On your marks, get set, go

Press release September 19, 2023

Hardly any other Hessian institution is as diverse as the University of Applied Sciences (HAW): New students from home and abroad with professional qualifications or high school diplomas and at different ages start their studies every semester. However, diversity, a strength of the Technical University of Central Hesse (THM) and other universities of applied sciences, also poses risks: Starting your studies together can quickly be too demanding or too demanding due to different starting situations. This makes it all the more important to take individual strengths and weaknesses into account so that you get off to a good start.

The “Transfer Day for Starting Studies” organized by the THM made this the topic. Representatives from Hessian universities were invited to find out together what problems new students are faced with today. The participants were welcomed by THM Vice President Prof. Dr. Katja Specht, who was visibly pleased with the “personal exchange between the eight Hessian universities”. It’s about “setting impulses”. The THM has already done that: The transfer day revolved around “GettING Started”, among other things.

This is a model project by THM, Fulda University and Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences. The idea is to extend the bachelor's degree in particularly demanding natural and engineering subjects by two BAföG-eligible semesters. At the beginning, a skills analysis is carried out: What level does the student have in school subjects such as mathematics, biology, physics or chemistry? In addition, the participants receive organizational support for socialization at the university, accompanied by mentors - mostly fellow students who have taken part in the program themselves. “Through these small groups, we achieve a much more direct identification with the university and the subject of study than in traditional course organization events,” explains Prof. Katja Specht. All of this is intended to ensure a smooth arrival at the university.

The whole thing is one of several programs that are provided by the various Hessian universities of applied sciences under the umbrella of “Studying at Adapted Speed” (SaG). These will be financed until 2025 by the Hessian Ministry of Science and Art (HMWK) as part of the project “High quality in studying and teaching, good framework conditions for studying” (QuiS).

Audio – Poetic Recording for Transfer Day 2024:

Dr. Clemens Bohrer, deputy head of the Study and Teaching Department, represented the ministry at the transfer day and presented the funding notice for the current year for one million euros. He knows the challenges of studying from his own experience. The trained heating engineer still “clearly remembers” the beginning of his studies, even though it was 30 years ago. His conclusion: “People are different, so how can studies be the same?”