Project phase ends with brief evaluation and farewell to some student advisors.
As part of the diversity-as-strength project area "Students advise students (SbS) ", 48 students volunteered as advisors in the winter semester to answer the questions and problems of students in their first semester. In addition, they accompanied various university activities and organized their own campaigns and events to answer all questions about studying, everyday life and living in Zittau and Görlitz and to provide support in the event of difficulties and problems or to advise on technical issues. With this stage of the project, a total of 168 students have actively volunteered since the start of SbS to provide advice, guidance and support alongside their own studies. We would like to take this opportunity to thank all the volunteers who have supported the program.
At the end of the offer stage, a flash survey was carried out among the students of the first semester with feedback for the student advisory service. A total of 109 students took part (approx. 15% of enrolled first-semester students). 36.3 % of respondents felt that the service was very important for their own studies, 52 % felt it was important - 10 % felt it was less important or not at all important. The project became known primarily through information events, word of mouth and virtual media. 38% of first-year students sought advice from SbS on a study-related issue, 35.9% were very satisfied with the advice and 59% were satisfied. 4.9% sought advice on personal problems, of which 80% were very satisfied and 20% satisfied. 26.5% considered seeking advice but did not do so. A quarter of students could imagine supporting SbS themselves. The advisory work of the student advisors was also evaluated. Of the 219 anonymous consultations recorded by SbS, 72.5% were carried out in Görlitz and 27.5% in Zittau. On average, SbS provided advice 3.7 times a day per lecture day, a total of 295 hours of advice were recorded - one consultation lasted 44 minutes on average and 6.2 consultations were carried out per student advisor. Overall, the project stage can be rated as very successful. The high usefulness and positive effects of peer-to-peer counseling continue to prove to be an important building block for higher student satisfaction at Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences.
Some of the SbS advising students have already received a certificate for their successful participation in the qualification measures and a personal reference for their work - others continue to support the project. From March, further student advisors and campus specialists will be sought in all degree programs - from May, the new workshops and qualification measures for student advisors will begin with the addition of the subject area of international and intercultural issues - all student teams will then be supplemented by at least two foreign students each. The offer thus enters the final stage of the BMBF-funded "Diversity as Strength" program, which ends in December 2016.