University of Oldenburg, Emden/Leer University of Applied Sciences, Hanse-Wissenschaftskolleg Delmenhorst (HWK)

Funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG)

2020-2023

• Project description and objectives
• Research questions and research interest

The educational pathways of ‘non-traditional students’ have come to the forefront of the debate on education policy against the backdrop of lifelong learning and the current trend towards greater openness at universities, and are therefore also of great relevance to empirical higher education research. Owing to the growing permeability between vocational and higher education, the trend towards lifelong learning, and broader opportunities for personal development, the proportion of people who have gained access to higher education via a vocational qualification continues to rise. The student body is thus becoming increasingly heterogeneous, particularly with regard to access to higher education. Following Dahm et al. (2013), we define non-traditional students here as “individuals with vocational qualifications who do not hold a school-based qualification for university entry, but who have commenced their studies under special provisions of higher education law” (ibid., p. 387). One route to university entry is passing an examination to obtain subject-specific university entrance qualifications based on prior vocational training (Z examination).

These developments lead to a wide range of opportunities for shaping one’s life course and personal development: for example, a degree programme can still be undertaken at what might be considered a late stage in one’s life, which perfectly embodies the principle of lifelong learning. As a former teacher training college, Carl von Ossietzky University has a long tradition as an open university, whose educational programmes are designed to benefit a broad and diverse target group: in some cases, over 10 per cent of students have gained entry through a Z-exam.

Although knowledge about this group is of crucial importance for higher education practice and policy, there have so far been only a few studies that empirically examine these educational and career trajectories from a holistic biographical perspective. It remains to be investigated what long-term consequences the supposedly late decision to undertake a degree course has on subsequent career and employment trajectories, what biographical developments arise after graduation, and how these can be explained in biographical terms.

The research project focuses on the following aspects:

1. Gaining a broader understanding of the target group and their motivation for studying (taking the Z exam),
2. Generating insights into the influence of academic socialisation during studies and the degree achieved on subsequent academic appointments,
3. Analysing the biographical scope for action taken by the interviewees after graduation and the structural characteristics on which these are dependent.

Building on the results of a quantitative preliminary study (N = 6205) that has already been carried out, preliminary types that were explored using a latent class analysis will be investigated and deepened. The aim is to reconstruct the educational and occupational biographies of this case group through an objective hermeneutic interpretation of autobiographical impromptu narratives, which are elicited through narrative interviews. In this way, life-historical processes can be depicted in their temporal boundedness as well as in their formation of meaning and context.