Like school lessons, only more difficult? A degree programme is more. In this interview, Vice President Sabine Kyora talks about research-based learning as a hallmark of the university and its pioneering role nationwide in the recognition of prior learning.
QUESTION: Mrs Kyora, did you already do research as a student?
KYORA: I'm pretty sure I did (laughs). It wasn't done as explicitly as it is today, but I focussed on contemporary literature relatively early on in my studies. I also had a professor who encouraged us to develop our own questions, to work out our own theses on the text through research. I learnt how to do literary research during my studies - and I can hardly imagine it any other way. If you want to get students to work independently with the subject, you can only do it by helping them to develop the methodology themselves. No matter where they go afterwards, whether they become teachers or want to go into business, this research-based development will be something that helps them in their everyday working life.
QUESTION: Now one of the main themes of the teaching profile development is exactly that - research-based teaching and learning. What exactly does that entail?
KYORA: It has something to do with explicitness. That we take a closer look at things that we have perhaps always done this way. That we pay attention to whether the students have actually gone through a research cycle from developing the question to writing up the results. Our project "Research-based learning in focus" - FLiF - works out this and thus makes teaching objectives more transparent for students.
QUESTION: Another six million euros are now available for FLiF until 2020. You not only want to anchor research-based teaching and learning here in the long term, but also establish it as a - externally recognisable - trademark of the University of Oldenburg. How?
KYORA: I would like to mention two elements of FLiF as an example. Firstly, the student journal "forsch!", which shows that the products that students develop in seminars have to be taken seriously in a different way. It's not enough to say: Aha, the seminar paper, I'll give it a 2 and that's that. This means that students have the opportunity to publish their results and engage with the research process in a different way. On the other hand, students need the freedom to work independently. This is the second important aspect for sustainability and establishing a brand: that new teaching formats become established at the university. We want to anchor this in module descriptions and in the study regulations - we are basically in agreement with the stakeholders in the Schools on this.
QUESTION: Overall, is this a topic that arouses enthusiasm within the university, or is it one that you always have to get people excited about?
KYORA: We have already come a long way. At the beginning, there were also sceptical voices in view of a temporary project for teaching. Tenor: What are we going to do after the five years? It was not foreseeable that we would receive such extensive funding again in the second, four-year period of the Quality Pact for Teaching until 2020. And of course you can't be enthusiastic all the time (laughs), but the conference on student research, for example, was great.
QUESTION: You mean "forschen@studium" in June here at the university.
KYORA: Exactly. That gave another boost and unleashed creativity in students and lecturers alike. It was international, with keynote speeches from Australia, the UK and the USA. It was an experience for the students to be able to present their research to a wide audience and get feedback from others. We have now just approved the new round of projects at FLiF. There are 21 projects in the six Schools that started in October, with content ranging from Internet criminal law or mobile work to wind physics or bioethics. In this respect, there is a lot going on.
QUESTION: You just described the enthusiasm that was palpable at "forschen@studium". Oldenburg was a pioneer of this in Germany. What's the next step?
QUESTION: We are networking with other universities to organise such conferences regularly in Germany. It is already clear that the University of Oldenburg will host the conference of the global network for student research in 2019. Of course, we hope to have the topic on an even broader footing in Germany by then. It is well established in the English-speaking world. There, perhaps not "only" 300 people come, as we do, but more than 3,000, and it is an integral part of studying. We haven't got that far here yet, but things are looking good. And "forschen@studium" is to become the umbrella brand for all our research-based teaching activities.
QUESTION: The university already sees its students as researchers, but at the same time it wants to open up this path to as many people as possible. Why an open university?
KYORA: This also has something to do with diversity, which we want to develop further as a university, i.e. openness to all population groups. We have the orientation year for refugees, we have the area of Gender equality, we are trying to become even better at internationalisation - and we are also concerned with social diversity. We also want to pave the way for people who could study or are already studying, but who perhaps don't have the traditional CV with a direct transition from school to university. Whether after a previous vocational training programme or with the Z exam for prospective students without a general higher education entrance qualification.
QUESTION: How many students with previous academic appointments are enrolled?
KYORA: More than 26 per cent - twice as many as at other universities. If someone doesn't come to university straight after their A-levels, but takes a different route, the key is the recognition of extracurricular achievements. We have a new project at the university that bundles counselling and support: PLARnet.
QUESTION: What exactly is behind it, and what is special about it?
KYORA: The acronym stands for the Recording and Recognition of Previously Acquired Learning Outcomes. This centre is intended to provide an overview of the prior learning that new and future students have already accumulated. Someone who is new to university cannot know what they might be able to have recognised in order to shorten their studies. It is an aid for students - and a signal of appreciation for what they bring with them.
QUESTION: And a signal that the university degree programme is not disconnected from professional practice?
KYORA: Yes, that is also important. We also teach things in the so-called area of specialisation that lead back to professional practice. It is precisely at these points that we can say relatively well that those who already have this knowledge do not have to prove it again.
QUESTION: How has that gone so far? The university already has a lot of students with previous academic appointments - a good one in four.
KYORA: There is a credit transfer office in the Student Service Centre SSC. However, it doesn't focus exclusively on matters relating to academic appointments, but also deals with the transfer of credits from other degree programmes, including from other universities. And until now, students had to take the initiative. Now we can refer them to the PLARnet service right at the start of the first semester, which was jointly set up by the Competence Centre for Credit Transfer, the Centre for Lifelong Learning, the Department for Study Affairs and the Examinations Office.
QUESTION: Does this mean that the university is recording the competences you bring with you more systematically?
KYORA: Yes. PLARnet has been interlinked with the SSC from the outset to ensure that it works well, and it also takes some of the pressure off the Schools. They still have the final say and ultimately decide on credit transfer, but they are better organised. The University of Oldenburg is also taking on a pioneering role in this area, which is unrivalled at any other German university. The project is being funded by the Ministry of Science, which has said that it will continue to do so: This is a really good idea in the context of the open university - which is also a major political issue.
Interview: Deike Stolz
