The Faculty of Trade and Social Work at Ostfalia University of Applied Sciences bid farewell to its summer semester graduates at the academic graduation ceremony on Friday, 26 September 2025. The Bachelor's degree programmes in Commerce and Logistics, Social Work, Business Administration online and the Master's degree programme in Business Administration online had a total of 69 graduates in the summer semester. 30 of them gathered at the Suderburg campus to honour the successful graduation together.
The welcome reception started at 3 pm. In a relaxed atmosphere, students, their families and lecturers got to talk to each other, shared stories of their time together as students and thus gave the celebration a festive start.
The official programme was introduced by Prof. Dr Kirsten Wegner, who was Dean of the Faculty of Trade and Social Work from 2021 to 2023 and has held this position again since 1 September 2025. In her welcoming speech, she praised the graduates for their achievements and emphasised the special diversity of the degree programmes. She emphasised that the young academics will make a valuable contribution to various areas of society in the future and that the university will also benefit from the knowledge and expertise of its alumni.
Leonie Krieg, graduate of Social Work, addressed her fellow students in a personal speech: "I hope you have made friends for life here and will take them with you. Back then it was a beginning, now this chapter has come to an end. But as you continue your studies or enter professional life, a new chapter begins. A new beginning that you can look back on later with similar feelings as the first-year students today."
The graduates were then invited to the stage one by one to receive their certificates and a small farewell gift. Prof Dr Markus Storck, Dean of Studies, and Prof Dr Susanne Schlabs, Deputy Dean of Studies, presented them with a culture bag containing a symbolic "knowledge key" - as a sign that the knowledge they have acquired will open many doors in the future.
Ferdinand Zumbusch and Simon Chales de Beaulieu provided the musical accompaniment.
The ceremony ended in the early evening with applause, words of appreciation and numerous congratulations. For the faculty, the event not only marked the ceremonial end of the summer semester, but also symbolically signalled the start of the graduates' future careers.
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Knowledge and Technology Transfer
Ostfalia University of Applied Sciences
Phone: 05331 939 10790
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