For universities in Lower Saxony, 2000 was dominated by discussions concerning the draught of the Gesetz zur Hochschulreform in Niedersachsen, the Lower Saxony University Reform Law. Both Council and Senate delivered opinions on this. The new bachelor’s and master’s degrees could soon be taken in many subjects. The university started the accreditation of new degree programmes.
A new degree programme in industrial engineering was established jointly by the Departments of Economics and Management, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, and Information Technology.
Since 1st January 2001, the University of Hannover has been run as a state business and receives a block grant. State and university regulate their relationship through target agreements according to the principles of new public management. As the first building block of Corporate Design, the university adopted a new Logo.
In October 2002 a new state university law, the Niedersächsisches Hochschulgesetz (NHG) was enacted. It was modified in 2007. The university remained a public corporation with the right to self-government. The Council was dissolved. Central organs are the Presidential Committee and the Senate. The Hochschulrat, or University Council, was set up as an advisory body for the Presidential Committee and the Senate.
The Presidential Committee is responsible for running the university. It is accountable to the Senate in all matters of self-government within its decision-making competence.
The President is nominated or designated on the advice of the Senate. The Senate submits its proposal together with a statement from the University Council to the Lower Saxony Minister of Science and Culture.
In October 2003 the State government passed the Hochschuloptimierungskonzept (HOK). This optimization concept led to far-reaching restructuring of higher education in Lower Saxony. Apart from budget cuts and economy measures for the university, there were drastic changes for the University of Hannover’s Department of Education: teacher training for primary schools, Haupt- and Realschulen was transferred to Hildesheim. The Department of Law remained as a legal training institute but without the social science specialisation.
The Department of Romance Studies was phased out in its then form and reopened in 2012 with Spanish Studies. The Diplom and Magister degrees were replaced by bachelor’s and master’s degrees.
In August 2005 the new university constitution came into force. Leibniz Universität is no longer divided into departments but into nine faculties.
In 2006, Universität Hannover celebrated its 175th anniversary and was given the name Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Universität Hannover. The Leibniz endowed professorship created in 2010 bears witness to the special commitment to the universal scholar by both university and city of Hannover. The many events organised by incumbent Prof. Dr. Wenchao Li address a wide audience in the city and the region.
1st January 2009 saw the birth of the Niedersächsische Technische Hochschule (Niedersachsen Institutes of Technology, NTH) - an alliance of the three universities Technische Universität Braunschweig, Technische Universität Clausthal and Leibniz Universität Hannover. Its aim is to consolidate existing strengths, thereby increasing efficiency in research and teaching.
