BTU students show high satisfaction with international orientation

BTU students show high satisfaction with international orientation

In a comprehensive nationwide student survey conducted in December 2023 and January 2024, the Brandenburg Technical University (BTU) achieved remarkable results regarding its international orientation. 132 German universities took part in this survey to investigate how students are internationally networked and what mobility opportunities they take advantage of. Prof. Wolfram Berger, Vice President for Internationalization at BTU, said that the positive results confirm the strategic direction of the university's internationalization plans.

The BTU survey showed that students rated “General Satisfaction: Studying” with an average of 4.0 points (on a scale of 1 to 5). “General satisfaction: university” also received high scores of 3.9 points. Particular emphasis was placed on the positive assessment of the research-oriented courses, which are offered entirely in English. This contributes to the fact that 61.7 percent of the international students surveyed plan to work in Germany long-term.

International mobility in focus

The survey, financed by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), received an above-average response with a response rate of 10.4 percent. A total of 639 students were surveyed, of which 313 were foreign students and 326 were foreign students. What is particularly striking is that around half of those surveyed are considering a career in the state of Brandenburg.

The topic of international mobility was also addressed in the results report of the German Center for University and Science Research (DZHW). In the survey in the summer semester of 2021, there was a significant decrease in study-related stays abroad, which was only 19 percent by the sixth semester. This is a significant decrease compared to 2006, when the number was over 30 percent. The corona pandemic temporarily reduced mobility by around 50 percent.

Challenges and trends

Professor Axel Plünnecke from the Institute of German Economics emphasizes the importance of international experiences for the development of social and communicative skills in today's working world. Companies expect applicants to be able to deal with uncertain situations and adapt to diverse groups.

In order to counteract the decline in international student mobility, the DAAD, together with the DZHW, plans to research the causes and offer solutions. Important starting points are conveying the importance of stays abroad as well as flexible mobility offers that are intended to do justice to the different realities of students' lives.

The combination of virtual and physical exchange formats is seen as the key to improving credit mobility. The campaign “study worldwide – EXPERIENCE IT!” is intended to help increase student motivation and promote the internationalization of universities.

With its results, the BTU shows that internationally oriented study programs and targeted strategies for university internationalization are becoming increasingly important. At a time when foreign policy and economic challenges influence student mobility, BTU remains a pioneer in the field of international higher education.

Further information can be found at BTU, and on the topic of international student mobility there is the DAAD important insights.