This survey is the largest representative student survey in Germany in terms of size and the range of topics covered. The “Survey of Students in Germany” takes place every four years and unites a range of student surveys that were previously carried out separately in one joint study. The topics range from the students’ social and economic situation (previously known as the Social Survey), health impairments among students, and the challenges and conditions they encounter during their studies, to career prospects and social ideals. In examining these topics, all the different aspects of individual, familial and institutional conditions of various groups of students are examined.
The data acquired in the student survey in Germany are an important supplement to official data sets and form an essential foundation of educational reporting in Germany. For example, data from the student survey are regularly integrated into the national report on education. In addition, the data are used for a range of reports that provide information for educational and social policymakers on both the students’ situation in general, and the particular situation of students with health impairments, non-traditional students, students with one or more children, foreign students and students abroad.
As well as contributing to educational reporting, the survey findings are used by higher education institutions for internal quality management and after completion of the project, they are made available for research in the form of Scientific Use Files as part of the DZHW’s Research Data Centre.
The Survey of Students in Germany is a joint project led by the DZHW in close collaboration with the University of Konstanz’s working group on Higher Education Research and the German National Association for Student Affairs (DSW).
