Diveristy in Teaching

Diversity and Equal Opportunities in Studies and Teaching

The social opening of universities and the pursuit of greater equity in education mean that universities have to cater for an increasingly heterogeneous group of students. About 50,000 students study at the University of Cologne. 40 % of the students are men, 60 % women, approx. 10 % of the students come from abroad (more on this can be found in the short statistics for the winter semester 2016/17), approx. 2 % of the students have a strong health disadvantage with corresponding study restrictions.

The current nationwide study on the diversity of the student body at German universities, CHE-QUEST, also shows that around 9% of students have to compensate for psychological or physical limitations in coping with their studies. At the same time, in connection with additional areas of responsibility in addition to studies and financial security, it is shown that around 5% of students have children to look after and around 4% are entrusted with the care responsibility of family members. In addition, there are young adults who begin their studies as the first generation of their families, young people from families with an immigration background and those who are already professionally qualified.

This diversity of socio-cultural backgrounds and the individual circumstances connected to them must be taken into account when structuring studies and teaching in order to ensure equal opportunities and to utilise the potential of this diversity for an attractive and high-quality course of study at the University of Cologne.

Students should be addressed and taken seriously with their different horizons of knowledge and experience as well as their life situations and should find appropriate framework conditions that enable goal-oriented and self-determined learning for all.
Educators should be supported in recognising this diversity as a potential for high-quality teaching and in encouraging the implementation of appropriate measures.
The University of Cologne creates the necessary framework conditions to enable teaching and learning based on diversity and equal opportunities.

In the field of equal opportunities at the University of Cologne, various core concerns for the integration of equal opportunities and diversity in studies and teaching are formulated in the context of the model accreditation "Studying in Cologne", which are taken into account in the quality assurance systems for the (re-)accreditation of study programmes (model report, checklists, guidelines).

UNIVERSITY OF COLOGNE

Department for Equal Opportunities

Diversity and Equal Opportunities in Studies and Teaching