Project for more educational equality

A new initiative at the University of Oldenburg is aimed at pupils from non-academic families - to encourage them to study. The project is being funded by the Lower Saxony Ministry of Science (MWK) with 45,000 euros.

The MWK advertised the initiative in order to increase the proportion of students who are the first in their family to go to university. Together with four other applicants, the University of Oldenburg was able to prevail against a total of eleven applicants. Oldenburg further education expert Prof Dr Olaf Zawacki-Richter is the scientific head of the project. Monika Hartmann-Bischoff, Managing Director of the Centre for Lifelong Learning (C3L), is the project coordinator.

"Educational equity is a top priority at our university," says Prof. Dr Gunilla Budde, Vice President for Studies and Teaching. As the Pisa study has shown, many young people in Germany do not achieve the educational qualifications that correspond to their talents due to their social or ethnic background. The Oldenburg initiative aims to motivate and support young people from non-academic families.

Three measures cover the counselling needs of first-time academics: The first measure is called "We're waiting for you!" and provides information about studying in a "taster programme", for example. The "Who pays for it all?" programme focuses on key questions about financing and funding your studies. "Schön, dass Du da bist!", the third measure, supports pupils from non-academic families - with advice and services at the start of their studies.

The project will be launched in July. Partners are the Jade University of Applied Sciences as well as schools, educational institutions and business representatives from the city and region.