About the Division for Foundations and Assets

The fundamental strategic goal in acquiring and profitably investing the various foundations and assets the division manages is to support and promote the researchers and academics of Heidelberg University as effectively as possible. This requires fostering existing ties to friends, sponsors, benefactors and patrons, continuously gaining new friends and supporters as well as nurturing their commitment to Ruperto Carola. The division provides all-round support of foundations, endowments, assets and bequests.

The division staff see it as their responsibility to support particularly the rector, as the representative of the university, but also the scientists and scholars in all fundraising efforts. This requires careful scrutiny of the multifaceted foundation and asset landscape and the development of strategies to reach the aspirations of the university. The funds acquired are used to finance building renovations, endowed professorships and research awards as well as scholarships and travel grants for students and doctoral candidates.

"We create a margin of freedom and strengthen the university’s ability to compete both nationally and internationally by providing additional funds beyond basic financing. Without these resources, so much of what propels research and teaching forward would not be possible.“
Jochen Ridinger (Head of Division)

Further, the division is responsible for the planning of sustainable infrastructure projects, such as building and maintaining the university guest houses. One of the division’s projects was the construction of the new Marsilius Arcades in Neuenheimer Feld. Through its foundation, the university launched this initiative to, among other things, construct a new, modern home for the Marsilius Kolleg, in which high-profile, interdisciplinary research projects are identified, initiated and guided on behalf of Heidelberg University.