Professor Müller held the Chair of Social History of Education at the Ruhr University in Bochum, where he had established the ‘European Culture and Economy’ (ECUE) degree programme, which aimed to provide German and international, particularly Chinese, students with a joint academic qualification. Not least because of this degree programme, Chinese experts contacted him to initiate a special German-Chinese study project. At the time, Professor Müller recognised that a private university might be better suited to implementing such a programme and approached us through an indirect contact with Rolf Colsman, then Chairman of our Foundation Board. This led to the cooperation projects in China, which have now produced almost 10,000 graduates over the past 23 years.
In numerous meetings and negotiations in China, Professor Müller always endeavoured to balance interests, which ultimately ensured that the relevant contracts could be concluded. Without him, these cooperations would probably not have been possible. We owe Professor Dr. Detlef K. Müller a great deal and will honour his memory.