Boundless excellence
Boundless excellence: Computer Science graduate Annika Sauer is awarded the Excellence Prize of the Franco-German University of Applied Sciences
The Franco-German University (DFH) awarded eleven excellence prizes and six dissertation prizes to outstanding graduates of its Franco-German programs at the German Embassy in Paris on 29 January. Among the award winners was Annika Sauer, a former computer science master's student at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT).
After a bachelor's degree in computer science at the TU Braunschweig, Ms. Sauer decided to take the German-French double master's degree in computer science at KIT. She therefore studied computer science at KIT and at the French partner university, the Institut polytechnique de Grenoble. In her master's degree, Ms. Sauer specialized in IT security at the KASTEL Institute for Information Security at KIT and completed it with her thesis "Measuring the Attack Resilience of Differential Privacy". Her master's thesis made an outstanding contribution to the understanding of the attack resilience of differential privacy mechanisms and was consistently rated as excellent by her supervisors. The double Master's degree program thus enabled her to obtain a German and a French Master's degree at the same time. In addition to the excellent Master's thesis, the Excellence Prize 2026 also honors her outstanding achievements during her studies at both Karlsruhe and Grenoble. After graduating, Ms. Sauer moved into business, where she applied her expertise in the field of information security for renewable energies.
The Franco-German University (DFH) is an institution under international law with its own legal personality, founded in 1997 by Germany and France with equal funding. Its main mission is to initiate, evaluate and financially support Franco-German study programs. A wide range of disciplines are represented, from engineering, humanities and social sciences to natural sciences, law, economics and teacher training.
The programs are offered by a network of 210 universities, universities of applied sciences and grandes écoles in almost 140 cities in Germany, France and third countries. Almost 6,000 students are currently taking part in the DFH-sponsored partnerships. There is no comparable binational project anywhere in the world.
Left:
Double Master's in Computer Science: https://www.informatik.kit.edu/doppelmaster.php
Press release of the DFH: https://www.dfh-ufa.org/pressemitteilungen/grenzenlos-exzellent-deutsch-franzoesische-hochschule-zeichnet-akademische-spitzenleistungen-aus
