Honorary doctors – doctor honoris causae

Professor Doctor Honoris Causae Willibald Posch, Ph.D. 

Professor Posch was the dean of the Faculty of Law at Karl Franzens University in Graz, Austria. He spent the years 2004 and 2005 as the vice-dean for curricular affairs.

He dedicated his academic career to raising and educating young lawyers and always tried to offer as many possibilities for development to young professors and researchers as possible. For that reason, he cooperated with plenty of faculties from the neighborly countries and across the Atlantic, in the USA. He also kept in touch with all the researchers and professors at the Faculty of Law in Graz and maintained close ties with professors in the Maribor Faculty of Law, namely Professor Ilešič Ph.D., Professor Geč Korošec Ph.D., Professor Knez Ph.D., Professor Tratnik Ph.D. and Professor Ferčič Ph.D.

His bibliography consists of hundreds of fundamental analyses in the field of civil, comparative, international commercial or private law and company law.

As the dean of the Faculty of Law at the Karl Franzens University in Graz he acted as the patron for plenty of researchers from across the whole Europe and accordingly also from the University of Maribor.

He organised one of the first summer law schools discussing EU law and made sure that scholarships were available to Slovenian students, primarily students from the Maribor Faculty of Law. These summer law schools were the foundation for establishing the successful link between the Maribor Faculty of Law and EU, which led to plenty of successful projects (Tempus, Jean Monnet) and the prestige title ‘The University of Maribor Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence'.

He cooperated in preparing numerous international projects in the field of EU law and private international law and made efforts to publish the first legal dictionary that would include Slovenian, Croatian and Serbian language.

Later, the ‘Common Lecturing Hall' was constituted on his initiative. The Common Lecturing Hall united the Faculty of Law of the Karl Franzens University of Graz and the Maribor Faculty of Law. The lecturing hall was not only visited by the students from Maribor and Graz but also international students from China, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and Latin America. The main lecturers were Full Professor Posch, Ph.D. and Full Professor Tratnik, Ph.D., but other renowned visiting lecturers also participated.

Professor POSCH, Ph.D., is internationally recognized for his high efforts and great contributions to legal science. He was and still is, a member of important societies, for example, Lando Commission and the Expert Group that prepared the UNIDROIT Rules.

It is safe to say that he always treated the University of Maribor with great respect and care.

Professor Doctor Honoris Causae, Professor Emeritus Gernot Kocher, Ph.D.

Professor Gernot Kocher, Ph.D., was the dean of the Faculty of Law at the Karl Franzens University in Graz for numerous years. He was also the vice-president of the legal history committee of the Austrian Academy of Science. His efforts for connecting Slovenian and Austrian scientific research were extraordinary, and he always acted in a way to connect Austrian and Slovenian universities in the field of social and legal sciences.

As one of the top connoisseurs and researchers of legal and historical sources and their iconographic legal elements, he participates with the Institute for philosophy, history, and iconography of law, which is headed by the Associate Professor Borut Holcman, Ph.D. His collaboration with the Institute encompasses pedagogical and scientific research work, monitoring and supporting the institute's projects and performing lectures at the Maribor Faculty of Law as a visiting lecturer. His contribution to the institute's work also led to a well-equipped library, filled with the fundamental legal history and iconographic publications. Professor Kocher actively participated in researching major legal history sources in Slovenia and supported the international conference in the field of legal iconography that took place at the University of Maribor.

When working as a dean, he systematically nurtured the connection of Austrian and Slovenian university professors and supported the work of Slovenian experts and the joint work of Slovenian and Austrian scientists, researchers and pedagogical staff. He also put great effort into assuring equal access to literature in the libraries of the University of Maribor and Karl Fanzens University in Graz and supported interlibrary cooperation between the two.

In 2008, his actions of a staunch supporter of Slovenian science and culture led to the opening of a corner with Slovenian books and a class of Slovene language at the Institute for Slovenian Language in Graz. The development of the study of Slovenian language at the Karl Franzens University in Graz was also one of his primary goals. He always actively supported the study of Slovenian language and his support finally led to the possibility of a full professorship of Slovenian literature and culture. Perhaps part of the reason for his firm support lies in the fact that his mother was also Slovenian.

In April 2016 he received the Medal for strengthening the cooperation between Slovenian and Austrian experts of humanistic and legal science.

         
vir: spletna stran Urada predsednika Republike Slovenije, oktober 2016