50 Years 50 Faces
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Winfried Wilke
Professor since 01 September 2004 and probably until 30 September 2025, and then ???
Professor of Metrology and Chair of the Senate / / Mechanical Engineering Bachelor, Mechatronics Bachelor, Product Development and Systems Design Masters / / Programme director of the Hydrogen Technology Bachelor
For me, FHWS is …
the fulfilment of my career dream and has been since 2004
the place where I can realise my professional and personal potential.
What do you appreciate about FHWS?
- The students, who never fail to inspire me
- Freedom in teaching and (applied) research
- Active involvement in self-governance bodies
- The opportunity for personal development
- Great colleagues and team spirit
What was the best decision in your professional career and why? What has changed since then?
My best decision was opting for a doctorate after my Diplom degree. The doctorate opened up great opportunities and gave me huge flexibility in my working life:
- a job in a corporate research division,
- a management post in corporate research and development,
- and ultimately a professorship.
What do you think has shaped FHWS the most over the last 50 years?
- Its shift from an engineering school to a higher education institution with strong academic standards, all without losing its focus on practice.
- The growing importance of skills development in teaching instead of just the communication of knowledge.
- The increasing role of applied research
- The regional network
- Internationalism
What is your vision of the future for FHWS? What might FHWS look like in 50 years’ time?
The trend is towards knowledge-sharing using digital teaching tools and (hopefully) learning skills through project work. The ultimate goal would be an entirely project-based model that provides the best possible preparation for working life. Support and supervision for the individual students could then be stepped up for improved learning outcomes in complex contexts. Lifelong learning will become more important, so the very structures at FHWS should allow for advanced training (=> time counted as part of teaching workload). Climate change, a challenge to be faced by all of humanity, will increasingly affect programme content.
What is your insider tip for the cities of Würzburg or Schweinfurt and why?
Schweinfurt is small enough that people know each other and you can get everywhere by bike, but large enough to have an excellent infrastructure. “Special places” include the gardens and balconies of friends, acquaintances and colleagues – the perfect places to relax after work. In terms of sporting activities, Schweinfurt has (almost) everything. The town’s cultural scene is comparable to that of a major city with its theatre, the Stattbahnhof, Disharmonie, KulturPakt cultural events and a number of museums. (Having spent many years living between Cologne and Bonn, and between Düsseldorf and Essen, I have a good basis for comparison.)