University of Applied Sciences West Coast

[EduCativ]

The West Coast University of Applied Science (FHW) was founded in 1993 by farsighted entrepreneurs and politicians in the region. It started operating in a rented room and was able to bid its first graduates farewell in 1997.
2000, the University moved into its newly constructed building in the east of Heide. In 2008 there were about 400 freshmen students, so that in 2009 there were already around 1,200 students enrolled at the FHW. Within the Higher Education Pact framework, the FHW has taken the most extensive package of potential students in the State. This has led to more than 1,500 students being enrolled for the Winter Semester 2014/15. Brochure "20 Years FHW"
The FHW began the changeover to the new degree courses "Bachelor" and "Master's" in 2004. Thus, our University was the first in Schleswig-Holstein to complete the Bologna Process.
Simultaneously, the FHW pushed for more internationalization: Today, our University has contact with more than 20 universities ranging across all of the continents, giving it an extreme global position. This primarily benefits the students, but the West Coast region also profits.
On 28 February, the former Minister-President of Schleswig-Holstein, Heide Simonis, embedded a certificate in the West Coast Uni's foundations during the ceremony for laying the cornerstone. This certificate programmatically formulates the regional-political aim behind the founding of the University as follows:
"From a regional-political point of view, the West Coast is gaining a new technological focal point for promoting technology transfer and the improvement of the competitiveness of enterprises in the region."
The FHW reaffirmed this goal in 2012 and signed a cooperation agreement with the four West Coast districts - Pinneberg, Steinburg, Dithmarschen, and North Friesland - under the patronage of the Lower Elbe-West Coast Business Association. This contract describes how the FHW has fulfilled its obligations and how the districts can help promote "their" public University.
In a strategy process in 2014/2015, the members of the FHW updated their mission statement from 2001 and, with the joint signing of the target agreement with the State at the beginning of 2016, have also bindingly set their strategic orientation for the period 2016 – 2025. In doing so, the regional political mandate was also updated:
"From a regional political perspective, the FHW is an economic and technical focal point for promoting academic knowledge transfer. At the same time, it is a higher education institution to improve the competitiveness of companies, institutions, and other business entities in the western part of Schleswig-Holstein." The further development of the FHW is defined by the target agreement with the State for the years 2009 - 2013.
"The West Coast University of Applied Science is particularly committed to a mutual exchange process with the business community, especially in the region Lower Elbe - West Coast. It intends to reinforce its emphasis on Management and Tourism in the Commercial Faculty and Automation and Electronics in the Technical Faculty. Furthermore, it will continue to expand the interdisciplinary course Management and Technology over the coming years and adapt it to meet the changing conditions that companies face.
It was 1985 when businesses in the Dithmarschen and Nord Friesland Districts produced the so-called "West Coast Paper" under the Chamber of Commerce (IHK) auspices Flensburg. A central demand was establishing a branch of the Flensburg University of Applied Science on the structurally weak West Coast.
Two years later, the Dithmarschen District declared the founding of a University of Applied Science (UAS) to be a strategic development objective the District Administrator, Hans-Jakob Tiessen, subsequently entered into negotiations with the Vice-Chancellor's office of the Flensburg University of Applied Science concerning the establishment of a local branch of the University. On 4 January 1988, Prof. Dr. Hans Mueller von der Haegen (Flensburg UAS) finally presented a university location Heide/West Coast concept. Almost one year later, the Senate of his University formally decided on a university development plan that called for the founding of a branch of the Flensburg UAS in Heide. The Township of Heide set the course for the University's establishment by having the Magistrate set aside a convenient, sufficiently large block of land in the east of Heide to settle the UAS.
11 September 1991 is seen as a milestone in the history of the FHW, as on this day, the State Government decided to found a University of Applied Sciences on the West Coast with the long-term aim of providing 1000 study places, with 500 study places being created in the initial establishment phase. At the same time, the Cabinet declared Heide to be the location of the new University.
The founding committee's constituent meeting, consisting of external experts and members of the Flensburg UAS, was opened by State Secretary Dr. Peter Kreyenberg on 19 May 1992. The first four professors' tender was placed in the weekly newspaper "Die Zeit" half a year later.
Finally, on 20 September 1993, the time had come: the study programs began for 66 first-year students in Business Administration, Electrical Engineering, and Mechanical Engineering. The FHW began its operation in rental rooms in Rungholt Straße before moving into its new building in Fritz-Thiedemann-Ring 20 in September 2000.
Since then, the FHW has been continuously growing and has been able to use small setbacks to boost. In 2002, Mechanical Engineering had to be moved to Flensburg UAS because the State decided to consolidate courses. However, its removal led to promising new course programs emerging: Management and Technology, International Tourism Management, and Economics and Law.

View full university