On the 7th of November was a celebration of the 50th anniversary of the University of Applied Sciences Ravensburg-Weingarten(Germany).The representatives of the ITMO University congratulated their colleagues. The ITMO University is a strategic partner of the German university since 2010.

The hosts of the holiday prepared an unusual and exciting program.It included a video presentation of the history of the university, congratulations from foreign partners, musical performances, and even dances of students from Africa.The event was attended by about 300 guests, including the minister of education of Baden-Württemberg, mayors of the two cities, members of foreign delegations and graduates of different years.

Particular interest was given to the video greeting from Vladimir Vasiliev, the rector of the ITMO University.It was prepared with the participation of the employees of the Office of strategic communications, Institute of international development and partnership and the media center of the ITMO University.Irina Livshits, the head of the Laboratory of the automated design of the optico-information and energy saving systems, personally congratulated the German colleagues.She handed to the colleagues the corporate gift from the ITMO University, conveyed best wishes and also noted the importance of the partnership between the Russian and German universities.

The cooperation between the universities began in 2010.Michael Pfeffer, the vice rector for international relations of the German university, being then head of the Optical society of Germany became interested in research conducted at the ITMO University in the field of photonics.Later, in 2012, the representatives of the University of Applied Sciences Ravensburg-Weingarten participated in several international scientific events, which took place at the ITMO University.Among them, the international conference called ODF’12 («Optics Photonics Design & Fabrication») and «International Optical Design and Technology Seminar».Within the last event Michael Pfeffer held a master class on optical ISO standards and gave valuable materials to the ITMO University.In 2013, Thomas Shpegele, the rector of the University of Applied Sciences Ravensburg-Weingarten and Michael Pfeffer visited the ITMO University again.During the visit, the possibilities of cooperation in the field of photonics were discussed, a program called Technical Development and Modeling (Research Master) was developed later.

In early November of this year the University of Applied Sciences Ravensburg-Weingarten became a partner of the ITMO University in the organization of the international conference called «Optics Photonics Design & Fabrication»: German university will hold the conference in 2016.On the 10th of November there'll be a meeting, where there'll be a discussion about other joint projects of the ITMO University and the University of Applied Sciences Ravensburg-Weingarten on the 2015-2016 years.Among them - the participation of the German partner in the conference "Photonics" in Russia in September 2015 and holding an international conference ODF'16.

The University of Applied Sciences Ravensburg-Weingarten is the leader among institutions of higher education in southern Germany.3,600 students are studying and 276 teachers and employees are working there.