Seeing students in a new light

Diversity is a relatively new and trendy buzzword in higher education policy. It has been known for some time that no single student type exists, rather many different groups. But this is nothing new for the Studentenwerke.

Due to political measures and action, Germany’s student body will be even more heterogeneous and diverse in the future. There will be new groups of students coming to university and using the services of the Studentenwerke, including people with vocational training but without the German university entrance qualification (Abitur), older continuing education students and students aged under 18.

We’ve been saying for a long time that German higher education policy needs to ditch the idea of the typical student: young, fully financed, carefree and dedicated 100% to his or her studies. A look into our Social Surveys shows that students have always been diverse, e.g. students with disabilities or chronic illnesses, students with children, students with migrant backgrounds, etc.

Studentenwerke know about and “do” diversity and they also know about the many different student groups.