EUROSTUDENT VII

Das EUROSTUDENT-Projekt sammelt und analysiert vergleichbare Daten über die soziale Dimension der europäischen Hochschulbildung. Es wird eine breite Palette von Themen im Zusammenhang mit den sozialen und wirtschaftlichen Bedingungen der Studierenden abgedeckt. Das Projekt ist bestrebt, zuverlässige und aufschlussreiche länderübergreifende Vergleiche zu liefern. Dies geschieht durch die Verbindung eines zentralen Koordinationsansatzes mit einem starken Netzwerk von nationalen Partnern in jedem teilnehmenden Land. Auf diese Weise kann eine Bewertung der Stärken und Schwächen der jeweiligen nationalen Rahmenbedingungen im internationalen Vergleich vorgenommen werden. [...] Vollständiger Abstract: https://doi.org/10.21249/DZHW:es7:2.0.0

The EUROSTUDENT VII – Synopsis of Indicators is the central publication of the EUROSTUDENT project and the result of the collaboration of a European-wide network. It comprises data from student surveys conducted in 25 countries in the European Higher Education Area during the seventh round of the EUROSTUDENT project. Adopting a broad, comparative perspective, the EUROSTUDENT VII – Synopsis of Indicators provides information on students’ socio-economic and study-related backgrounds, their study conditions and experiences, including international mobility, and their living conditions. It aims to inspire policy debates on the topic of the social dimension and lay the ground for further research.

Das EUROSTUDENT-Projekt sammelt und analysiert vergleichbare Daten über die soziale Dimension der europäischen Hochschulbildung. Es wird eine breite Palette von Themen im Zusammenhang mit den sozialen und wirtschaftlichen Bedingungen der Studierenden abgedeckt. Das Projekt ist bestrebt, zuverlässige und aufschlussreiche länderübergreifende Vergleiche zu liefern. Dies geschieht durch die Verbindung eines zentralen Koordinationsansatzes mit einem starken Netzwerk von nationalen Partnern in jedem teilnehmenden Land. Auf diese Weise kann eine Bewertung der Stärken und Schwächen der jeweiligen nationalen Rahmenbedingungen im internationalen Vergleich vorgenommen werden. [...] Vollständiger Abstract: https://doi.org/10.21249/DZHW:es7:1.0.0

This edition of the Bologna Process Implementation Report charts important progress made over two decades when it comes to mobility, quality assurance and recognition, but also points to the work needed in the future. The report shows how European higher education systems advanced with concerted national reforms. This in itself is a remarkable achievement. Nevertheless, the process was not all plain sailing. Some countries moved faster than others, and some embedded reforms more deeply. As a result of reaching different levels of implementation, the foundations of the European Higher Education Area are not yet stable enough. Students, researchers and higher education institutions may still face unnecessary obstacles in their work together.

This Intelligence Brief takes a closer look at students’ health. Compared to the overall population of the same age, students less often perceive their health as good or very good. Logistic regression analyses with German student data show strong and negative relations between financial difficulties and students’ health perception. Additionally, a cross-country comparison with EUROSTUDENT data consistently shows comparatively large shares of impaired students among those with financial difficulties. The findings indicate that policy makers should pay special attention to both impaired and financially challenged students in order to ensure their successful higher education participation and prevent negative societal effects of poor health.

This publication presents indicators on the social dimension of higher education in the European Higher Education Area in four key areas: Demographics and social background of students, transition and access into higher education, students’ employment, and the financial situation of students. To what extent can students of different backgrounds be found within the higher education systems? How open and flexible are European higher education systems in providing access to students entering higher education at different points in their lives, and with different past experiences? What are the circumstances under which students pursue their studies and how do they make a living?

This contribution investigates students’ time budget across 28 European Higher Education Area member countries from a (descriptive) comparative perspective and it provides an in-depth analysis for Hungarian students. Whether students spend more time in direct interaction with teaching staff, or studying on their own, reflects the varying requirements set by different types of higher education institutions, fields of study, and study programmes. Additionally, time investments vary among different groups of students

Every Bologna Process participant country has been called upon to set measurable targets for widening participation of underrepresented groups in higher education since 2009. Despite the repeated articulation of widening participation in higher education as an objective, a common European definition is not available, making it difficult to assess in a comparative manner whether targets in this policy area have been met. There is a need for extensive data collection and analysis on the basis of micro data in order to fully understand the inequalities in any given higher education system, as well as across national higher education systems.

Die Ergebnisse des jüngsten EUROSTUDENT-Berichts zeigen, dass sich das Studium und der Studierendenalltag in den verschiedenen Ländern des Europäischen Hochschulraums unterscheiden, etwa mit Blick auf das Alter der Studierenden als auch ihre Lebens- und Studienbedingungen. Vor dem Hintergrund des Bologna-Prozesses werden die Befunde aus 25 europäischen Ländern mit einem besonderen Augenmerk auf die Diversität der Studierendenschaft und die flexiblen Zugangs- und Gestaltungsmöglichkeiten des Studiums vorgestellt.

With the introduction of higher education institutions following a different model than ‘traditional’ universities, access to higher education has been diversified. However, recent research has indicated that this institutional diversification is often accompanied by an increased degree of stratification with different types of institutions, or individual institutions, conveying different levels of prestige and, possibly, labour market returns (Arum, Gamoran, & Shavit, 2007; Reimer & Jacob, 2011; Triventi, 2013; Marconi, 2015; Marginson, 2016). Furthermore, existing research points towards the fact that students from disadvantaged backgrounds tend to concentrate in lower-prestige higher education institutions.

EUROSTUDENT data provide a comprehensive, comparative overview of students’ social and economic conditions in 28 countries of the European Higher Education Area.

The conference is the main project event and serves to showcase and discuss the results and insights achieved through EUROSTUDENT by bringing together the involved stakeholders, researchers, and project teams, as well as interested project-external participants.