All press releases

Pres­id­ent Feser deep­ens uni­versity con­tacts in the USA, Aus­tralia and Thai­l­and

24.10.2022, Press Release :

In September 2022, Prof. Dr. Uta M. Feser, President of Neu-Ulm University of Applied Sciences (HNU), visited partner universities in the USA, Australia and Thailand together with Research Professor Dr. Heiko Gewald. The goals of the trip included the deepening of existing partnerships, the personal conferral of honorary degrees and the signing of a memorandum of understanding.

The several-day trip, during which HNU President Prof. Dr. Uta M. Feser and Research Professor Dr. Heiko Gewald had set themselves the goal of deepening existing university collaborations and holding talks on the further development of the International Doctoral Program (IPP), began at UCLA in Los Angeles.  Further steps for UCLA participation in the IPP were discussed with Prof. Leah Vriesman, a member of the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health and associate dean of UCLA Extension. For her contributions to the internationalization of HNU, Prof. Vriesman, who was a visiting lecturer at HNU from 2010 to 2011 and has since worked closely with students, faculty and researchers, was awarded the honorary title of Visiting Honorary Professor.

From Los Angeles via Sydney to Bangkok

In Sydney, Australia, Prof. Dr. Uta M. Feser and Prof. Dr. Heiko Gewald visited Macquarie University. There they met Prof. Johanna Westbrook, Director, Centre for Health Systems and Safety Research, numerous other representatives from research and research funding as well as Tanja Schröder, the first HNU candidate in the joint PhD program with the Australian Institute of Health Innovation. Prof. Dr. Uta M. Feser awarded Prof. Dr. Andrew Georgiou, who initiated the IPP together with Prof. Dr. Heiko Gewald, the title of "Visiting Honorary Professor" for his services to the internationalization of HNU in the field of research.

Next stop on the trip was the University of Queensland, Australia, where a working meeting with Prof. Dr. Marten Risius, was on the agenda. A possible participation in the international PhD program was discussed as well as the further cooperation in current and planned research projects. 

From Sydney, the trip continued to the Thai capital Bangkok. Here, Prof. Dr. Uta M. Feser and Prof. Dr. Heiko Gewald first visited the long-standing HNU partner university Srinakharinwirot University, where they exchanged ideas with President Prof. Dr. Somchai Santiwatanakul and other vice presidents on deepening research cooperation. This was followed by a meeting with the Dean of the Business School at Chulalongkorn University, Prof. Dr. Wilert Puriwat, to identify cooperation potential. The end of this intensive trip was marked by a visit to Thammasat University. Here, discussions took place on deepening the joint research projects as well as an intensive exchange on the international business school accreditation AACSB- (Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business) with the Dean of the Business School, Prof. Dr. Ruth Banomyong.  At the end, a joint Memorandum of Understanding was signed, which, in addition to deepening the research cooperation, also provides for a mutual exchange of students.