Opening of the Academic Year 2018/2019 and inauguration of President Henrik Enderlein

Download Henrik Enderlein's inaugural address

The new President of the Hertie School Henrik Enderlein opened the Academic Year 2018/19 today and welcomed 270 new students from 50 countries to the university. Enderlein held his inaugural address as the school's new President, succeeding Helmut K. Anheier, who has been at the helm of the university since 2009. 

Former President Anheier,  the Chairman of the Hertie School Board of Trustees Frank Mattern, Board of Trustees member Lisa Anderson and Berlin Senator for Finance Matthias Kollatz also made remarks. 

In his address, Enderlein said the nation-state and its administrative and political structures are ill-prepared for dramatic changes ahead, while technology is affecting policymaking in yet-to-be-understood ways and politics itself is undergoing major change.

A new dimension of politics now "pits the proponents of the open against the proponents of the closed society," he said. This "is the story about which future is the right one: the one behind closed borders in a nation-state, where politics functions, but the economy struggles, or the one in an open-society, where the economy is strong, but politics reaches its limits."  

At the Hertie School, he said, "We stand for the open societies, not the closed ones. What we need is not a world of closed borders and economic nationalism, but a successful approach to governance beyond the nation-state.

Watch Lisa Anderson's speech | Helmut K. Anheier's speech

Enderlein has been Professor of Political Economy at the Hertie School since 2005. Under Enderlein’s leadership, the Hertie School will accelerate and advance its growth. The non-profit Hertie Foundation has committed 17.5 million euros over the next five years, in addition to its previously planned funding.

"How should we shape the Hertie School tomorrow against the backdrop of our understanding of today’s world?" the new President asked, outlining his plan for expanding the school through the creation of five new Centres of Competence and 12 new faculty positions.

The Hertie School also welcomed three new professors at the event: Thurid Hustedt, Professor of Public Administration and Management, Christine Reh,  Professor of European Politics and Dean of Graduate Programmes, and Mareike Kleine, who has joined as Professor of Global and European Governance for one year, assuming the teaching responsibilities of Markus Jachtenfuchs, who is on a research sabbatical.

The new cohort of students includes more than 100  Master of Public Policy (MPP) candidates and 75  Master of International Affairs (MIA) candidates who will complete their degrees over the next two years. More than 50 exchange and dual degree students from the Hertie School’s international partner universities and nine new doctoral candidates also joined the university. The Executive Master of Public Administration (Executive MPA) programme welcomed 22 new students.

                   Photos © Hertie School / Maurice Weiss (ostkreuz)