Introduction
„The life of Barbara Hopf, accompanied by proud successes, will not be without reverberation.“
(Prof. Dr. Jürgen Zabeck, from the obituary in “Mannheimer Morgen”)
Prof. Dr. rer. pol. Barbara Hopf, who passed away far too young at the age of 44, leaves recognized scientific achievements in the field of vocational and business education. With her focus on office simulation, work teaching and adult education, she set important impulses for these educational fields of work. Beyond university, she cooperated with vocational schools and further education institutions. Also well-documented is her high degree of commitment to teaching, which has always enabled Ms. Hopf to inspire students for their later work. The task of the Barbara-Hopf-Foundation is to support this and related teaching and research activities by promoting young scientists.
The information on the life and work of Barbara Hopf provided on this website has been collected and maintained over many years and decades. We are always grateful for any indication of errors or important additions.
Prof. Dr. Andreas Rausch
Chairman of the Board of Trustees
Regarding the Foundation
The “Barbara-Hopf-Foundation” was founded on 10 September 1989, on the first anniversary of the death of Prof. Dr. Barbara Hopf. The founders are her parents Dr. Werner and Mrs. Antonie Hopf. After their death, Dr. Gerald Heyne took over the foundations management. The foundation promotes economic education and educational science at the University of Mannheim in particular through the following measures:
- Award of prizes for qualified scientific work (habilitation, dissertations, and master's theses)
- Funding of research initiatives
- Provision of grants for national and international contacts
- Promotion of students and graduates in the context of scholarship payments
Funding will be provided for theses and projects that are in the tradition of the scientific profile of Mrs Prof. Dr. Barbara Hopf and are mainly assigned to the following topics:
- Practical educational research
- Didactic design of commercial education with regard to the requirements of professional life
- Linking of general education and vocational training
- Integration of foreign youth
- Adult and advanced education
- Impulses for those target groups and target objects to which Barbara Hopf could no longer devote, but which are addressed in her publications.
- Award of prizes for qualified scientific work (habilitation, dissertations, and master theses)
Besides the founder, elected members of the Board of Trustees are the Rector of the University of Mannheim, the Dean of the Faculty of Business Administration and one professor each for the subjects Business Education and Educational Science.