Learning Conditions and Student Orientations 2015/16

The Student Survey is a trend study on the development of the study situation and student orientations at universities and universities of applied sciences in Germany. The aim is to provide comparable information on the study conditions at German universities over time. The concept of the student survey aims at ´educational measeurments´ in the higher education sector. At the end of the 1970s, six areas were identified as the subject of such performance measurements and recorded with the survey instrument: Efficiency, qualification, evaluation, socialization, selection and placement. The student survey covers a wide range of topics: e.g. access to higher education, choice of subject, course of studies, study requirements, quality of studies, contacts and social climate, difficulties in studying, internationality, wishes and demands, but also questions on career choice and values as well as on social and political orientations. The core of the questionnaire has remained stable across the various surveys.

Topics:
1. Admission, choice of subject, motives and expectations
2. Study strategies, course of studies, intensity, time and duration of studies
3. Study requirements, regulations and planning
4. Contacts and communication, social climate, counselling
5. Specialist studies and teaching situation
6. Student life, social situation, employment
7. Study quality and study income
8. Difficulties, impairments and burdens
9. Internationality and European Higher Education Area
10. Occupational values and areas of activity, career prospects and reactions to the labour market
11. Social perceptions and values
12. Political participation and democratic attitudes
13. Wishes and demands of the students

Demography: age; sex; marital status; number of children; place of study (recoded); nationality; country of birth; nationality and country of birth of parents (migration background); disability or chronic illness; impairment of studies due to this disability or chronic illness; highest completed education level and professional qualification of parents; occupational status of parents.

Additionally coded was: wave; serial no.; group survey tool; interview date (day and month).