I would like to welcome you all – from the newcomers to the more progressed Bachelor students and the 'seasoned veterans' at Master's level – to the spring semester 2024!

The new statutes of the University of Lucerne came into force on 1st February 2024. The University Statute is the university's constitution, and regulates its tasks and organisation as well as the rights and obligations of employees and students. The new statutes were drawn up and discussed in a comprehensive internal university process with the participation of students. It replaces the previous statutes, which date back to the founding of the university. A comparison of the two versions of the statutes, which were drawn up around 22 years apart, impressively demonstrates how much the University of Lucerne has developed since it was founded.

Article 1(1) of the Statute refers to research and teaching as the 'core tasks of the University'. In the following paragraphs, the statute emphasises the particularly strong link between research and teaching at our university. On the one hand, it states that research takes into account the 'needs of teaching'. Secondly, the university should provide students with 'academic education in the subject areas of its faculties'. Teaching is based 'on the current state of research in the individual subjects'. In addition to imparting specialised knowledge, it pursues the "goal of guiding students towards scientific questions and thinking and, through participation in research, towards independent scientific work". However, the aims of teaching also include the promotion of personal and social skills. In this way, university teaching creates the 'foundations for the pursuit of academic activities and professions'.

I hope you enjoy your courses in the upcoming semester and that you discover exciting new worlds of knowledge, broaden your horizons with insights into previously unseen connections and have enriching personal encounters!

Prof. Dr. Bernhard Rütsche, Vice-Rector University Development