A tireless commitment to a better education system and greater equality of educational opportunity: Prof. Dr. Olaf Köller awarded Germany’s Federal Cross of Merit, First Class
Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Germany’s Federal President, has awarded the Federal Cross of Merit, First Class, of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany to Prof. Dr. Olaf Köller, the IPN’s Managing Director of Research. Daniel Günther, Schleswig-Holstein’s Minister-President, presented the award to Prof. Köller on 21 January in Kiel.
"Your academic and scientific achievements command immense respect. It is therefore only right and logical, and gives me the greatest pleasure, to see these achievements honored here today with this very special award. Your commitment to your research serves as a reminder to us that the education of children is one of a society’s foremost tasks – perhaps its very foremost – as it contemplates and moves into its future. I would like to express my most heartfelt thanks to you for this. We are delighted and proud to know you are conducting this work here in Schleswig-Holstein."
Daniel Günther, Minister-President of Schleswig-Holstein
"You are an outstanding academic voice and demonstrate an impressive, tireless commitment to working for a better education system and greater equality of educational opportunity," said Günther to Köller, noting his decades of research in the service of education in Germany and toward the improvement of teacher training. "Respected across Germany, you are a key figure in dialogue with education policymakers at state and federal level," stressed Schleswig-Holstein’s Minister-President, and further reminded the assembled audience that Köller, in his role as co-chair of the Standing Scientific Commission on Education Policy, supports the members of Germany’s Standing Conference of Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs in an advisory capacity.
Olaf Köller, an eminent educationalist, was the inaugural director of Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin’s Institute for Educational Quality Improvement, which came into being in 2004. "Your return to your home state of Schleswig-Holstein in 2009 is our great good fortune," said Günther; continuing, he referenced the large number of positions and offices Köller has held and continues to hold in his endeavors to continuously drive improvements in Germany’s education system.
