Masakhe 01 DIGITAL HIRES SINGLE - Flipbook - Page 40
P
rofessor Carsten
Lausberg was born in
West Germany (the
nation was still divided
after the resolve of the
Second World War).
Growing up and trying to find work
in Germany when Carsten left school
proved to be challenging, his father,
a banker, advised him to first find
work then pursue his education. He
worked at a bank for three years, a
time that he describes as challenging
but became useful to him in the
future. He eventually enrolled for
tertiary education studied Business
Administration and Economics in
Germany then left for the United
States to earn his Masters in Finance
at Texas A&M University. In 1994 he
returned to his native Germany where
he found work as a graduate assistant
at the University of Hohenheim. While
working as a graduate assistant, he
began working on his Doctorate in
Banking which he completed in 1998.
He found work as a management
consultant upon completion of
his studies but always knew that
he would return to the world of
academia.
Carsten’s entry into the world of
real estate was moment of sheer
serendipity, “That was a coincidence.
On the list of electives for my Master’s
degree there were also a few property
courses. I took property finance, a
subject I knew from my time at the
bank. I quite liked it and in the second
semester, I chose property valuation,
which was also interesting. Back in
Germany, I then chose my dissertation
topic at the interface between
ISSUE 1
banking/finance and property, namely
the real estate market risk of banks.”
To this day he says that he is still
enthralled by the world of real estate.
It was not until 2017 that he
eventually returned to academia
when he was appointed as a
professor of real estate banking at
Nürtingen-Geislingen University
(HfWU) in south Germany. “As
a student worker and graduate
assistant, I got a good insight into the
day-to-day work of a professor. What
I admired most was the academic
freedom, i.e. the opportunity to focus
on the things that interest you and
are important to you in teaching and
research. You hardly have that in any
other job.”
Professor Lausberg’s relationship
with the UCT CEM Department
began in 2014 while he was on
research sabbatical. He and his entire
family made their way down to the
picturesque ‘Mother City’ for seven
months. “I was very well received
by my colleagues and felt at home
from day one. My family also enjoyed
their time in Cape Town, even though
it was sometimes difficult for my
wife and children.” The family would
eventually return to Germany but
Lausberg remained in touch with
his new colleagues from the CEM
“AS A STUDENT WORKER
AND GRADUATE
ASSISTANT, I GOT A
GOOD INSIGHT INTO
THE DAY-TO-DAY WORK
OF A PROFESSOR.”
OCTOBER 2 024
38
