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Virtual Dies academicus 2021 On 29 May 2021, the University of St.Gallen celebrated the Dies academicus with representatives of the University and guests from politics, academia and the general public.
This year’s Dies academicus was opened by University President Bernhard Ehrenzeller with a look back on last year’s first virtual celebration. Although he had wished to be able to welcome the Dies guests on the campus again this year, a virtual get-together was still gratifying. He was also pleased to look back on the milestones which HSG had once again reached. Bernhard Ehrenzeller emphasised that success was only possible because of an essential resource which HSG possessed: trust. Particularly in crises, it was revealed whether an organisation could enjoy trust, said President Ehrenzeller – “Trust matters”, the topic of the 50th St.Gallen Symposium of early May 2021, was also of fundamental importance for the University of St.Gallen. It held true for every organisation that its actions were only credible if they were guided by convictions: “Only those who act out of conviction and not in the service of an image will be credible and win – or rather: deserve! – trust.”
New thinking and learning space on the Platztor campus HSG had repeatedly been given votes of confidence by the general public, such as the approval of the City of St.Gallen’s voting public for the Platztor campus, where the plans of the architect Pascal Flammer for a “Haus im Park” are now intended to be realised, continued Bernhard Ehrenzeller. It was now a question of satisfying the expectations and fulfilling the promises linked to this
project, on the one hand by the graduates, who should learn to act in a responsible and value-oriented way in their studies, and on the other hand by the HSG’s responsible use of its scope of action. Ehrenzeller said that the University relied on basic public funding and thus on public trust. At the same time, private third-party funds enabled it to realise experiments and projects of excellence such as the establishment of the HSG Center for Financial Services Innovation. Despite the freedoms, the fundamental values of every university, the freedom of teaching and research, should remain guaranteed, which was a goal not pursued for image reasons, but out of conviction.
Software increasingly determines value creation In her ceremonial address, the Dean of the School of Computer Science, Prof. Dr. Barbara Weber, emphasised the relevance and omnipresence of computer science in our world. “Only those who already promote the basic competencies of computer science today will be able to help shape the digital change of tomorrow,” said Professor Weber. With the establishment of the School of Computer Science, HSG had laid a solid cornerstone for this. In this way, the University of St.Gallen was not only able to cover basic competencies, but to offer new courses in computer science that were tailored to the requirements of a digital world, continued
Barbara Weber. The interdisciplinary cooperation arising from this helped society to solve the big problems of our time and, in addition, provided a solution to the skills shortage problems in the region. Brief video clips from the HSG year of 2020-2021 did not only cover the establishment of the School of Computer Science, the anniversary of the Student Union and 50 years of the St.Gallen Symposium, but also the rapid progress in the construction of the new HSG Learning Center and the appointment of women professors. Efforts to increase the proportion of women among the professors of the University of St.Gallen were increasingly successful. Thus 40 per cent of new professorial appointments in the last three years were women. By 2025, HSG would like to see jobs at all levels being occupied by at least 30 per cent women.
Three honorary doctorates, one Honorary Senator • R ichard Whittington, Professor of Strategic Management at the Saïd Business School und Millman Fellow, New College, University of Oxford, was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Economic Sciences. • Jennifer Arlen, Professor o f Law and Director of the Program on Corporate Compliance and Enforcement at the School of Law of New York University,
