"We need committed people!"

Dear Jenny, dear Anna, on behalf of all the student volunteers who helped with the Virtual HIT in January, a big thank you! Thanks in part to you, the event was a huge success with prospective students. Do you think the HIT, in the form it took place, would have been of interest to you as well?

Jenny: Yes, definitely. Especially the way the degree programs were presented was very appealing, particularly for those who, after graduating from high school or earning a vocational diploma, don’t yet know exactly where their path will lead. You could explore your options, get personalized information, and strike up conversations. I actually think that’s very good.

Anna: I thought the program on the virtual platform was really well put together. You could sit at home, let the content wash over you, and had the chance to check everything out from morning till night.

What was it like to experiment with new formats like TikTok for student recruitment?

Jenny: We developed the idea together as a group. It was a lot of fun, but it also came with its share of challenges. We had to figure out what we actually wanted to do and address questions like: “How do we want to present the university to the outside world? What trends do we want to follow? What suits us? What do we need to be mindful of, and how do we account for licenses and data protection—in other words, the legal pitfalls?” Once we got into the topic and were able to implement our first ideas with Prof. Zips, like the “knocking video,” it was definitely a lot of fun.

Your TikTok videos with the professors were especially popular. The “knocking video” went absolutely viral. How do you explain that?

Jenny: The videos are probably so popular because it’s not very often that professors or instructors jump on the trends that young people are interested in. It’s great that they come across as so approachable.

How did you come up with the ideas you developed as part of your business administration module?

Jenny: The idea to make TikToks came relatively quickly. We thought about what’s trending right now and what videos we could use. Since TikTok is becoming more and more popular and growing all the time, it was a good way to reach a younger audience, draw attention to ourselves, and say, “Hey, we’re here!” We wanted to show how cool it is here and that our professors are getting involved, too.

Anna, how did you end up participating in our student sessions, and which one did you take part in?

Anna: The invitation originally came through the Faculty Student Committee, which brought this opportunity to our attention. Over the past two years, I’d been participating as a high school student and experienced it from the other side. I thought it was a great idea, and it really does take dedicated people to make it happen. So I thought, why not do it yourself? Then I looked at the topics you offered and considered which one I could talk about the most.

First, I took part in the session “Province in No Man’s Land.” I’m not from too far away, and I love our region. We have mountains, we have lakes—we have everything! I’m not at all drawn to the big city. I figured we should definitely share that with the outside world.

Then I also attended the student session, where we described how we spent our COVID semester. It was my first semester, after all. At the beginning, everything was still in-person, so I got to experience both. Because our student sessions were such a diverse mix, I also got to meet a lot of new people—older students, for example. I was able to ask them my own questions and hear about their experiences.

Especially during the Student Sessions, you really got the feeling that the atmosphere was very friendly, as if we’d known each other for a long time. Jenny, what was that like for you? Did you and your seminar group grow even closer?

Jenny: Definitely. We were with students from a younger class and had asked them right away if they’d like to form a group with us. We got to know each other better and are still in regular contact. We also exchanged materials with the other group and were able to learn from each other.

Jenny, your time as a student at HSZG is slowly coming to an end. But you, Anna, have only just really gotten started. Will you be back for the next HIT?

Anna: Of course! Definitely!

Thank you for your commitment!

Many students contributed to the HIT in January 2022. Special thanks go to: