On the occasion of the imminent end of his term of office as Rector of TU Bergakademie Freiberg, Prof. Dr Klaus-Dieter Barbknecht was bid farewell as Chairman of the LRK at the meeting of the Saxony Rectors' Conference (LRK) on 12 June 2025. His term of office as Chair officially ends on 30 June 2025. At their meeting in Freiberg, the members of the LRK - the rectors of the state universities in the Free State of Saxony - elected Prof. Dr Eva Inés Obergfell, Rector of Leipzig University, as the new Chair of the LRK for a term of office of three years. She will thus continue the successful work of her predecessors and the previous Executive Board.
Prof Dr Obergfell has been a member of the Saxony Rectors' Conference since she took office at Leipzig University in 2022. Her election stands for the confidence of Saxony's university leaders in her expertise in science policy and her commitment to the further development of Saxony as a university location.
In 2023, Prof Dr Obergfell was already elected to the board of the German U15 university alliance - an association of the fifteen strongest research universities in Germany. This election confirms her nationwide network and emphasises her high-profile role in German university policy. Her new role as Chair of the LRK Saxony is a logical extension of this commitment.
The positions of Deputy Chair were not filled, as their term of office runs until November 2026. Prof Dr Alexander Kratzsch, Rector of the Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences, remains Deputy Chair from the group of universities of applied sciences. Ms Agnes Wegner, Rector of the Leipzig Academy of Visual Arts, remains Deputy Chairperson from the group of universities of the arts.
"First of all, I would like to thank the previous Chairperson, Prof Dr Klaus-Dieter Barbknecht, Rector of TU Bergakademie Freiberg, for the trusting cooperation over the past three years. The Saxon Rectors' Conference stands for active university autonomy and the joint further development of Saxony as a cosmopolitan and excellent centre of science. We want to work together to ensure that a strong, competitive higher education landscape remains a priority of Saxon politics in the future. I would like to thank my colleagues for the trust they have placed in me," said Prof. Dr Eva Inés Obergfell after her election.
The new Chair's term of office begins on 1 July 2025.