Getting a taste of research processes and gaining academic appointments - these are the opportunities offered by a Voluntary Scientific Year (FWJ) at the university. The volunteers recently presented their final theses.
Is studying something for me? How does research work at a university? These and other questions were answered by 16 young people during their Voluntary Scientific Year at the University of Oldenburg. Their areas of work at the university were very different and ranged from a university clinic to the Institute of Social Sciences and the Department of Health Services Research. At their final event, the volunteers gave an insight into the past year.
Since 2015, volunteers have had the opportunity to spend a year familiarising themselves with research and science at the University of Oldenburg as part of the Federal Volunteer Service. Volunteers familiarise themselves with scientific fields of work, gain practical experience and can gain academic appointments, for example through accompanying training days. At least 25 training days are compulsory during the twelve-month FWJ. These are designed to help students familiarise themselves with research topics, attend lectures and seminars, take advantage of offers from the student advisory service and get to know different areas of the university. The FWJ is primarily aimed at school leavers who are interested in studying or training in a research-related field.
This year's FWJ graduates each presented their work using a self-designed scientific poster. They each had ten minutes for the presentation. The volunteers were able to gain an in-depth insight into the research and work of the institutions and working groups. Ronja Krüger, for example, works in the Department of Media Informatics and Multimedia Systems at the OFFIS - Institute for Computing Science. Here she supervises scientific studies, gains initial experience in programming and is even involved in a scientific publication. Janek Steinert has familiarised himself with a completely different area: he is completing his FWJ in the University Archives, where he has compiled exciting documents about the university's namesake, Carl von Ossietzky, for example. At the closing event, he explained to the guests the journey a document takes before it reaches the archive.
A direct route to university
"The young people take a big step forward here, both in their personal development and in their study and career orientation," emphasised Nadine Brandt. She coordinates the FWJ at the university. She is always surprised at how quickly the year passes. "I'm delighted when I see that the volunteers really make the most of their time at the university and in the clinics and don't lose motivation despite occasional setbacks, such as the coronavirus pandemic."
A survey of the volunteers shows that they are very satisfied overall with their service at the university and are pleased with the experiences and challenges they have grown with over the past few months. The majority of them have now decided on a degree programme. Regardless of which degree programme they end up choosing, they have all got to know different areas of work during this special year. In the meantime, the next volunteers are already waiting in the wings to gain their own personal insight into the university from September.
