“Try to arrange and shape your life in a meaningful way and do not lose your courage and enthusiasm.” 

EduEvo: At the very beginning, can you please present yourself and tell us more about you as a person.

Professor Hartmut:  My name is Hartmut Rösch and I have been working at Stuttgart Media University for more than 20 years in the field of Entrepreneurship and Innovation. My function at the University is senior director of the Startup Center.

EduEvo: How did you start your career?

Professor Hartmut: I worked as a freelance entrepreneur for around 15 years until I decided to bring my knowledge and experience to the HdM. There we initiated the Startup Center with committed colleagues. So far, around 500 startups and freelancers have been set up in this way.

EduEvo: How can the present educational system be improved?

Professor Hartmut: I would rate the educational system in Germany at universities as quite good. What is often missing is practical relevance, especially at universities. At universities of applied sciences in Germany, like the HdM, students meet professors who must have at least 5 years of professional experience in a company in order to get a professorship at such a university. This is why the practical orientation at these universities is higher and the graduates find a job or become self-employed more quickly. Sometimes the principle of “freedom of research and teaching” in Germany hinders innovation because no one can tell professors how to organize their teaching. Here, the universities could perhaps stipulate mandatory points that must be dealt with in the context of a curriculum. On the other hand, such a regulation could possibly prevent innovations.

EduEvo: What education means to you?

Professor Hartmut: Teaching is the central element of a university that ensures that the future generation has a solid basis on which to shape the future.

EduEvo: What are your plans for the future?

Professor Hartmut: In addition to classical teaching, we will try to enable our students to solve problems. Climate protection, health care and social cohesion are points that require cooperation with relevant institutions, even across national borders. The world’s problems have got bigger rather than smaller and we need more cooperation between the disciplines and more international cooperation in order to solve them. We want to prepare our students well for this.

EduEvo: What kind of advice would you give the youngsters being at the very beginning of their educational career?

Professor Hartmut: Even if you sometimes think that what you are learning is pointless and does not get you any further: hold on, there is light at the end of the tunnel. Try to arrange and shape your life in a meaningful way and do not lose your courage and enthusiasm.