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- COVID-19 (14) (remove)
Course of studies
In 2020 a pandemic caused the universities in Germany to close their doors for their
students. For the Hochschule Furtwangen University, it was the first time that online
classes were introduced on a large-scale. The objective of this thesis paper is to
investigate how international students at HFU Business School cope with having online
classes due to COVID-19 and to derive based on those findings a recommended course
of action.
The researcher conducted 32 semi-structured in-depth interviews with international
students, local students, professors, and university employees to examine the status quo.
A thorough literature review on studying and working from home formed the interview
questions' foundation. The interview covered several aspects of students' life, such as
studying, language development, or social factors.
Based on the findings, a recommended course of action was derived. Those 14
recommendations include practical suggestions covering different facets for the
university to implement to improve international students' ability to cope with the
restrictions caused by the pandemic and the resulting online classes successfully.
As COVID-19 forces school to shutdown, distance learning or homeschooling is increasingly becoming the preferred and safest mode of delivering education. The new trend however, raises underlying questions on the implication it will have on the educational gap and attainment between advantaged and disadvantaged students in Germany, stemming from the diverse economic, cultural and social situation among the student population. This study presents results of a comparative analysis between advantaged and disadvantaged students in Germany using the PISA data 2018. The study investigated, how large the educational gap in Germany between advantaged and disadvantaged students is and what influences this gap. More specifically, what effect COVID-19 induced school interruption has in increasing the educational at- tainment between the student population. The findings show that there is an educa- tional gap between advantaged and disadvantaged students in Germany and socio- economic and cultural factors influence student performance which aligns with the findings in the literature review. Furthermore, school closures of 51 days result to a loss of 3.26, 3.37 and, 4.12 PISA point for advantaged students in maths, science and reading respectively and a loss of 8.4, 8.1 and 5.01 PISA points in maths, sci- ence and reading for disadvantaged students. The results show an increase in the educational outcome and inequality between advantaged and disadvantaged students in Germany. The findings, necessitate the need for policy makers to neutralize the learning losses resulting from the COVID-19 induced remote learning.