Social and academic integration at the start of studies in a digital semester

The assumption that successful social and academic integration can reduce the likelihood of dropping out leads to the question of what is needed for students to successfully integrate into the university and the academic context in their first semester. This question is even more significant against the backdrop of an almost exclusively digital semester. Using survey-based data from first-year students at the University of Duisburg-Essen, this paper presents and analyses a model that addresses the conditioning factors of social and academic integration when entering university during a digital semester. The results once again reaffirm the importance of communication, interaction and information for first-year students.