A student’s arrival experience is one of the first they have of the institution. The arrival is the crucial start of the student and institution relationship which will establish a lasting impression for the duration of study and beyond. Getting this right is critical to the overall student experience. Here we find out steps that German University Ruhr-Universität Bochum have taken to help their international students find their way.
“You can only concentrate on your academic studies if you feel welcome at our university and in our city”. This is the motto of Ruhr-Universität Bochum. Ulrike Herrlich from the International Office at the University tells us more about initiatives they have taken to deliver their promise."
“What we are most proud of is the welcoming atmosphere we have created during the arrival phase, despite the fact we are such a large university. The ISB helped us to identify what changes would offer us most value. When I look out of the office window at the start of the new academic year, I can see many green welcome bags on campus. Each of those bags represents an international student that has been given that welcome bag in person by one of my colleagues. As a true team effort, everybody working in the International Office is out on campus talking and welcoming international students to our university. It feels good to know that we ensure a personal and individual welcome for each of our international students.”
Ruhr-Universität Bochum took part in the International Student Barometer (ISB) for the first time in 2010. The ISB is the largest annual survey of international students in the world and tracks the decision-making, expectations, perceptions and intentions of international students from application to graduation. Ulrike tells us more about the impact the results have had on their internationalisation strategy.
“The ISB has fuelled our internationalisation strategy. The most important outcome of this whole process is the more holistic approach we take on student support services and international student support services in particular. We are thinking nowadays about the entire picture. Internationalisation of student services is not just an administrative change: the entire university has to be taken on board for the journey. We cooperate with our colleagues in other support service areas as well as with the academics at faculty level."
The ISB showed us two main areas where we might increase our level of support: 1) Employability and 2) Making friends with German students. Both are big issues and recurring challenges for our institution and for Germany as a whole.
1) Employability:
We now provide a workshop for our international students on how to apply for a job in Germany.More activities are planned in order to facilitate their access to the German labour
market.
2) Making friends:
We have introduced ‘campus guides’: buddies from the same degree programme or from the same faculty that act as your guide during at least the initial welcome period. We have also made some changes regarding registration for the sports courses that make it easier for international students to enrol and to ensure not all places are taken up by domestic students.”
All in all, the 37 German universities who took part in the ISB 2016-17 scored well when it comes to international student arrival experience, with 66% of international students stating they are satisfied and 18% very satisfied.
