Theodor Berchem

Theodor Berchem (born May 22, 1935 in Pützchen near Bonn ) is a German Romance philologist and was President of the Julius Maximilians University of Würzburg from 1975 to 2003. He has held various leading positions in German science policy since 1975; between 1988 and 2007 he was President of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD).

Life

After elementary school and after having completed his Abitur, he studied Romance , English and Slavic studies in Geneva , Cologne and the Paris Sorbonne from 1956 . During his studies he received a scholarship from the Cusanuswerk Episcopal Study Fund . Berchem received his doctorate in Paris in 1963 . 1966 habilitation he did at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg for the subject Romance Philology and received 1967 a call to the ordinary Department of Romance Philology at the University of Würzburg . From October 1975 to December 1976 Theodor Berchem was first rector of the University of Würzburg, then its elected president, who was confirmed four times by re-election. His last term of office ended with his retirement in 2003.

Engagements

Theodor Berchem was chairman of the Bavarian Rectors 'Conference from 1978 to 1982, Vice-President from 1979 to 1983 and President of the West German Rectors' Conference from 1983 to 1987 . From 1987 to 1989 he was President of the Catholic Academic Work of Germany (KAD) , from 1988 to the end of 2007 Berchem was President of the German Academic Exchange Service DAAD and from 2005 to the end of 2007 he was also Chairman of the Board of Governors of Jacobs University Bremen . Theodor Berchem has been a member of the Board of Trustees of the European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder) since 2008 .

Act

From 1975 until his retirement - for 28 years - he was also rector and president of the Bavarian Julius Maximilians University of Würzburg. During his term of office there were major construction projects at the University of Würzburg as well as the development into a research-intensive university with constantly increasing applications for third-party funding, eight special research areas and nine graduate colleges, participation in Bavarian research associations and research programs of the federal government. Under his direction, the university began training engineers in 2000 with the establishment of the nanostructural technology course.

From September 1978 to August 1982 Theodor Berchem was chairman of the Bavarian Rectors 'Conference , from August 1979 to July 1983 Vice-President of the West German Rectors' Conference . From August 1983 to July 1987 he took over the office of President of the West German Rectors' Conference, in this function he took part in numerous international conferences and meetings and got to know the network of international university relations and organizations. From 1988 to the end of 2007, Theodor Berchem was President of the German Academic Exchange Service DAAD . Here, too, he relies on international involvement in the university landscape. When the GDR collapsed, he made special efforts to include the local scientists and students in the international exchange.

A major concern of Berchem, in addition to the concern for the academic reputation of the universities, is still the goal of speedy studies and shortening the duration of study. He placed and continues to pay particular attention to the maintenance and development of university foreign relations and cooperation.

The scientific focal points include dialectology , phonetics , phonology and morphosyntax as well as stylistics. Theodor Berchem acquired knowledge of around 15 languages ​​in the course of his professional career. He plays classical guitar.

honors and awards

Theodor Berchem has received national and international honors for his services. Berchem has received 13 honorary doctorates from the Université de Caen Basse-Normandie (France), Università degli studi di Urbino “Carlo Bo” (Italy), Umeå universitet (Sweden), Paris-Sorbonne IV (France), Université de Liège (Belgium), University of Birmingham (Great Britain), Universitatea Babeș-Bolyai Cluy (Romania), Kazan State University (Tatarstan), Universitatea din Bucureşti (Romania) and Voronezh University (Russia) as well as Davidson College (USA), Slovak Academy of Sciences in Bratislava and the National University of Mongolia in Ulan Bator. He was honored as Prof. hc in São Luis (Brazil) and by the Osaka Sangyo University (Japan).

In 2011, the DAAD named the Theodor Berchem Prize for international and intercultural commitment, which is awarded every two years to outstanding people in international scientific cooperation, after its long-term president.

He has received other academic awards from the Académie française , the Collège de France and the Slezská univerzita v Opavě , among others . Berchem is Honorary Senator of the University of Music Würzburg , the University of Applied Sciences Würzburg-Schweinfurt and the University of Würzburg ; He is an honorary member of the German University Association (DHV) and recipient of the honorary award for outstanding services to the promotion of young academics in Bavaria. In 2005 he was awarded the Pro meritis scientiae et litterarum award in Bavaria. In 2005 he succeeded Horst Sund on the University Council of Augsburg .

Berchem's awards, which go beyond the narrow scientific and academic field, include the Great Cross of Merit of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany with a star , the Bavarian Order of Merit , the Order of Gregorius , the Bavarian Constitutional Medal in Silver and the European Medal of the Bavarian State Ministry for Federal and European Affairs. Other orders and awards from abroad are the Comendador de número de la Orden de Isabel la Católica (Spain), the Officier de la Légion d'Honneur (France) and The State of Maryland Certificate of Honorary Citizenship (USA) - are added.

Theodor Berchem has been an honorary member of the KDStV Gothia-Würzburg in the CV since 1976 .

In 2012 he gave the speech at the New Year's reception in the city of Würzburg.

Fonts (selection)

• University between tradition and progress. Knoth, Melle 1990, ISBN 3-88368-193-8 .
• with Hans Maier: In the rational spirit of science ... Festschrift for Nikolaus Lobkowicz. Pustet, Regensburg 1992, ISBN 3-7917-1324-8 .
• with Jan Assmann, Norbert Bolz: Highlights of Science. An almanac. Lucius & Lucius, Stuttgart 1998, ISBN 3-8282-0096-6 .
• with Christian Patermann, Helmut Konrad: On the way to a European university. The challenge for university administration. Edited by Klaus Anderbrügge. Bauhaus University, Weimar 2001, ISBN 3-86068-162-1 .
• with Volker Kapp, Kurt Müller: Literary Studies Yearbook. Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2004, ISBN 3-428-11571-6 .

literature

• Martine Guille, Reinhard Kiesler (eds.): Romania una et diversa. Philological studies for Theodor Berchem on his 65th birthday. Volume 1: Linguistics. Volume 2: Literary Studies. Narr 2000, ISBN 3-8233-5211-3 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Hedersdoktorer Humanistisk fakultet Umeå universitet ( Memento of the original from August 9, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
2. ↑ Specification text PDF  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
3. ↑ DAAD President Theodor Berchem succeeds Professor Horst Sund (University of Augsburg) ( Memento of the original from March 26, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
4. ↑ Heal, heal blessings. In: sueddeutsche.de. January 13, 2012, accessed May 11, 2018 . 

Web links

• Literature by and about Theodor Berchem in the catalog of the German National Library
• How competitive is the German university? (PDF file; 62 kB)