Support students - promote success

How can students be advised and accompanied even more effectively? What is necessary so that you can make positive learning and study experience and be successful? Representatives of the Hessian universities, the Hessian Ministry of Science and Research, Art and Culture (HMWK) as well as students and guests on April 25, 2025, devoted these questions as part of a workshop in the main building of the Justus Liebig University (JLU). This workshop was part of the Hesse -wide support program Quis_flex. With quis_flex, a more flexible study is to be made possible to react to the increasingly heterogeneous student body.

Prof. Dr. Alexander Goesmann, JLU Vice President for Studies and Teaching, welcomed all participants and emphasized the increasing relevance of the topic of accompaniment and advice in view of the increasing requirements and the variety of courses. In several keynote speeches, the participants found out about the academic mentoring proposed by the Science Council, the effectiveness of existing mentoring offers, the integration of mentoring into the curriculum and the skills that are crucial for coaching activities.

Business psychologist and coach Prof. Dr. Claudia Schmeink moderated the subsequent discussions and exchange formats. There was agreement that an integration of mentoring into the curriculum for small cohort numbers could be implemented, but enormous capacities would be necessary for a comprehensive implementation. In the master's degree and at the end of their studies, academic mentoring is useful to support them in career orientation and important decisions. For the needs in the field of study organization, it was assessed that low-threshold peer-to-peer advice was offered, which can defuse the capacity problem.

In the discussion, a different understanding of roles of teachers was also visible on the respective subject. While some participants reported that academic mentoring was already being implemented, others pointed out that teachers were primarily appointed due to professional skills and that advisory skills were also going beyond.

The participants agreed that the consulting landscape at the Hessian universities should be made more transparent and better interlocked with each other in order to be better visible to the students. In addition, the students should be more active in the design of advisory services.

The workshop was an important step towards an improved consulting landscape at the Hessian universities. Through the joint discussion and development of solutions, ideas and starting points could be collected in order to further expand the support of students in the future and to improve their successes.