Annual report 2015
With this annual report, the 37th since the founding of the Studentenwerk Oberfranken, we would like to inform our partners at the universities, the state institutions supporting the Studentenwerk as well as all interested parties about the most important events and figures of the 2015 financial year. The annual report provides you with information about important operational developments and economic framework data and also shows you which challenges the Studentenwerk Oberfranken will have to face in the near future.
A decisive factor for the 2015 financial year was the continued high number of students at Bavarian universities. The Studentenwerk Oberfranken has reacted to this situation with numerous investments in infrastructure and a targeted personnel development, so that the further increasing demand for the services of the Studentenwerk could be handled without any problems. Here I would like to express my special thanks to all of the Studentenwerk's employees in the catering companies, the hostels, the Office for Educational Support, the childcare facilities and the social counselling centre, without whose tireless commitment the challenges could not have been mastered. The issue of high student numbers will continue to accompany the Studentenwerk in the coming years. It will therefore continue to be all the more important to ensure very good study conditions at all locations through the targeted expansion of the infrastructure. Accordingly, the construction of two further large hostels in Bayreuth and Hof was initiated in the 2015 financial year by holding architectural competitions. The targeted expansion of psychological counselling capacities and the establishment of a social counselling service will also be focal points of our work in the coming years. The work of the Studentenwerk Oberfranken is an indispensable and important factor in students being able to successfully complete their studies. The Studentenwerk will do everything in its power to ensure that the motto "Damit Studieren gelingt" (So that studying is successful), under which all German Studentenwerke work, also becomes reality for students in Upper Franconia. Overall, the 2015 financial year can be considered a very good and economically successful one. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who have contributed to this result, especially the staff of the Studentenwerk, but also those responsible at the Bayerische Staatsministerium für Bildung und Kultus, Wissenschaft und Kunst (Bavarian State Ministry of Education and Culture, Science and Art), who have once again accompanied the Studentenwerk with a sense of what is appropriate. My special thanks go to the members of the Board of Directors for their consistently good and constructive cooperation with the management of the Studentenwerk. Only through their responsible work and their understanding of the concerns of the Studentenwerk is it possible to continually develop this further and adapt it to the constantly growing demands. I would also like to express my sincere thanks to all those who have supported me in this reporting year and remain hopeful that this will continue to be the case in subsequent years.
Josef Tost, managing director