We need flexible study structures for working people, say Oldenburg university lecturers Anke Hanft, Heinke Röbken and Olaf Zawacki-Richter. This is because German universities are not sufficiently geared towards the requirements of lifelong learning.
By Anke Hanft, Heinke Röbken and Olaf Zawacki-Richter
The "normal student" is still the figure on which German universities orientate themselves. His path is mapped out: They begin their studies after their Abitur. After completing their Master's degree, they switch to a career. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has long since taken a different approach. It recommends increasing the study rate - by opening up the path to university to other groups as well. For example, for students from low-income and educationally disadvantaged families or for students who are already professionally qualified.academic appointments are not included in the standard study programme However, academic appointments are hardly included in the standard study programme that prevails throughout Germany. Students' work must be subordinate to their studies and should be limited to the semester holidays. The following applies: Full-time study in a semester rhythm with compulsory attendance spread over the whole week. Hardly any universities recognise academic appointments as part of the degree course. And develops study programmes that are specifically tailored to the requirements of working people. The German higher education system recognises only one ideal route to a successful degree: the Abitur. However, this orientation towards "normal students" no longer corresponds to reality. According to figures from a social survey published by the German Studentenwerk and the Higher Education Information System in 2010, the proportion of students in Germany with professional experience is above average by international standards at 64 per cent. Just under a quarter of all students have completed vocational training before studying. In 2009, 66 per cent of all students were employed "part-time". The number of students in employment increases with age and stands at 79 per cent of 30-year-olds.the number of students in employment is increasing It is therefore clear that working and studying are much more closely interlinked than the universities would like to realise. And this is despite the fact that the number of working students or students with professional experience will increase. If they have the opportunity, many Bachelor's graduates will switch to gainful employment and only return to higher education later - while working - to study for a Master's degree. Higher education policy and universities must do a lot to be better prepared - for the changing requirements of their existing target group, but also for new target groups. Politicians have already set the initial course. In 2009, the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs of the Länder in the Federal Republic of Germany passed a resolution creating the conditions for extended access to higher education. Since then, master craftsmen, technicians, business administrators and holders of equivalent qualifications have had general access to higher education; those with academic appointments without advanced training have subject-specific access to higher education.in future together in the lecture theatre: high school graduate and interior decorator The regulation is extremely far-reaching for the German education system. Higher education researcher Andrä Wolter estimates that around 75 per cent of the German population could now go to university. The school leaver sits next to the gardener who studies biology. Or next to the interior decorator who has decided to study material culture. We need to be prepared for this in the future. In order to increase the attractiveness of a degree programme for working people, the Conference of Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs, in line with the requirements of the Bologna Process, created the conditions for a further innovation back in 2002 - although this has hardly been recognised by the universities to date. The common structural guidelines of the Conference of Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs of 4 February 2010 state that "proven equivalent competences and skills acquired outside the higher education sector (...) are to be credited up to half of the credit points provided for the degree programme". This means that academic appointments can have professional competences credited towards their degree programme, provided that the competences correspond to the coursework to be completed. In the best-case scenario, this can reduce the study time for those with professional experience by half.urgently needed: Flexible study structures for working people What sounds like a breakthrough for prospective students in the workforce, however, faces far-reaching obstacles in practice. There are the quotas for degree programmes with restricted admissions, which limit the number of students with professional experience. Much more decisive, however, is the fact that the programme formats are not tailored to the requirements of working professionals. Empirical studies have long shown that opening up universities to new target groups, as initiated by the resolutions of the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs, is not sufficient on its own. Rather, it requires accompanying measures. We need counselling and support services even before students begin their studies, but also during the first phase of their studies. Flexible study structures are just as necessary, tailored to the time constraints and previous experience of working people and those with professional experience.in development: part-time degree programmes in science and technology Instead of thinking in terms of standard periods of study, semester rhythms and timetables, we need to delimit studies in terms of space and time. Students should be able to organise their studies flexibly and in line with their needs in order to achieve their degree - even across universities. The University of Oldenburg has already implemented much of this - as one of the few German universities to do so. It has set up degree programmes that are consistently geared towards the learning needs of working people. Students can have their academic appointments credited towards individual degree programmes. And with our successful participation in the BMBF competition "Advancement through Education: Open University", we will also be developing high-quality part-time degree programmes in scientific and technical fields in the future. With Master's degree programmes in Renewable Energy, Wind Energy Systems, Environmental Sciences, Building Physics and Acoustics, the university aims to appeal to working people and people with family commitments in particular and attract them to higher education.with the Lifelong Learning Campus, the university is taking on a pioneering role Since the end of last year, the university has also had the space to meet the requirements of working students with the Lifelong Learning Campus - and is thus taking on a pioneering role in the German higher education landscape. The new campus brings together all institutions that deal with issues of further education and lifelong learning in research and teaching. The Centre for Lifelong Learning (C3L) is one of the largest institutions of its kind at German universities and provides academically sound, practice-oriented study programmes for working students. With these programmes, the university aims to increase the permeability between academic appointments and higher education and attract new target groups to universities through flexible educational pathways. Lifelong learning must permeate the entire higher education system By pooling all advanced scientific training resources in research and teaching on the Lifelong Learning Campus, the University of Oldenburg has come a great deal closer to realising lifelong learning. However, lifelong learning is not just a matter for the University of Oldenburg, but for all universities. Lifelong learning must permeate the entire higher education system. If public universities do not accept these challenges, their competitiveness will suffer. It is even to be feared that the deficits identified by the OECD will not only weaken public universities in the long term, but German competitiveness as a whole. The opinion piece by Anke Hanft, Heinke Röbken and Olaf Zawacki-Richter was published in the spring issue of EINBLICKE research magazine.
