The question of what is at the heart of the matter was and is not only the subject of Goethe's Faust: curiosity and the urge to explore are the basic energies of science. The question of how things in nature are structured internally or what holds societies together and drives them apart motivates people to do research.

Whether by thinking through concepts or conducting complicated experiments, questioning people or observing processes: Science always wants to do better, always wants to understand more. Universities are places of research, from the basics to questions of application.

At the same time, universities foster exchange across the boundaries of individual disciplines: Other perspectives and approaches can and should broaden the view. These forms of contact and communication across disciplinary boundaries are certainly easier at small institutions such as Schmalkalden University of Applied Sciences.