On 26 September 2026, OTH Regensburg celebrated the anniversary with over 100 guests from the university, the 25th cohort of students, the alumni association intcom and other guests from the professional world. Opening addresses were given by Vice-President Prof. Dr Birgit Rösel on behalf of OTH Regensburg and Dean Prof. Dr Katherine Gürtler on behalf of the Faculty of Applied Natural and Cultural Sciences.
The highlight was the honouring of individuals who have rendered outstanding service to the supplementary degree programme. Foremost among them was former President Prof. Dr Josef Eckstein, who, together with Prof. Dr Dr h. c. Alexander Thomas – who passed away in 2023 – is the founding father of the programme. Also honoured were Prof. Dr Wilfried Dreyer, who served as the programme’s academic director for a total of 18 years until 2025; Prof. Dr Ulrich Hößler, who headed the coordination office until 2011; and Prof. Dr Beatrice Schuchardt. She accepted the honour on behalf of the University of Regensburg’s international degree programmes and addressed the audience with words of appreciation. All those honoured symbolically donated a voucher to the International Office for international students in urgent need.
A big thank you went to the Friends’ Association for its support. Special recognition was given to the team of lecturers for their many years of highly qualified teaching, without which the supplementary degree programme would not exist.Prof. Dr Oliver Steffens, Vice-President for International Affairs, expressed his profound gratitude to the teaching team for this vital contribution to the internationalisation of the university. Prof. Ulrike de Ponte, Prof. Dr Dreyer’s successor to the Chair of Culture and Society, hosted the event.
A joint project between OTH Regensburg and the University of Regensburg
IHaKo was launched in November 2001 as a joint project at the University of Regensburg (Prof. Dr Alexander Thomas) in cooperation with what was then Regensburg University of Applied Sciences (Prof. Dr Josef Eckstein). After seven years at the University, the two-semester programme was established as a university certificate at OTH Regensburg, where it has now been successfully running for 18 years. Prof. Dr Wilfried Dreyer served as the programme’s academic director until 2025. The Bavarian Ministry of Science honoured IHaKo as early as November 2003 for its contribution to the internationalisation of Bavarian higher education institutions.
The two-semester supplementary programme focuses on experience-based learning and bicultural team teaching. The core of the teaching team consists of intercultural psychologists, visiting lecturers from abroad and lecturers with many years’ experience of working overseas. IHaKo formed the starting point for the International Relations and Management degree programme and is now increasingly being integrated into the international Bachelor’s degree programmes.
The keynote address was delivered by Prof. Dr Wilfried Dreyer under the title ‘Intercultural competence is now essential’. He made it clear that promoting the development of intercultural competence also means “taking responsibility for democracy and social cohesion”. In light of current social developments, this interconnection is increasingly becoming an aspect of moral courage.
Workshops, panel discussion, escape room and walk-through timeline
In the afternoon, the programme featured four workshops organised by the alumni association intcom. These were led by Dr Julia Bürger (IHaKo/intcom), Prof. Dr Markus Bresinsky (OTH Regensburg), Prof. Dr Ulrich Hößler (HS Fresenius) and Alena Dolderer (intcom). In addition, a ceremony was held to present the university certificates to the 25th cohort.
Guests were able to experience intercultural live activities in the third edition of the intercultural escape room (Kautz, Pick & de Ponte, 2026) as well as in the walk-through chronicle (Schulte & de Ponte, 2026). Under the anniversary day’s theme, ‘IHaKo in Transition – What was? What remains? What lies ahead?’, alumni took part in a panel discussion. Sabrina Tanzer (Diversity), Florian Sattler (Biculturalism), Franziska Bernhardt (NSU Complex) and Isabell Schmitz, author of the newly published book *Farbwirbel*on preventing racism in childhood, contributed their perspectives in a refreshing, inspiring and courageous manner.
On 1 October 2026, the 26th cohort of the supplementary degree programme in International Competence began under the academic supervision of Prof. Ulrike de Ponte. With this cohort, the number of students finally exceeded the 5,000 mark.
