Güttner brings to the chancellorship a professional biography that is as broad as it is precisely relevant. Following formative positions at the University of Giessen and a period of independent practice as a consultant and project manager on higher education matters, she served as Senior Consultant at the Centre for Higher Education Development, where her portfolio encompassed organisational development, financial governance, incentive models, and equality and diversity initiatives. Between 2013 and 2022, she led the administration of FU Berlin's Department of Political and Social Sciences and several of its central institutes, acquiring an institutional familiarity that few in her position could claim. Born in 1971, her studies in Latin American Studies, Political Science, and Economics at the University of Cologne and Freie Universität Berlin, created a foundation that speaks to the range of perspective she brings to her responsibilities.

The priorities Güttner has identified for her term are firmly grounded in institutional necessity. With investment funds reduced by 25 percent and construction reserves being drawn upon to meet operational costs, she has been unequivocal: "We need to completely rethink space: densify, share, and think collaboratively with BUA partners." The same principle extends to research infrastructure. In the sphere of digital transformation, Güttner has been clear that incremental digitisation is insufficient. What is required is a fundamental reorientation of processes, from e-recruitment and personnel management to digital working-time recording and business travel management.

In an interview with campus.leben conducted by Kerrin Zielke, Güttner reflected candidly on what led her to commit to a further eight years in this demanding role. Her answer was notable for what it chose to emphasise: not the scope of the challenges ahead, but the quality of the institution's collective response to those it had already faced. The spirit of solidarity at Freie Universität, she observed, the readiness of its community to hold together under pressure and to approach difficulty with shared purpose, had been the decisive factor in her decision to stand. That spirit is captured in a phrase she has made her own, and which now resonates well beyond her immediate circle: "We are all FU"

Güttner's formal term of office is set to commence in July 2026, subject to appointment by the Senate of Berlin, the concluding step in a statutorily governed process initiated on the recommendation of University President Prof. Günter M. Ziegler, in consultation with the Board of Trustees chaired by Prof. Karl Max Einhäupl. For an institution of 35,000 students and approximately 4,300 staff members, the unanimous character of her election is itself a form of institutional communication, a signal that, at a moment of considerable external pressure, Freie Universität Berlin has chosen continuity, competence, and a leadership culture grounded in the conviction that the university's greatest asset remains the cohesion of its community.

• https://www.linkedin.com/posts/fuberlin-share-7443274334439120896-TvVl?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAFlymI0BKrIDYV9r3-olSjNb9n5E1wQmyF8
• https://www.fu-berlin.de/campusleben/vorgestellt/2026/260326-Wahl-Kanzlerin-Andrea-Guettner/index.html