PROFILE: Study pioneers
Jessica Heuser
Definition and initial situation
Pioneer students are defined as "people whose parents have not studied" (Büchler 2012, p. 10). Even with a qualification for university entrance, they are less likely to start university than children from academic households (Isserstedt et al. 2010). Pioneers are more likely to study at (technical) colleges than at universities. The 20th Social Survey of the Deutsches Studentenwerk (Middendorff et al. 2013), for example, puts the proportion of pioneering students at universities at 44%, while 62% of those at universities of applied sciences are educationally advanced.
According to the survey of first-year students in the winter semester 2012/13 (Ludwigshafen University of Business and Society 2013), 72% of first-year students on Bachelor's degree courses at Ludwigshafen University of Business and Society come from a non-academic background. The overall proportion of first-year students at Ludwigshafen University of Business and Society is around 53% (Ludwigshafen University of Business and Society 2015)[1]. Most pioneering students at the Ludwigshafen University of Business and Society (41%) come from a home with an average educational background (parents have an education but no degree). The proportion of pioneering students from lower-educated backgrounds (parents without vocational training), or according to Bargel (2010) "educationally disadvantaged groups", is 11.5% at the Ludwigshafen University of Business and Society. Even when deciding whether or not to study, other factors often play a role for pioneering students than for children from academic households. Economic factors are in the foreground here. Pioneer students need more idealistic and financial help, but are less likely to receive scholarships (Büchler 2012). If pioneer students decide to study, they feel less secure in terms of financing their studies (50%) than students from academic households (75%) (Isserstedt et al. 2010). At the same time, students with a lower educational background are less likely to apply for BAföG as they want to avoid debt during their studies (ibid). As a result, the number of students who work alongside their studies in order to earn a living is higher than that of children from academic families (Büchler 2012).
The 2014 Study Barometer of the Ludwigshafen University of Business and Society found that 66% of full-time students at the Ludwigshafen University of Business and Society are employed alongside their studies in order to finance their studies. The study also shows that 62.5% of students at the Ludwigshafen University of Business and Society are gainfully employed, while only 37.5% of the children of academics are employed alongside their full-time studies. Only just under half of all employed students at Ludwigshafen University of Business and Society, regardless of their background, consider their employment to be compatible with their studies (Ludwigshafen University of Business and Society 2015).
Impact on study situation and academic success
Financial insecurity is not the only obstacle for pioneering students before and during their studies; the difference in habitus between a non-academic background and a university background also leads to difficulties. In contrast to students from an academic background, pioneer students are unfamiliar with forms of interaction and work and, in particular, academic language. The phase of finding one's feet at university takes longer, as the structure, language and forms of interaction are perceived as foreign and encourage the development of a distance to studying and university culture (El-Mafaalani 2012). Pioneer students have to learn academic language and academic manners as they are not common in the home environment. Monetary security during their studies does not change the differences in habitus between pioneer students and children from academic families. Lange-Vester and Teiwes-Kügler (2004, p. 159 f.) write that "[economic capital], for example, does not provide educational climbers with security in dealing with abstract concepts and scientific theories". Problems with the organization of studies, imprecise ideas of study content and the university system as well as uncertainty in dealing with lecturers are added to this. Small groups and personal contact are opportunities for the university and lecturers to reduce the differences (Bargel 2010).
In the 2014 Student Barometer (Ludwigshafen University of Business and Society 2015), pioneering students at Ludwigshafen University of Business and Society stated that academic work (especially writing term papers and theses) was the most difficult part of their studies. The university can therefore support pioneering students by offering modules with appropriate types of examinations and good supervision for academic work. In the assessment of their own study situation[2] however, the 2014 Study Barometer (Ludwigshafen University of Business and Society 2015) found no significant differences between pioneering students and students from an academic background. Only the question regarding the desire for more compulsory elective modules showed divergences. Pioneer students expressed the desire to have more choice less frequently than students from an academic background. The desire for security and clear guidelines, which make it easier to find your way in an unfamiliar environment, could explain this result.
Despite the challenges faced by pioneering students, Büchler (2012) notes that there are still no clear results on the correlation between dropping out of university and parents' level of education. What can be stated, however, is that "dropouts are confronted with a variety of problems and the potential for dropping out ultimately lies in their cumulative effect. The fact that those with a higher level of education see themselves significantly more frequently and to a greater extent burdened by their studies must therefore be interpreted as highly alarming" (Heublein et al. 2003, p. 29).
Literature
Bargel, T. (2010): Barriers and disadvantages for those entering higher education. Constance.
Büchler, T. (2012): Students from non-academic homes at university. In: Working paper 249, Hans Böckler Foundation.
El-Mafaalani, A. (2012): Educational climbers from disadvantaged backgrounds. Habitus transformation and social mobility among natives and people of Turkish origin. Wiesbaden: Springer VS.
Heublein, U.; Sprangenberg, H.; Sommer, D. (2003): Causes of dropping out of university. Analysis 2002. in: HIS Hochschul-Informations-System GmbH (ed.): Hochschulplanung, vol. 163. Hannover.
Ludwigshafen University of Business and Society (2013): Study program survey in the winter semester 2012/13. internal documents.
Ludwigshafen University of Business and Society (2015): Student barometer. University-wide student survey. Winter semester 2014/2015. Unpublished documents. In collaboration with Keller, A. Evaluation officer of the university. Ludwigshafen on the Rhine.
Isserstedt, W.; Middendorff, E.; Kandulla, M.; Borchert, L.; Leszczensky, M. (2010): Die wirtschaftliche und soziale Lage der Studierenden in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland 2009: 19. Sozialerhebung des Studentenwerks. Bonn/Berlin: Federal Ministry of Education and Research.
Lange-Vester, A.; Teiwes-Kügler, C. (2004): Social inequalities and lines of conflict in the student field. Empirical results on student milieus in the social sciences. In: Cultural capital and the power of class structures. Weinheim/Munich: Juventa, pp. 159-187.
Middendorff, E.; Apolinarski, B.; Poskowsky, J.; Kandulla, M.; Netz, N. (2013): The economic and social situation of students in Germany 2012: 20th Social Survey of the Deutsches Studentenwerk conducted by the HIS Institute for Higher Education Research. Available online at www.sozialerhebung.de/download/20/soz20_hauptbericht_gesamt.pdf, last checked on 25.04.2016.
Citation
Heuser, Jessica (2017): Profile: student pioneers. In: Rump, Jutta; Buß, Imke; Kaiser, Janina; Schiedhelm, Melanie; Schorat-Waly, Petra: Toolbox for good education in a diverse student body. Working Papers of the Ludwigshafen University of Business and Society, No. 6. www. hwg-lu.de/arbeitspapiere
Use according to Creative Commons under attribution (please use the citation provided) and for non-commercial purposes.
[1 ] From this, one could conclude that the proportion of pioneering students in the transition from Bachelor's to Master's degree programs is decreasing. However, the response rate to the 2014 Study Barometer was only 14%.
[2 ] Surveyed in question blocks on: difficulties in studying, being informed, assessment of the quality of education, development of knowledge and skills, improvement of the personal study situation and time planning.