Please Participate for More Change!

Student survey TUCpanel for the improvement of study conditions at Chemnitz University of Technology starts a new round on April 25, 2022

The student survey TUCpanel at Chemnitz University of Technology will enter the next round on April 25, 2022. TUCpanel is about identifying positive, critical and challenging aspects of studying and collecting ideas for the further development of teaching, examinations and study organization as well as mobility and equal opportunities. "The annual student survey is a valuable tool for students at Chemnitz University of Technology to influence their study situation and bring about changes. I am very pleased that our students have also made numerous use of this opportunity in the past runs," says Prof. Dr. Maximilian Eibl, Vice President for Academic and International Affairs at Chemnitz University of Technology. Last year, the TUCpanel team received 2,239 completed questionnaires.

For the TUCpanel, all students will receive an invitation with a randomly generated code and a link to the survey at their university email address on April 25, 2022. The survey is completely anonymous. It is not possible to draw conclusions about individual participants. All undergraduate degree programs (bachelor's degree, teaching degree, and diploma) and master's degree programs at Chemnitz University of Technology are eligible to participate. In addition, students in part-time distance learning and continuing education programs at TUCed who have been enrolled since at least the winter semester 2021/22 and were not on leave of absence in the previous semester can participate. The questionnaire is available in German as well as in English.

In addition, the Study Success Management team of Chemnitz University of Technology provides information about the activities within the framework of TUCpanel via a newly established Instagram account @tucpanel. There, the focus is on information about the student survey of the same name and about quality management of teaching. In this way, it should become clear how students can effectively influence their study conditions: "With the planned posts, stories and expert interviews, we increase the visibility of the study success measures and regularly provide our students with authentic insights into the diverse processes surrounding the topic of study quality," says Dr. Andrea Hertel, coordinator of the Study Success Management System project.

Common rooms are coming – High participation in the TUCpanel pays off

Based on the feedback from the past TUCpanel, several study programs or study regulations and module descriptions are currently being revised. According to feedback from all faculties, the revisions concern, for example, topics such as the reduction and distribution of the examination load, the early announcement of examination results, the adaptation of examination formats, the stronger integration of topics from professional practice or the increase of practical components such as internships in teaching, as well as the optimization of the study organization.

In addition, there are faculty-specific improvements resulting from past feedback. An important feedback was the wish to establish so-called "common rooms". After corresponding rooms have already been set up in the Böttcher-Bau and the Weinhold-Bau, it is now the turn of the Wilhelm-Raabe-Straße university site of Chemnitz University of Technology. In the meantime, the planning, in which students and employees in Wilhelm-Raabe-Straße were also involved, has been completed. The members of the Psychology Student Group are particularly pleased about this: "We urgently need this common room. Because we walk almost 40 minutes from Wilhelm-Raabe-Straße to the campus, a free hour for a common meal in the cafeteria is not enough. We would like to have a nice common room right here at the institute where we can eat, study and work," says student Melli from the Psychology Student Group.

Improved URZ service thanks to TUCpanel

Another example of improvements in studying and teaching through TUCpanel also concerns the University Computing Center (URZ). Among other things, this includes the e-learning website, which is now more service and target group oriented. In addition, the TUCmessages service offers the possibility of encrypted and privacy-compliant communication via chat and audio. "The feedback from students has encouraged us to make some changes and, in addition, provided impetus for adjustments and changes in perspective in completely different places," says Antje Schreiber, a staff member at the URZ.

More advice and service thanks to student feedback

After evaluating the TUCpanel reports from 2021, the Central Course Guidance Service would like to expand its advisory services, among other things. "In addition to the guide for the examination service, there will now also be one for the study service in order to point out the options provided and thus also to make it easier to get started with the self-service," says Janine Schwind, Head of Student Service and Central Course Guidance Service at Chemnitz University of Technology.

In addition, the Examinations Office has also responded to the feedback from students in the TUCpanel and implemented corresponding improvements. Veikko Pippig, Head of the Central Examination Office, explains: "The needs of the students match our impressions. We have significantly improved the flow of information when new grades are received and optimized the search function within the self-service. This makes it much easier and faster for students to find their grades."

Data protection notice, FAQ list, further information as well as the results reports from previous years are available online: www.tu-chemnitz.de/tucpanel.

For further information, please contact the TUCpanel team by e-mail: tucpanel@tu-chemnitz.de.

(Source: Study Success Management team / Translation: Brent Benofsky)

Matthias Fejes
25.04.2022

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