Study better: Teaching and study report highlights measures

This includes the modernization of degree programmes, for example as part of the Concerted Action on Teaching, as well as measures taken by the Faculties to increase academic success. Study and curricula were analyzed in detail and improved, for example with regard to the coordination of individual modules. The new support services introduced include, for example, educational coaches in the Faculties. These are - currently 22 - trained employees who help students with difficulties in their studies to identify the causes of problems at an early stage and initiate solutions. In pilot courses, the curricula have also been made more flexible so that they are more compatible with certain life circumstances, such as studying with a child.

The report also focuses on the introduction of digital and hybrid teaching formats, which was accelerated by the coronavirus pandemic, as well as the introduction of new degree programmes for the current winter semester and the introduction of centralized degree programme marketing.

"Studying in Kassel today is very different from studying at the beginning of the reporting period," summarizes Prof. Dr. René Matzdorf, Vice President for Studies and Teaching at the University of Kassel. "It is more digital, takes greater account of individual life paths and can rely on more guidance and support. All of this has certainly contributed to the recent increase in the number of first-year students in Kassel."

According to Matzdorf, it will be important in the coming years to get the new degree programmes off to a good start and to monitor them closely so that initial experiences can be evaluated and used quickly. Matzdorf: "Quality assurance in studies is an ongoing task."

The teaching and study report serves as an instrument for determining positions both internally and externally, for example in accreditation procedures for degree programmes. Like other university reports, it is also submitted to the Hessian State Parliament.

You can find the report here: https://www.uni-kassel.de/uni/universitaet/unser-profil/leitbild-und-berichte.html

What does this mean in summary?

• The 11th Teaching and Study Report documents measures to improve study conditions, including the modernization of degree programmes, the introduction of digital/hybrid teaching formats and central degree programme marketing.
• 22 trained education coaches support students with problems; pilot degree programmes have been made more flexible (e.g. for students with children) and study and curricula have been systematically coordinated.
• According to Vice President Prof. Dr. René Matzdorf, the measures have contributed to an increase in the number of first-year students.