BTU students give their university an excellent rating for its international orientation

In December 2023 and January 2024, BTU was one of 132 German universities to take part in a nationwide student survey on the topic of "How international are your studies?". The main focus was on how German and foreign students perceive their university with a focus on internationalisation and international mobility and what experiences they have had during their studies.

Prof. Wolfram Berger, Vice President for Internationalisation at BTU, says: "The results of the DAAD study confirm our strategic orientation and the successful implementation of our internationalisation plans. This concerns the sharpening of our profile in the design of our future-oriented international study programmes as well as the focus on international partnerships and student and doctoral student exchanges. We only adopted our new internationalisation strategy in 2024, which sets out our goals for the coming years."

In the benchmark international university (BintHo) , BTU consistently achieves high satisfaction ratings, both among international and domestic students. When asked about "General satisfaction: studies", students awarded an average of 4.0 points on a scale of 1-5 (1 not at all satisfied, 5 very satisfied). This also sets BTU apart from the national figures. At 3.9 points, "General satisfaction: University" is also at a very good level.

It is particularly pleasing that the BTU's strategy of offering future- and research-oriented study programmes in English is impressively confirmed. In addition to the language of teaching, the attractive programme content in particular is the most important aspect for the foreign students surveyed when making their decision and leads to a very conscious choice of BTU. It should also be emphasised that the majority of the foreign students surveyed intend to stay in Germany after completing their studies. For example, 61.7 per cent intend to work in Germany for more than three years. Around half of those surveyed can even imagine a career in the state of Brandenburg, which will be particularly important for the upcoming challenges in the context of structural change in Lusatia.

Prof. Wolfram Berger summarises: "The results of the study also show very clearly that the international orientation and the comparatively high degree of internationalisation at BTU are highly valued by all students. It will therefore be all the more important in the coming years to continue to develop the existing supervisor and support services for international students, as well as for academics and Staff Members from abroad, and to constantly adapt them to the needs of the target groups."

The aim of the study, which was funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and carried out by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and the participating universities, was to conduct a comparative analysis of the international nature of the programmes at the institutions and to find out where support services for German and international students are useful and how they can be improved if necessary. The survey was aimed at all students enrolled at BTU (Bachelor's and Master's), who were informed about the survey by email during the survey period from 11 December 2023 to 19 January 2024. At 10.4 per cent, the response rate was above the average for all participating universities. Of the 639 participants surveyed, 313 were nationals and 326 were non-nationals.