Artikel

Due to increased demands on professorial appointment procedures and their high strategic importance, German universities employ a growing number of appointment managers for the procedural quality assurance of those procedures. In order to close the research gap on the concrete design of these new positions in university management, an online survey – designed as a full survey – was conducted, which was developed against the background of a qualitative preliminary study in the form of a participant observation. The article gives an overview of this new type of position, its relevant structural features and the status of its establishment at German universities.

An Hochschulen und seitens der Wissenschaftspolitik ist die Nachfrage für belastbare Daten über Promovierende und Promovierte in den vergangenen Jahren merkbar gewachsen. Auch das öffentliche Interesse an dieser Gruppe, ihren Promotions- und Lebensbedingungen sowie ihren Karriereverläufen nimmt zu. Zugleich ist der Feldzugang für Studien der empirischen Hochschul- und Wissenschaftsforschung, die diese Themen untersuchen, in den vergangenen Jahren schwieriger geworden. Der Beitrag beschreibt und anlysiert die Strategie der National Academics Panel Study (Nacaps), um in diesem Umfeld eine großangelegte Panel Studie durchführen zu können.

In der Hochschulforschung und -politik ist die These weit verbreitet, dass das starke Wachstum der Hochschulbeteiligung ein Grund für die zunehmende Heterogenisierung in der Zusammensetzung der Studierenden ist. Der folgende Beitrag analysiert anhand verschiedener Indikatoren, inwieweit die Struktur der Studierendenschaft tatsächlich heterogener geworden ist. Die Analyse bezieht sich dabei auf Zeitreihendaten, die einen Vergleich zwischen mindestens zwei Zeitpunkten erlauben. Das Ergebnis fällt differenziert aus. Während einige Indikatoren eine zunehmende Heterogenisierung anzeigen, belegen andere Indikatoren das Gegenteil, nämlich eine zunehmende Homogenisierung in der Sozialstruktur der Studierenden.

This paper introduces the concept of standard-relevant publications, complementary to standard-essential patents and framed by the concept of knowledge utilization. By analyzing the reference lists of the around 20,000 standards released by ISO, authors of scientific papers cited in standards who are working at German institutions were identified. The institutions include universities, independent research societies, ministerial research institutes and companies. Almost thirty interviews were conducted with the most-cited of these authors. The interviews addressed the processes by which scientific publications come to be referenced in standards, and the motivations, the barriers and the effects of this.

This editorial to the special issue on heterogeneous effects of studying abroad starts with a review of studies on the determinants and individual-level effects of studying abroad. On that basis, it illustrates the necessity to place more emphasis on effect heterogeneity in research on international student mobility. It then develops a typology of heterogeneous effects of studying abroad, which shall function as an agenda for future research in the field. Thereafter, the editorial introduces the contributions to the special issue. It concludes by summarising major findings and directions for future research.

Studying abroad can positively influence students’ personality development, transversal skills, and labour market outcomes. At the same time, students from a high social origin are more likely to study abroad than students from a low social origin. Against this background, recent research has suggested that international student mobility (ISM) may foster the reproduction of social inequality. However, this assumption has hardly been tested empirically. Drawing on social stratification theory, we first demonstrate that a scenario in which ISM increases social inequality (cumulative advantage) is as plausible as a scenario in which it decreases social inequality (compensatory levelling).