How can community building succeed in a huge HEI with 3.500 bachelor beginners? This is our challenge at WU Vienna. Starting@WU merges support and community elements for freshmen to a comprehensive onboarding program. Our presentation focuses on the pillars of the program, provides insights into evaluations, and outlines the further development.
EFYE2024 – CopenhagenPresentation/Paper session | Academic integration/belonging | Social integration/belonging
“WU Vienna is a very large Higher Education Institution with more than 3.500 bachelor beginners each academic year in two large scale programs. Although we are outstanding in many areas, we face – like many public universities – some challenges such as insufficient student activity, drop-outs and a lack of commitment. Of course, it is in the WU’s best interest to continuously improve student activity and student satisfaction. Literature indicates and multiple studies proof that successful onboarding is crucial for the social and academic integration of students and in further consequence for their performance level and their commitment to the institution. In the past, all support and onboarding activities at WU were offered on a voluntary basis, the students had to be self-initiative and apply for participation. Starting@WU is the trial to merge central and decentralized onboarding programs and to integrate compulsory elements for first semester students. The program comprises 4 central pillars: Welcome tutors (higher semester students), who actively contact the freshmen shortly after admission and who accompany the students in small groups through the first two months of their studies. The Welcome Days as official starting event for first semester students with information and community elements in the run-up to the official start of the semester. Information sessions throughout the first semester dealing with study-relevant subjects, such as (self)organization or learning techniques. Community projects where students realize in small groups, supported by academic advisers and tutors, different green and/or social projects. By working together towards a meaningful goal, students grow into a sustainable community and learn relevant project management skills that are valuable for the rest of their studies. Our presentation starts with a brief introduction to WU Vienna and the legal framework we operate in including data underlying the current problems in terms of student activity and engagement. Afterwards we focus on the development of the onboarding program Starting@WU and describe the core pillars of our activities. We provide insights into evaluation results and the most relevant lessons learned so far. Finally, we sum up with an outline of our starting points for further developments.”
What do participants experience or learn?