Freshman with 63

Ullrich M. Rasche, a state certified hotel manager and chef, decided to study the course in European History after retirement

Read up in the library, examinations every six months and eating in the dining hall – these things are well known to every student. For many a student life is not easy. Whereas Ullrich Rasche cannot wait to come just in time at 7:30 a.m. in the lecture hall and listen to the remarks of his professor. Rasche is attending a total of three lectures, four seminars and two exercises in the winter semester 2014/15. In October 2014 he took up the study in the European History at TU Chemnitz. The curious thing is that Ullrich M. Rasche is 63 years old and already retired.

Born in Lower Saxony, Rasche completed in his young years a vocational training as a chef and a hotel manager. Then he took on the second-chance education to catch up on his advanced technical certificate, and earned a degree at “Fachschule für das Hotel- und Gaststättengewerbe” in Berlin. At the age of 27, he was allowed to finally call himself a state certified business manager. What followed was an impressive conglomerate of directors’ board of various hotels throughout Germany, the self-employment as a private hotelier at national and international level and freelance consultancy work for hotels and restaurants. For instance, in 1995 Rasche came to Chemnitz to open the 4-star Dorint Parkhotel and lead it up until 1999. Overall, in his career he was a hotel manager head of a considerable number of well-known hotels over a period of more than 25 years, advised numerous companies and catering establishments. In 2005 Rasche decided to offer his acquired knowledge and experience in the field of business management, marketing, mid-sized catering and hotel business additionally as a freelance consultant under the name Gaho-Consulting.

With increasing success in business the hotelier began to think about his future. “Several years ago I began to wonder what my retirement period would look like. Philosophical issues and historical backgrounds have always belonged to my hobbies. I am very interested culturally and read in my spare time. So I have trained myself as a part of hobby in the field of history for a long time“, says Rasche. Throughout the years fortified his idea of studying in the retirement. In 2011, he finally took a three-month time out to become familiar with the subject as a guest student at TU Chemnitz. The contents impressed Rasche and he applied for the free-admission program in the European History at TU Chemnitz.

His first impression was very positive. “The course is so far very interesting. My goal is the Master’s degree. Solely the lessons and the current techniques caused me some problems. When making the PowerPoint presentation for the lectures in the seminars, I have to ask support of my fellow students“, says Rasche. Otherwise, the 63-year old student is competent in the field of modern technology. The laptop is his favorite work tool and social networks are anything but not alien to him. For simplified exchange and improved communication with his fellow students, Rasche found the freshmen group for students, who study History at TU Chemnitz on Facebook. When asked, whether he enjoys the benefits of student life, Rasche smiles: “In the cinema I recently showed my student ticket. Although the saleswoman looked a bit confused, I actually got a ticket at a discounted price.“ Thanks to the semester ticket Rasche boarded on a bus for the first time in a long while to get to the university. But he does not want to take advantage of his status as a student. “Now I enjoy my home and my regular life. My student life was almost 40 years ago. It is now much easier to study for me than for all other students, who are working under the pressure to achieve a successful career. I have got over this too. The journey is now for me the destination“, says Rasche, summing up.

(Author: Katharina Preuß, Translation: Nataliia Boiko)

Katharina Thehos
28.11.2014

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