In gowns and sweatpants
“You made the right choice by studying in Reutlingen. You will receive your reward today not only in the form of your degree certificate, but above all through the bonds you have forged here.” With these words, Reutlingen’s Mayor Thomas Keck bid farewell to around 150 graduates of ESB Business School at Reutlingen University last Saturday at a ceremony with guests from all over the world. A host of congratulators wished them every success and gave them valuable advice for the future. The students themselves also took stock of their time at ESB Business School with a twinkle in their eyes.
Keynote speaker Simon Blaettner, Senior Manager for Large Deal Pursuits at the management consultancy Accenture, is himself an alumnus of ESB Business School. He congratulated the graduates with even greater conviction: “You have just graduated from one of the best business schools in Germany.” He saw the graduates as ideally equipped for a networked job market in which sustainability and diversity play an increasingly important role. “While the whole world is now talking about diversity, you were already living it over the past years.” To reflect the international spirit of ESB Business School, Blaettner gave his speech partly in German and partly in English, like all the evening’s speakers.
In his address, Professor Dr Christoph Binder, Dean of ESB Business School, also prepared the graduates for the challenges of the future, saying that the AI revolution in particular would have an enormous impact on the labour market and on the higher education landscape: “In the future, critical knowledge and thinking will be required more than ever so that the verification and validation of information can take place.” In addition to the outstanding professional education at ESB Business School, the dean particularly invoked the unique ESB Spirit. “Inspire others with your spirit! Live your international thinking and actions both at work and in your private life. No robot can replace the ESB Spirit.”
The special cohesion between the students also played a central role in the speeches of the student representatives. The cohorts now celebrating their graduation spent a significant part of their studies under pandemic conditions. This was not always easy, said Bachelor graduates Ivan Leal Martins and Chiara Digiovinazzo: “Many of us were on the verge of giving up. Our fellow students and our belief in ourselves helped us to keep going.” For the Master’s programme, Sabrina Marques and Tobias Eder looked back at their part-time studies at ESB Business School. With a twinkle in their eyes, they reported on the pandemic commute between bed and laptop, the search for wi-fi and the challenge of combining online shopping with online lectures. Some of the habits we will probably never get rid of, added Tobias with a laugh, emerging from behind the lectern wearing sweatpants under his gown.
Before the official presentation of the Bachelor’s, Master’s and MBA certificates, Nicolai Firus, board member of ESB Reutlingen Alumni e.V., welcomed the graduates to one of the largest alumni associations in Germany: “You survived the academic challenges, but also the many parties, sporting events and waffle sales to fund your campaigns. With us you will now find a new home and a place where we can continue to live what you started at ESB.”
The musical backdrop of the graduation ceremony was provided by one of ESB’s very own, Professor Dr Dirk Schieborn, who lectures in business and engineering at ESB Business School. As a pianist, he accompanied with Aleksander Tarasov on drums the presentation of the degree certificates and played several interludes between the speeches.
At the end of an emotional ceremony amid AI and sweatpants, diversity and waffle stand, studying in times of Corona and graduating in a world that is wide open to the graduates of ESB Business School, it was time for the bachelor’s and master’s caps to be tossed into the air once again. For the graduates, a new phase of their lives is now beginning all over the world. And wherever they go, the Reutlingen ESB spirit will always be with them.
