THI President Professor Walter Schober confirmed in office

“Professor Walter Schober has very successfully developed the Technical University over the past three terms of office and has made a decisive contribution to raising the profile of Ingolstadt as a science and technology location and aligning it for the future," emphasized Professor Wolfgang A. Herrmann, Chairman of the University Council. “With today's decision by the University Council, the THI can continue on its successful course. I congratulate the THI and Professor Schober on their re-election and am very pleased with this convincing result.”

During Professor Walter Schober's tenure, the number of students doubled from 3,610 to 7,550, the number of degree programs rose from 25 to over 76, the volume of research grew from 3.5 to 32 million euros annually and the number of employees rose from 340 to 880, making THI one of the fastest growing universities in Germany and one of the largest employers in the region.

Key events for the development of the university in recent terms of office were its appointment as a technical university in 2013, the campus expansion in 2015, the inauguration of the CARISSMA research and test centre in 2016 and its expansion into a nationwide leading scientific centre for vehicle safety, the establishment of the Fraunhofer Application Centre at THI in 2019, the appointment as a Bavarian AI mobility hub in 2019, the opening of the Neuburg campus in 2021 and the acquisition of the right to award doctorates with two independent doctoral centres in 2023.

Professor Schober has the following goals for the next term of office: „Given the acute shortage of skilled labour, we want to increase our student numbers to 8,500 by 2028. Through our research, we will generate even more innovations than before and transfer them to industry and society. In particular, we will expand our AI research to around 150 scientists over the next few years and shape the transformation of our region from an industrial centre to a technology and science hub.”

Professor Dr Walter Schober studied business administration and business and social education at the Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich, where he also gained his doctorate. He can look back on numerous management positions in industry and science. He has been closely associated with Ingolstadt University of Applied Sciences since it was founded in 1994. At that time, he was the founding professor of business administration, accounting and controlling. Before becoming President in 2012, he was Dean of the Faculty of Business Administration (now THI Business School) and Vice President. Professor Schober is active in numerous scientific institutions, including the Board of Trustees of the Bavarian Research Foundation and the Strategy Council of the Bavarian Research and Innovation Agency. Since 2016, Professor Schober has also been a member of the board of Hochschule Bayern, the association of 19 Bavarian universities of applied sciences. He has been its Chairman since 2020. In this role, he represents the interests of Bavarian universities of applied sciences in the political arena; among other things, he played a key role in shaping the new Bavarian Higher Education Innovation Act.