Human Resources

HTWD: Start of the semester and matriculation ceremony

September 30, 2025. The new students are welcomed to the HTWD with the matriculation ceremony. There is also an extensive program to get to know each other. The welcome week for new students at the Dresden University of Applied Sciences (HTWD) began on September 29. More than 1,440 first-year students are starting their studies at HTW Dresden at the beginning of the semester. The first-semester students were welcomed at the beginning of the week in the Rundkino Dresden with the ceremonial matriculation and accepted into the university’s academic community.

More than 1440 first-year students start the winter semester at HTWD. Photo: HTWD/Crispin-I. Mokry

Studying, a journey

“Studying is like a journey. You have already bought your ticket – for a journey that will not only change you professionally, but also personally. On this journey, you will discover new things, make friends, sometimes take detours – and in the end, you will move on with a backpack full of knowledge, experience and opportunities,” said Professor Ingo Gestring in his matriculation speech.

Dresden is a good starting point for the journey, according to Gestring. On the one hand, there are excellent study conditions here: “Our university is practical, manageable and at the same time excellently networked with business, research and society.” Secondly, according to the Happy City Index 2025, Dresden is one of the most liveable cities in the world.

One university, many opportunities

In two rounds of talks, students and members of the university spoke about arriving at university and the many opportunities to shape student life.

Johanna Bernert, who has been studying horticulture at HTWD since last year, advised the newly enrolled students: “Have the courage to ask. The people at the university are open and if you ask, you’ll always get help.”

Chris Würzburg added: “Independent learning is sometimes challenging, but it’s also fun. However, there is much more to studying than just learning.” The computer science student recommends that anyone who wants to get to know new people outside of their degree course should definitely take advantage of the university sports activities.”

Nick Olomek has already traveled a lot during his studies at the HTWD. He encouraged everyone to go abroad and get to know new perspectives: “You have a lot of opportunities at the university. We have 150 partnerships in 50 countries. It’s like a big travel catalog.”

“Learn and live!”

Hanna Liebrecht and Pepe Funk, who both studied at HTWD, led the program. At the end, Pepe gave the first-year students the following advice: “These may be the best years of your life! There are many ways to make your studies special. Look left and right, get involved and be a part of HTWD. Learn and live.”

The event was accompanied by music from the chamber orchestra without a conductor, conducted by Olaf Spieß. Rosanna Mensch (ROS4NNA) and Paul Veit as well as Pola Szymczak (POLA) and Marlene Böwe from the Dresden University of Music (HfM) also performed on stage. The students of the jazz class performed their self-composed pieces.

Awarding the best students

Every year, the university honors the best graduates of each faculty from the previous year as part of the ceremonial matriculation. Lukas Rammensee (Mechanical Engineering), Lea-Marie Kubicek (Geoinformation), Jenny Leuschner (Economics), Carolin Fischer (Civil Engineering), Anne Sven Ralf Meißner (Agriculture/Environment/Chemistry), Vasco Schwarze (Computer Science/Mathematics), Ruben Anders (Electrical Engineering) and Leonie Vanessa Ulrich (Faculty of Design) were honored. Paulus Tamm from the Faculty of Computer Science/Mathematics received the prize of the HTW Dresden Sponsors’ Association for outstanding academic achievements.

In addition, the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) sponsorship prize was awarded to Thi Thu Ha Le from Vietnam as the best foreign student. She has been studying Media Informatics at HTWD since 2022.

Extensive program to get to know each other

The matriculation ceremony is the prelude to the introductory week for first-semester students. For the following days, the Student Council (StuRa), the Student Advisory Service and the faculties have prepared an extensive program to get to know the university.

There are also numerous offers for the 130 international students starting at the university in the winter semester – from a barbecue to a city rally to a hike in Saxon Switzerland. The International Week is organized by Faranto e.V. and the International Office.

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