The university assembly of the University of Cologne has elected Professor Dr Johanna Hey as the new Vice-Rector for International Affairs. The legal scholar has assumed the office with an elected term of six years as of 26 April 2021.

‘The University of Cologne has an excellent international network. Memberships in the Coimbra Network and EUniwell are of particular importance, as is networking through our focus on Global South Studies. I look forward to pursuing our internationalization strategy in the interest of students and researchers,’ said Johanna Hey. ‘In light of our experiences during one year of pandemic, this will also involve connecting with the University’s digitization strategy. However, experiences abroad and the internationalization of our campus remain just as important, with student exchanges on the one hand, and the International Faculty Program on the other."

Professor Dr Johanna Hey was born in Hamburg in 1970. She studied law at the University of Würzburg. Following her doctorate, second state law examination, and Habilitation in Cologne, she was appointed to a C4 professorship at Heinrich Heine University in Düsseldorf in 2002, holding an endowed chair for corporate tax law. Since 2006, she has served as director of the Institute for Tax Law at the University of Cologne. From 2004 to 2012, she was a member of the Executive Board and 1st Vice President of the German Association of University Professors and Lecturers (Deutscher Hochschulverband). Since 2006, she has been a member of the scientific advisory board of the Federal Ministry of Finance. Since 2012, she has been a member of the permanent deputation of the German Lawyers’ Conference. In 2020, she was admitted to the North Rhine-Westphalian Academy of Sciences, Humanities and the Arts.

Johanna Hey is Global Professor at New York University’s School of Law and was awarded the Hans Kelsen Prize of the University of Cologne in 2016. In April 2021, she was appointed Vice-Rector for International Affairs.

Her academic work focuses on national, European and international income and corporate tax law as well as on the constitutional foundations of taxation.
The Rectorate manages the University. It consists of the Rector, the Chancellor and now five Vice-Rectors. The members of the Rectorate are elected by the university electoral assembly.


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Dr Patrick Honecker
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