Survey: Alumni Exceptionally Content with Their Studies

What is your view on the University of Bremen? How did you experience your studies? In a survey, we recently wanted to explore the DNA of the University of Bremen. Now, the first results are in. 

Professor Engel, 425 alumni participated in the survey on the DNA of the University of Bremen. You and the Social Science Methods Center are in the middle of the evaluation. Are the responses widely varied or do most participants agree overall on the assessment of the university and their studies?

In the questions about their satisfaction with their studies the answers overwhelmingly lean towards satisfied. In hindsight, 90 percent look back onto their studies either rather or very satisfied. That is a remarkably high value. The evaluation of contacts gained from their studies is more balanced and certainly more critical. However, here, too, a positive evaluation very clearly prevails: Contacts from their studies were perceived as rather helpful or very helpful by 56 percent, while 16 percent on the other hand perceived them as explicitly not helpful. At the same time, many attach considerable importance for their careers to studying at the University of Bremen: 27 percent evaluate their studies in this respect as rather important and further 56 percent as very important; on the other hand, only 5 percent regarded it as rather or very unimportant. Studying at the University of Bremen is evaluated as predominantly positive.

And what trends can already be detected?

The personal image that participants have of the University of Bremen indicates diversity as well as front runners in the ranking. In the survey, we asked for the assessment of twenty possible attributes. ‘Diversity’ is a good keyword because practically all of these attributes had been picked as a personal favorite at least once. At the same time, the distribution of attributes, which have been ranked first among participants, show some as clearly preferred. For example, 24 percent see the University of Bremen as an institution that provides good conditions for studying. That’s the absolute number one. 18 percent saw it as an academic institution, and 13 percent saw it as cosmopolitan. For 7 percent, the university is first and foremost excellent in research, and for 6 percent it is scientifically renowned.