On July 21, 1959, 26 young men completed their studies at the State Engineering School Giessen . They could now call themselves electrical engineers. Exactly 50 years later, 17 of them celebrated the anniversary of their graduation at the University of Applied Sciences in Giessen , the successor institution to the former polytechnic.

The meeting, which was also attended by the wives, was organized by Gerhard Rees, who now lives in Marburg. Prof. Dr. Helmut Gebler welcomed the honorees on behalf of the Department of Electrical and Information Engineering. The professor also spoke about the latest developments at the university and led the visitors on a tour of the Department and its laboratories. Prof. Heinrich Brinkmann, a city councilor Giessen , delivered a greeting on behalf of the mayor.

Norbert Engelhardt recalls that the students came primarily from the Giessen , Marburg, and Wetzlar area. But prospective students also came to Giessen from Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, and even Schleswig-Holstein. The six-semester course of study in the 1950s was very school-like. The former student representative even remembers grades for conduct on interim report cards. Students studied in barracks on Wiesenstraße and behind the Zeughaus barracks. Only the upperclassmen had the privilege of studying in the New Castle. At least they didn't have to do any of the cleanup and repair work that students had to do in the immediate post-war period.

University President Prof. Dr. Günther Grabatin was delighted that the alumni had chosen the university as the venue for their celebration. This demonstrated their connection to the university, but also their curiosity to learn what had become of their former engineering school, Grabatin said in his welcoming address. "Today, more than 10,000 young people study here under far more comfortable conditions and with technical equipment that you couldn't have imagined back then. But remember – this is just a snapshot in time. We are in a period of transformation, and when you return in ten years to celebrate the next major anniversary, you won't recognize the university," the president promised.