On Monday, 12 October, around 10,000 students began the 2026/27 winter semester, including some 1,900 new students at Ulm University. They were welcomed by the new President, Professor Michael Kühl, who took up his post at the beginning of October. His message to the students: the importance of a University, even – and especially – in the age of artificial intelligence.
Why should anyone still study and accumulate knowledge at a time when all the world’s knowledge can be accessed via a smartphone and summarised by AI? “Because knowledge is not the same as understanding,” explained University President Michael Kühl in the large Lecture Hall 4/5, where he welcomed the new students on Monday morning. It is about contextualising and weighing up information – a skill that arises through discourse with others and by engaging with complex thinking. Kühl emphasised: “The University is a place for doubt and discussion.” He urged those present to question everything: “Society needs people who have learnt to argue soundly and to stand by the facts. You are those people.”
Education is more than just training, the President continued. It is about constantly familiarising oneself with new topics and being able to solve problems, regardless of what the labour market might look like in five or ten years’ time. And there is something else that is important to Kühl: seeing the university as a place of encounter and tolerance, where you can engage with people you might otherwise never have met. Finally, he encouraged the students: studying means having the confidence to take on new challenges and persevering even when you don’t understand something straight away. “As a period between childhood and your career, your studies offer you plenty of freedom and opportunities: make the most of it!”
This was followed by welcoming addresses from the deans of the four faculties, as well as introductory sessions on the respective (study/degree) programmes. Throughout the morning, the new students were able to find out more at the many stands in the Forum: for example, about the Zentrale Studienberatung (central student advisory services), the services offered by theStudierendenwerk (student services), getting involved in university groups, the Queer Office or universitysports. Of course, there were also plenty of goodies, including welcome gifts for first-year students: Ulm University water bottles and the 2026 clay tablets, designed to commemorate the start of their studies in Ulm. This year, the International Graduate School in Molecular Medicine Ulm, which has been in existence for 20 years, is celebrating with a molecular motif. The clay plaques are designed and produced by the Centre for the Arts (MUZ) at Ulm University.
At the start of the new winter semester, a total of almost 10,000 students are once again enrolled at the University of Ulm. Among them are over 950 traditional first-year students who are embarking on an undergraduate degree for the first time. In addition, there are more than 930 new enrolments comprising students who were previously enrolled and are now continuing their studies in Ulm or have changed their subject. Most of the new students have enrolled in the Medical Faculty. Experience shows that student numbers continue to fluctuate until around mid-November.
Further information, press enquiries and media contact:
Christine Liebhardt, Head of Press and Public Relations,
email: christine.liebhardt(at)uni-ulm.de, tel. (0731) 50 22121