The funding line “suitability and selection” supports projects of higher education institutions which aim at improving the prospective students’ fit with the chosen program of study. Seven higher education institutions which have received funding for their projects cooperate to exchange and expand their expertise on the students’ self-reflection when it comes to choosing their program of study. Processes to encourage the prospective students’ self-reflection, for example evaluating how well their own interests and expectations fit the program of study, are central. The Mannheim researchers Professor Dr. Karina Karst, junior professor for quality of instruction in heterogeneous contexts, and Dr. Stefan Janke, academic staff member at the chair of Educational Psychology, lead the network on processes for study orientation and self-reflection (“Netzwerk zu Verfahren zur Studienorientierung und Selbstreflexion Baden-Württemberg” (NEST-BW)).
The higher education institutions aim at developing best practices for the development of services which help prospective students to find the program which fits them best. In addition, they plan on developing strategies to make better use of anonymized data on degree plans for the purpose of evaluating these services. The network also strives to create guidelines for higher education institutions which are starting to develop self-reflection processes for study orientation purposes or plan on introducing such processes in future.
More information
In 2016, the Ministry of Science, Research and Arts Baden-Württemberg started the “Study successfully in Baden-Württemberg (FESt-BW)” funds to increase students’ rate of academic success in their study programs and reduce the number of dropouts. The funding line “suitability and selection” is part of this funds and receives 4.3 million euros in 2021. For more information, please see here: https://mwk.baden-wuerttemberg.de/de/hochschulen-studium/erfolgreiches-studium/fonds-erfolgreich-studieren-in-baden-wuerttemberg-fest/foerderlinie-4-eignung-und-auswahl/