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University of Kassel makes significant gains in the public's esteem
According to the survey, a total of 47.7 percent of respondents answered that their overall impression of Kassel University was good or very good, 18.1 percentage points more than six years ago. Only 1.7 percent (2007: 4.5 percent) said their overall impression of the university in northern Hesse was poor or very poor.
The department of dialog marketing of the University of Kassel under the direction of Prof. Dr. Andreas Mann had interviewed about 500 private persons, 140 representatives of companies, almost 100 teachers and about 780 pupils on behalf of the university. The respondents, aged between 17 and 90 years, came from the city of Kassel, the districts of northern Hesse and neighboring districts in North Rhine-Westphalia, Lower Saxony and Thuringia. "In addition to the survey of private individuals as well as entrepreneurs, the survey at the schools was particularly important to us," said University President Prof. Dr. Rolf-Dieter Postlep: "Because this is where the students of the future are growing up."
The University of Kassel was also able to significantly increase its reputation in comparison to other universities. In the current survey, 40.6 percent of private individuals (2007: 22.7 percent) and 44.4 percent of the companies surveyed (2007: 20.2 percent) said that the University of Kassel was at least as good, better or significantly better than other universities. The proportion of those who believe that Kassel University is worse or much worse than other universities fell to 14.3 percent (2007: 25.8 percent) among private individuals and to 23.7 percent (2007: 50.3 percent) among companies during the same period.
"The University of Kassel has undergone considerable development in recent years," said Postlep: "Not only have we significantly increased the number of students, we have also attracted ambitious scientists to Kassel, attracted more research funding in competition and intensified cooperation with industry." Last but not least, he said, the university is increasingly focusing on a contemporary external image and is receiving intensive media coverage: "All of this is now obviously also reflected in a change in perception."
As in 2007, the University of Kassel is now perceived by the majority of private individuals as a modern university. 65.8 percent (2007: 64.4 percent) of respondents rate the university in this way. In addition, a larger proportion of the population today perceives Kassel University as sophisticated and research-oriented. Currently, 42.5 percent of the private individuals surveyed rate the University of Kassel as demanding (2007: 36 percent) and 40.4 percent as research-oriented (2007: 32.8 percent).
The university received excellent marks for its cooperation with the business community. A total of 58.3 percent of the company representatives surveyed rated the university as a cooperation partner as good or very good (2007: 46.4 percent). Likewise, 38.7 percent of respondents rated the university's support for start-ups as good or very good (2007: 14.1 percent). 38.7 percent of the company representatives also associate the University of Kassel with practically relevant research results (2007: 27.8 percent). 77.5 percent also rate the university in North Hesse as a good or very good image factor for the city and region (2007: 50.0 percent).
The University of Kassel also scores higher among teachers in the region than it did six years ago. Thus, 64.1 percent of teachers said they would recommend Kassel as a place to study very often, often or at least sometimes (2007: 49.6 percent). The percentage of educators who said they would rarely or never recommend the North Hessian university to their students as a place to study has declined from 50.4 percent to 35.9 percent since 2007.
Perceptions among high school students in the region have changed in a similarly positive way. Offerings frequently used by this respondent group in particular are rated excellently. For example, 90.8 percent of the students were satisfied with the university's Internet presence (2007: 72.3 percent). 86.1 percent of respondents rated the study and career information days positively (2007: 73 percent). Finally, 95.7 percent (2007: 82.6 percent) of the students who had already had the opportunity to use the dining halls in Kassel were satisfied with the food on offer.
Charts and infographics on the 2013 image analysis can be found here:
https://www.uni-kassel.de/uni/fileadmin/datas/uni/presse/anhaenge/2013/Gesamtvergleich2007_2013.pdf
Contact
Dr. Karl Guido Rijkhoek
University of Kassel
Communication, Press and Public Relations
Phone: 0561/804-2217
E-mail: rijkhoek@uni-kassel.de