The RegelWerk research group investigates the factors influencing academic success at the level of designing institutional frameworks for studies, as defined by admission criteria and rules in study and examination regulations. Within the framework of substantial university autonomy in Germany, higher education institutions can control the commitment level of studies by shaping these regulations (Hönnige et al., 2024). They essentially have three options: (1) through admission criteria, (2) through counseling services, for instance, whether only general academic advising is offered or whether it is specific and mandatory for groups with particular advising needs, (3) through examination rules, such as setting minimum credit requirements, limits on the number of examination attempts, and rules for registering and deregistering for exams. The central research questions of RegelWerk are: Which specific regulations contribute to greater commitment in studies? How does the commitment inherent in the admission, counseling, and examination rules influence academic success? The findings will be used to derive concrete recommendations for higher education policy and practice. The RegelWerk research group consists of scientists from economics, sociology, political science, and computer science. To empirically answer these questions, data on selection procedures, as well as counseling and examination rules at the university and program levels, and individual data at the applicant/student level are required. RegelWerk will utilize and integrate various data sources.
The subproject RegelWerk@DZHW, titled “Student Attitudes and Behavior towards Admission, Counseling, and Examination Rules as well as Research Data Management” within the collaborative project RegelWerk, has the following core tasks:
1. The collection and evaluation of counseling and examination rules using an Index of Commitment based on survey-based attitudes of academic advisors and students towards the regulations.
2. The analysis of the impact of admission regulations on the application, selection, and acceptance of study places based on data from the Higher Education Entrance Qualification Panel.
3. The analysis of the impact of counseling and examination regulations on the application, selection, and acceptance of study places based on data from the Higher Education Entrance Qualification Panel and examination statistics.
4. The conceptualization of an analysis tool as a basis for policy discussions in higher education policy and administration, and participation in dissemination activities.
