FAST: Development Assessment Center for Students – Also in Universities Mere Knowledge is Not Everything

In the education of students, universities place emphasis above all on the teaching of specialised knowledge. Against this, the specific nurturing of social competence or self- management competence is secondary. On this basis a Development Assessment Center for students has been developed, in short FAST (derived from the German Förder-Assessment-Center für Studierende), which has as its aim to contribute to the often neglected development of personal and social skills of uni- versity students. FAST is grounded on an empirical analysis of the demands facing students in their daily academic lives. Based on this, a profile of self-management and social competencies necessary for mastering these demands was devised as well as exercises simulating prototypical challenging situations were developed. Participants of FAST take part in these exercises and are observed and evaluated on the basis of this above-mentioned profile. At the end of these sessions, partici- pants receive differentiated and behaviour-related, individual feedback concerning how their skills rate in relation to the requirements of the profile. The feedback should help participants to recognise and understand their own strengths and weaknesses, thereby facilitating the creation of personal development strategies. In this paper the aims and the construction of the assessment center are descri- bed. Experiences and results of the first implementation of FAST are discussed and a look at the future application of this instrument follows.

08.12.2004 | Ulrich Graner, Silke Heiss, Peter Joscht, Nicola Stahl, Verena Stengel, Thomas Symanik & Siegfried Stumpf (Regensburg)