Both prorectorates are closely interlinked in their objectives with the structural and development plan, which defines the path of HFT Stuttgart until 2027. The goal is to train HFT students to design climate-competent, resilient, networked living and working spaces. In this way, the HFT Stuttgart would like to live up to the claim of developing contributions to solving societal challenges and preparing students for these challenges. The three profile-giving additions in the name of the university - "climate-competent - resilient - networked" - sharpen the profile of the university and shape the areas of responsibility of the new prorectors.
Prorectorate "Transfer and Climate Strategy" With its location in the city center, Stuttgart University of Applied Sciences serves as a role model in the area of climate protection and sustainability. One goal is to make the university's status in this area more visible to the outside world, for example to Stuttgart's citizens. Effective climate protection creates and secures resilient living and working spaces. To ensure this, comprehensive knowledge of the changes, but also of the dangers of climate change, is required. Here we can draw on the experience of many HFT professors who conduct application-oriented research. On this basis, it is necessary to develop strategies and to increasingly integrate them into teaching. In this way, future HFT graduates who strive to enter the profession should be enabled to make climate-competent decisions and act accordingly. The development of climate strategies and their transfer will be among the future tasks of the new prorector Elke Sohn.
Prorectorate "Research and Digitization" HFT Stuttgart is one of the universities in Baden-Württemberg with the third highest level of funding. The focus of applied research lies in the areas of "Future-oriented planning, building and management" and "Smart technologies, processes and methods". This is where the expertise of the HFT researchers is concentrated, organized in nine competence centers, which revolve, for example, around "Digitization in Research, Teaching & Business", "Sustainable Urban Development" as well as "Mobility and Transport" and much more. Furthermore, the HFT researchers are concerned about the metropolitan regions of tomorrow, which must be designed to meet the needs of current and future generations. This makes the HFT Stuttgart a reliable partner for companies and business associations in solving future issues. The prorectorate "Science and Research" has existed at HFT Stuttgart for many years. With the change in the prorectorate, it was renamed and expanded to include the focus on digitalization. Digitization and artificial intelligence will be of great importance in the coming years, not only in the area of research, but also in internal processes at the university. One of the tasks of this prorectorate and Volker Coors will be to find interdisciplinary approaches for holistic solutions and to further expand the area of research and digitization. Another important task in this prorectorate will be to shape the right to award doctorates, which has only recently been granted to universities of applied sciences, in such a way that the number of doctorates at HFT Stuttgart will increase and thus scientific quality will be given a new appreciation.
For organizational reasons, the election of the new prorector already took place on July 20, 2022. Both persons were elected by a majority of the senate of the HFT Stuttgart.
In addition to Rector Prof. Dr. Katja Rade, the Rectorate of HFT Stuttgart includes the Chancellor of the university, Dr. Doreen Kirmse, and Prof. Dr. Lutz Gaspers, who holds the Prorectorate "Studies and Teaching".
