Progress on the construction site 

Cables are still lying loose on the floor, there are buckets standing around, there is lots of hammering and drilling going on. Work on floors 1, 2, and 7 of the "Fritz" shopping centre and in the "Alte Spinnerei" is in full swing. The first offices have been occupied in "fritz", and there is still a good six months to go before the University of Bayreuth plans to take over the impressive rooms in the Spinnerei as an interim solution for the Faculty of Life Sciences: Food, Nutrition & Health in Kulmbach. If nothing else comes up, students will be able to attend seminars, meet for study groups, borrow books, or go to the cafeteria in these rooms in the winter semester of 2022/23.

"We urgently need these rooms," says Founding Dean Prof Dr Stephan Clemens, "because we expect 250 students then. The makeshift solutions for this winter semester will no longer suffice." Makeshift solutions - these are, for example, conference rooms at Kulmbach companies, a food hall at BRK, the adult education centre, and even the cinema. That these were never intended as lecture rooms becomes clear when exams are due. They mostly have to be sat in Bayreuth, at the University. "Things shouldn't be too cosy at an exam," says Clemens with a smile. 

In 2017, the decision was made to locate a faculty of the University of Bayreuth in Kulmbach. "I still remember how electrified we were to get started," reports University President Prof. Dr. Stefan Leible, looking back. "The head mayor at the time, Henry Schramm, caught me on holiday when he told me that this unique opportunity had presented itself. So, we forged a sound concept in five weeks." This was apparently convincing: the cabinet met in Kulmbach in June 2017 and presented the faculty as a "takeaway". Those responsible at the University then spent a year working on the detailed concept, and in July 2018 the cabinet also waved it through. Since then, a lot has happened - and above all, everything has happened at the same time: professorships have been filled, staff have been sought, rooms have been found, and, above all, study programmes have been designed.

These turned out to be a great success: the master's programmes "Food Quality & Safety" and "Global Food, Nutrition & Health" came out of nowhere and immediately received international attention. The most recent bachelor's programme "Food & Health Sciences" has also been very well received.

In the current winter semester, the "real" study programme began and the first face-to-face lectures took place. A true premiere, because not only the building progress, but also the actual studies in Kulmbach were severely affected by the coronavirus pandemic. The faculty’s first students had to start their studies online in winter 2020 and summer 2021.  

The team in the administration department did and still does an amazing job. At the beginning, Dr. Matthias Kaiser was still alone, then the dean's office staff consisting of Doris Pfaffenberger and Silke Kämpfer-Hauck joined him. Kaiser is now Chancellor of the University of Applied Sciences in Coburg, and his successor is Campus Kulmbach Coordinator Dr Susanne Strebin. She says with a laugh, "We can't work magic, but we do everything humanly possible to make studying and researching here in Kulmbach as pleasant as possible despite the provisional arrangements." The programme coordinators Helke Biehl and Dr. Pia Kaul have been on board since spring 2020. They see themselves primarily as points of contact for questions about studying. But for the students, some of whom come from far away, they also provide help with many personal concerns. In Bayreuth, too, numerous people have been involved in the creation of the faculty. Be it in administration, construction or in the development of study programmes, be it in shaping the scientific profile of the new faculty or in teaching. 

 "What impresses me about this project is that everyone is pulling together," explains Dr. Nicole Kaiser, who as University Provost and native of Kulmbach has a very special interest in the success of the project. "Without the great commitment of many inside and outside the University, we would have completely different challenges," she says, thanking all those who are involved in various ways. "Building an off-site location and developing a faculty is both exciting and challenging. Building up teaching and research and creating the administrative structures for it is a lot of work" - by this Kaiser does not just mean moving into the "Alte Spinnerei" and the "Fritz". The next steps have already been laid out. As soon as a plot of land has been purchased, preparations will start for the project planning of the new building in Kulmbach, where the Faculty of Life Sciences: Food, Nutrition and Health is to find its final home.