This year the TU Braunschweig puts a focus on students, who are the first ones in their family to attend university: First Generation Students.
The Focus of 2022: First Generation Students at TU Braunschweig was initiated by the president Prof.'in Angela Ittel as well as the Diversity Office of the Equal Opportunity Office and aims to gain more knowledge about study conditions of persons, wo are the first in their family to attend university, as well as to improve them in the long term and therefore increase equal opportunity.
First Generation Students are not a uniform group, every person has individual experiences, perspectives and skills and therefore challenges and obstacles at the university are very diverse.
The Diversity Office puts special attention on structural discrimination and acknowledges the diversity and differences between individual persons. We work towards the goal of reducing existing barriers and inequality structures actively and therefore increase equal opportunity.1
The Focus 2022 is based on recent scientific findings, regarding inequality of education in Germany, the concept of classism as a category of discrimination from an intersectional viewpoint and the obstacles and barriers First Generation Students face at university.
The inclusion of first generation students and academics as experts is a key point of the focus 2022: the Diversity Office is in direct contact with members of students network FirstGen@TU and the organisation ArbeiterKind.de, who provide valuable experiences and expertise.
As part of the focus year, this website provides information
The focus 2022: First Generation Students at TU Braunschweig is to be understood as an ongoing project and will be expanded during the course of the year. This website provides latest information - we highly appreciate suggestions and ideas from all students and staff of TU Braunschweig!
If you want to participate with your institution of TU Braunschweig to add to the offered program or with an idea to support First Generation Students, please contact: diversity(at)tu-braunschweig.de
1 see Czollek et a. 2019, pg. 30 for further information
Study as a venture instead of a matter of course
The project Role Models: First Generation Akademiker*innen an der TU Braunschweig (Role Models: First Generation Academics at TU Braunschweig) makes social background visible. We learn about different educational biographies and give examples of successful First Generation Students.
You were the first person in your family to atted university and want to share your experiences in a short interview? Please contact diversity(at)tu-braunschweig.de and support new First Generation Academics!
Interviews will be published in the magazine of TU Braunschweig.