University Council

Prof. Dr. Theo J. Bastiaens studied Educational Science at the Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht and wrote his doctoral thesis on “Learning and Working with Electronic Performance Support Systems” at the Technical University of Twente. From 1997, Theo Bastiaens was an assistant professor in Twente teaching Curriculum Theory. In 1998, he transferred to the Open Universiteit Nederland, where he was appointed an associate professor in 2002 and then awarded a part-time professorship in educational technology from 2006.

In 2006, Professor Bastiaens accepted a professorship at the FernUniversität in Hagen, where he headed the media didactics department until 2018. From 2006 to 2010, Theo Bastiaens was also director of the Hagen Institute of Educational Science and Media Research. His research focuses on e-learning, instructional design, human resource development, and quality in education. He has contributed to numerous international publications and is a reviewer for various journals, such as Computers in Human Behavior. From 2010 to 2012, he held the office of Dean at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at the FernUniversität. From March 2016 to December 2018, Professor Bastiaens was Vice-President for Digitization and Internationalization, with a focus on the digitization of teaching.

Professor Bastiaens has been Rector magnificus of the Open Universiteit Nederland (based in Heerlen) since 2019.

Before being appointed as a Professor of Economics at the FernUniversität in Hagen in 2009, Thomas Eichner had already held a professorship in Economics, focusing on Quantitative Economic Policy, at the University of Bielefeld for two years. He laid the foundations for his academic career at the University of Siegen: After studying industrial engineering, he achieved his doctorate in 1998 and completed his post-doctoral degree (Habilitation) in 2003. Substitute professorships at the universities of Bonn and Mainz followed. Thomas Eichner has already gained experience in university administration by working as the chairman of several appointment committees and as a member of the Senate of the FernUniversität. He served as vice chairman of the Senate from 2014 to 2016.

After completing his diploma in mathematics at the University of Cologne, Winfried Hochstättler went on to earn his doctorate there in 1992. Afterwards, he achieved his post-doctoral degree (Habilitation) at the Department of Economics at the University of Bonn and at DIMACS/Rutgers State University of New Jersey. This was followed by a substitute professorship for Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science at the Brandenburg Technical University Cottbus and a one-year position as senior assistant at the Clausthal University of Technology. After this, Winfried Hochstättler was appointed Professor for Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science at the BTU Cottbus. Since 2004, he has been head of the department of Discrete Mathematics and Optimization at the FernUniversität. The mathematician’s first involvement in the academic administration of the FernUniversität was as Dean of Studies of the Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science (2008 to 2010) and later as Chairman of the Senate (2013 to 2014).

After studying psychology (Diploma 1988) at the Ruhr University Bochum, Professor Ingrid Josephs worked as a research assistant at the Universities of Wuppertal and Bochum. She completed her doctorate at the Ruhr University in 1993 with the developmental psychology thesis: “The regulation of emotional expression in preschool children”. After completing her doctorate, Professor Josephs worked as a research assistant at the Ruhr University and later at Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg. As a Feodor-Lynen Research Fellow of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, she spent one and a half years at Clark University in the USA between 1998 and 2000. In 2001, she habilitated (cumulatively) at the Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg. From 2001 to 2004, she held the Chair of Personality Psychology at Radboud University Nijmegen in the Netherlands.

Since 2004, she has been head of the developmental psychology-oriented “Psychology of Adulthood” department at the FernUniversität in Hagen. Her work focuses on the areas of emotional development, attachment research and the development of self and identity in spatial, social and cultural contexts.

From 2008 to 2010 she was Dean of the Faculty of Cultural and Social Sciences, from 2010 to 2015 Vice-Rector for Studies and Teaching and from 2021 to 2023 Dean of the Faculty of Psychology.

Professor Lambert T. Koch studied economics in Mainz and Würzburg, obtained a diploma in economics and subsequently completed his doctorate and habilitation in Würzburg and Jena. At the end of 1999, Professor Koch took over the chair with the current title “Economics, in particular Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Transformation” at the University of Wuppertal. He is also the (founding) director of the Institute for Start-up and Innovation Research based there.

From 2005 to 2008, Professor Koch was Dean of the Faculty of Business and Economics at the University of Wuppertal, where he was responsible for transforming the faculty into the Schumpeter School of Business and Economics. From 2008 to 2022, he was Rector of the University of Wuppertal. At state level, he was involved as a founding board member of the Digital University NRW and as a co-founder of the Humboldtn network, an association of all NRW universities for the purpose of promoting the topic of sustainability. Professor Koch also served as Chairman of the NRW Rectors' Conference for four years from 2018 to 2022. At federal level, he was a member of the Senate of the German Rectors' Conference until 2022 and continues to be a member of the permanent HRK Commission for Transfer and Cooperation.

In April 2023, Professor Koch was elected President of the German University Association (DHV). He is also a member of various boards of trustees of science-related foundations.

Andreas Meyer-Lauber studied political science, German language and literature, education and philosophy at the Free University of Berlin from 1970 to 1977. In 1979, he completed his Second State Examination for teaching at secondary schools in Minden. From 1987 to 2004, he worked as a teacher at the Haspe Comprehensive School in Hagen, which he also co-founded. From 1993 to 2004, he was active as a member of the main staff council for comprehensive schools at the NRW Ministry of Education. From 2004 to 2010, Andreas Meyer-Lauber was chairman of the Education and Science Union (GEW) in North Rhine-Westphalia, and from 2010 to 2017 he was chairman of the DGB district of NRW. He is a member of the WDR Broadcasting Council and, since 2013, also of the University Council of the FernUniversität in Hagen.

Simone Rehm started accumulating IT expertise while studying computer science at the University of Stuttgart and working as a research assistant in the Program Structures Research Group at the Computer Science Research Center at the University of Karlsruhe from 1986 to 1992 (where she also earned her doctorate). From 1993 to 1994, she worked as a database developer in the IT department at Ciba-Geigy GmbH and from 1995 to 1996 she was a project manager in information management at the pharmaceutical company F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG. Her next role was the strategic and operational management of the deployment of information and, to a lesser extent, communications technology at the broadcaster Südwestfunk (SWF), and later Südwestrundfunk (SWR), and spent more than 14 years as CIO of the TRUMPF Group, a leading international mechanical engineering company. She also spent some time at TRUMPF Medical Systems as interim managing director. Since 2016, Simone Rehm has been Vice-President at the University of Stuttgart, where, in her role as CIO, she is responsible for the strategic orientation of information technology and the design of digitization projects.

More information about her curriculum vitae and the main focuses. (German only)

Christiane Schönefeld joined the executive board of the Federal Employment Agency in September 2019, where she is responsible for Human Resources, Controlling and Finance. She studied law at the University of Cologne and graduated in 1986 after passing her 2nd state examination. From 1986 to 1995, she held various positions at the then Federal Labor Office (Bundesanstalt für Arbeit). Between 1995 and 1999, she worked as the Director of the Duisburg Labor Office, then as Vice-President of the North Rhine-Westphalia Regional Labor Office of the Federal Labor Office from 1999 to 2004, and from 2004 to 2019, she was Chair of the Management Board of the North Rhine-Westphalia Regional Directorate of the Federal Employment Agency. As a member of the “Growth, Structural Change and Employment” commission from 2018 to 2019, she provided the Federal German Government with advice on labor matters.

Nils Szuka studied law at the Heinrich Heine University in Düsseldorf from 1997, at that time as part of a cooperative study program with the FernUniversität in Hagen, and graduated in 2002 with the 1st state examination before the Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court. He completed his legal clerkship at the Düsseldorf Regional Court from 2003 to 2005 with the 2nd state examination, also before the Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court. He has been admitted to the Düsseldorf Bar Association since 2005. He is currently working on his doctoral thesis on legal issues in appeal proceedings with Prof. Dr. iur. Katharina Gräfin von Schlieffen at the University of Hagen.

His time at the FernUniversität in Hagen began as a student assistant to Prof. Dr. Gräfin von Schlieffen in 1999. After various activities at her chair, he has been a research assistant in the Dean's Office of the Faculty of Law since the end of 2005, currently in the position of Head of the Faculty's Central Department.