal suitability of the applicants. This step was followed by an internal hearing before the members of the election committee and a list of candidates was drawn up. The application of the only remaining candidate, Prof. Dr. Gabriele Gien, was subsequently sent to the Holy See in Rome, from where a "Nihil obstat" was granted. This is a special feature at the KU: The Vatican issues this ecclesiastical declaration of no objection before the election. Mandatory provision is also made for a university-public hearing, which took place online on 19. May. Due to the Corona pandemic, the subsequent election did not take place in person, but in the form of a postal vote.