50 Years 50 Faces

Prof. Dr. Christian Schmidle

Dean of the Faculty of Architecture and Civil Engineering

At FHWS since 2012

For me, FHWS is …
A "workplace" that I like arriving at, and a privilege to be able to pass on my expertise to the next generation.

What do you appreciate about FHWS?

FHWS is a higher education institution with a very strong practical focus. The diversity of the various faculties is a great asset.

What was the best decision in your professional career and why? What has changed since then?

The best professional decision was accepting the call to the University of Applied Sciences Würzburg-Schweinfurt. I have found an excellent work environment in our faculty, and the extensive exchange across faculties is also very fruitful. Since I was very strongly focused on construction before working at FHWS, I am now able to pass on this knowledge based on my experiences, as well as looking at the bigger picture.

What do you think has shaped FHWS the most over the last 50 years?

Teaching must simultaneously offer a solid basic education and take social change into account. Digitalisation and sustainability are current topics with extremely high social relevance. FHWS has always been able to successfully handle this area of tension between social change and solid basic education in the past.

What is your vision of the future for FHWS? What might FHWS look like in 50 years’ time?

The pandemic has meant that we have gained a great deal of experience with digital teaching formats within a very short space of time. On this basis, I hope that large parts of teaching will return to an in-person format, readily supplemented by digital components which then make the necessary internationality significantly easier.

What is your insider tip for the cities of Würzburg or Schweinfurt and why?

Immersion in the Franconian way of life – with the excellent Franconian cuisine – results in a high quality of life here in Würzburg.