NTH – "Dropouts" Project: Increasing Academic Success (2014–2016)

How can we help students in STEM fields earn a degree and reduce the high dropout rates compared to other subject areas? Which measures to improve academic success are particularly effective? These are the questions the [...] working group “Reducing Dropout Rates – Increasing Academic Success” has been addressing since May 2013. The members of the working group come from Braunschweig, Clausthal, and Hanover and have analyzed existing measures at their respective universities, collected best-practice examples, and developed new ideas to better support students. [...] (Source: NTH Newsletter November 2014)

The project will continue even after the dissolution of the NTH. In line with the guiding principle "Increasing Academic Success," the project is focusing more intensely in its second phase on examining various aspects of the introductory phase of studies, gathering existing experiences, and, where possible, making recommendations for designing a successful introductory phase from which all three participating universities can benefit.

Clausthal University of Technology is working on the subproject titled “Expansion of the Self-Assessment Offering.” The focus is on Online Self-Assessments (OSA). Students can find information on the universities’ websites about the program, the university, and the course requirements. Through an OSA, prospective students can test for themselves whether their interests and abilities align with the degree program they have in mind, or generally determine which subject areas might suit them. This is facilitated, for example, by self-tests, sample problems, and video clips. The goal of the project is to create a structured portfolio of OSAs from the three project partners, which will be supplemented by external offerings specifically designed to guide students in mathematics, computer science, natural sciences, and technical fields.

In the first phase of the project, Leibniz University Hannover initially focused on analyzing the reasons for dropping out of college. In the second half of the project, the focus will be on analyzing particularly successful components for a successful transition into college. At the Technical University of Braunschweig, a catalog of measures is being developed to provide coordinators and faculty from the three project partners with an overview of various measures and guidance for selecting suitable components.