IfK bids farewell to 79 graduates at graduation ceremony in the castle
(03.02.2025) On 31 January 2025, a total of 79 graduates of the Institute of Communication Studies (IfK) were bid farewell in the Schloss auditorium. Prof Dr Julia Metag, Managing Director of the IfK, congratulated a total of 29 Master's and 50 Bachelor's graduates from the winter semester 2024/25.
At the beginning of the graduation ceremony, Julia Metag welcomed the numerous guests, among whom were not only the graduates but also many family members and friends as well as institute staff. Prof Dr Thorsten Quandt then used his research project ‘HybriD - Real-time detection and verification of hybrid disinformation campaigns in online media’ as an example to provide insights into current research topics at the IfK. The audience received a wealth of information about automated communication, fake news and disinformation campaigns. It became particularly clear that disinformation is omnipresent in online media from national and international actors pursuing financial, ideological, power-political or military interests.
In his opinion, democracies and we citizens must become much more resilient in the future. Quandt presented a software-based analysis tool developed in an interdisciplinary project that helps experts to recognise disinformation campaigns on the internet at an early stage.
The graduation ceremony also included a laudatory speech for the prize for the best thesis in 2023. Sofie Beisemann's Master's thesis was honoured by MedienAlumni Münster e. V. with prize money of €500. The thesis deals with the analysis of reporting on the Last Generation within different media attention phases.
Jannis Gulde then addressed the audience on behalf of the Master's graduates. Under the title ‘Master, Münster, Media’, he took the audience on a humorous journey through the small and large challenges of everyday student life at the IfK in Münster. With a twinkle in his eye, he made it clear that you not only learn something about media in the Master's programme, but also about life. He reviewed formative experiences from the past few years - from research seminars and excursions to new friendships - and thanked parents, friends, fellow students, lecturers and IfK staff for the special time.
Svenja Friedrichs and Eva Koch took over the speech for the Bachelor graduates. In addition to thanking the lecturers and staff of the IfK, they focused their humorous review on the entire degree programme according to the motto ‘IfK-Wrapped’. The audience learned that the average BA student spent almost two million minutes studying communication science, spent around 3,000 minutes in the queue for fried potatoes at the market and had a bicycle, two saddles and a tyre stolen. In addition to many other amusing statistics and other ironic tips regarding the challenging everyday student life, it was particularly emphasised that the students had a wonderful time studying at the IfK.
The Duo Eigendynamik (Rebekka Wilhelm and Felix Feldmann) provided the musical entertainment for the evening. With vocals/guitar and saxophone, they delighted the audience with virtuoso interpretations of contemporary pieces from Bobby Hebb to Hozier. After Julia Metag personally congratulated all graduates and presented them with the obligatory gerbera, the event ended with a drink in the foyer of the castle.
Contact person public relations:
Dr. Stephan Völlmicke
Telefon: +49 251 83-23006
Telefax: +49 251 83-21310 (Geschäftszimmer IfK)