Page 3 - VIA Broschüre

INTRODUCTION

In 2010, the CEO of Dieter Schwarz Foundation initiated
a meeting at Viadrina University to introduce GGS Academic
Dean Tomás Bayón, his colleague Heinz-Theo Wagner and
Markus Vodosek to their Viadrina University counterparts
Martin Eisend, Jochen Koch and Albrecht Söllner. Before­
hand, the presidents and deans of both institutions and
the CEO of the Dieter Schwarz Foundation had come to
the conclusion that establishing a cooperative doctoral
program in line with the guidelines of the German Research
Foundation (DFG) would be a great idea. They aimed to set
new impulses that would strengthen the city partnership
between Heilbronn and Frankfurt (Oder). The faculties of
both institutions decided the experiment would be worth­

while to pursue. At that time, a “cooperative” doctoral
program between two universities of different types, i.e.,
a research university and a university of applied sciences
located in different places, was highly innovative and not
at all common. It did not take long before the contracts
were drafted and signed. It was clear from the outset that
an excellent academic qualification of its graduates and
top­class research output were the key objectives.

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