Professor Malte Brettel New RWTH Aachen Vice-Rector
Professor Dr. Malte Brettel is the University's new Vice-Rector of Industry and Business Relations. On December 6, 2012, the RWTH Aachen Senate confirmed the Board of Governors‘ vote. Brettel is assuming responsibility for the corporate relations from Professor Dr.-Ing. Günther Schuh, who stepped down from this position. The term of office for RWTH Aachen vice-rectors is coupled to that of the rector, which lasts till July 31, 2014.
Professor Dr. Malte Brettel is the new Vice-Rector of Industry and Business Relations of RWTH Aachen. On December 6, 2012, the RWTH Senate confirmed the Board of Governors‘ vote. Brettel is assuming responsibility for corporate relations from Professor Dr.-Ing. Günther Schuh, who stepped down from this position. The term of office for RWTH Aachen vice-rectors is coupled to that of the rector, which lasts till July 31, 2014.
Brettel, a professor of economics and entrepreneurship expert, was nominated as Vice-Rector by Rector Ernst Schmachtenberg. “I am convinced that we have acquired a colleague in Brettel who understands a great deal about innovation and planning processes and will enrich the work of the Rectorate,” said Schmachtenberg. “His involvement in the creation of new companies stemming from RWTH Aachen represents a win for the region as well, which recently has been facing several company closures.”
The 45 year-old Brettel is married and father of two children. He studied industrial engineering with a focus in mechanical engineering at TU Darmstadt. He completed his doctoral studies and post-doc at the Otto Beisheim School of Management in Vallendar. He worked as a management consultant for many years after his studies. In 1999 he was the cofounder and managing director of a successful internet company. He continued to gather practical experiences after leaving the company through other formations of companies and numerous project consultant work, for example at Porsche, Deutsche Post, Lufthansa, or Bertelsmann. He was Acting Director of the Chair of International Entrepreneurship at the Leipzig Graduate School of Management before being called to RWTH Aachen.
Since 2003, Malte Brettel has been Chair of Economics for Engineers and Natural Scientists, while simultaneously heading the Center for Entrepreneurship at RWTH Aachen. This close relationship ensures that practical and theoretical course content come together and are imparted on students. The Center for Entrepreneurship is the first point of contact for prospective entrepreneurs within the university and provides comprehensive information about self-employment. Supported by his own entrepreneurship experience and his scientific know-how, Brettel wishes to strongly promote entrepreneurship training at RWTH Aachen. “ We want to be among the best internationally and be a top university in Germany, including facilitating entrepreneurial actions and thinking,” expressed Brettel briefly in an interview.
Brettel is not only active as an expert on entrepreneurship at RWTH Aachen: He was also involved in the Excellence competition for his faculty. Additionally, he coordinated and headed the transition of all Diplom courses of study in industrial engineering into Bachelor and Master courses of study. Graduates of these courses of study have particularly good career prospects in business and the industry due to their comprehensive and application-oriented education.
Brettel envisions intensive exchange between the University and companies through the expansion of RWTH Aachen Campus. “The entrepreneurial spirit already prevails at universities in the USA. Likewise, investors and university research will come together at RWTH Aachen,“ said the business expert.
Brettel has already been honored for his teaching with the “Best Teacher Award”. In the Handelsblatt Ranking 2012, he ranked as the professor in Germany with the most amount of research in the field of entrepreneurship. His external funding has superseded the average of professors in economics for years now, and the number of doctoral candidates he has supervised are similarly above average. Malte Brettel has been Chair of the Verband Deutscher Wirtschaftsingenieure e.V. since 2007, and in 2011 he was elected Vice-President.
Renate Kinny