Study of Former Scholarship Recipients

Education and Career Paths of Hans Böckler Foundation Scholarship Recipients

© Hans Böckler Stiftung

Runtime

10/2002 – 01/2006

Contracting Authority

Contracting and Financing through the Hans Böckler Foundation

Goals/Summary

In 1982, a research group at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development, commissioned by the Hans Böckler Foundation (hereafter HBS), carried out a large-scale survey of all graduates with union-related study sponsorships. It was, at this time, the only study of the development and whereabouts of graduates of the scholarship system in the German Federal Republic, and it remains an exemplary study today. Building on this study, objectives of this proposed project in regards to science, education and foundation policy entail:

• updating the results of this study through surveying the graduating classes of the HBS since 1980, and, with this as a foundation, pursuing the issue of continuity and transition in union-related study sponsorships, especially regarding the change of scholarship holder type,
• putting this into the context of societal, universitarian and general political changes which took place over the past two decades and looking into their implications for study sponsorship, for example:
  • shifts in the higher education system which has led, among other things, to new forms of university access, modified forms of studying and of patterns of social participation,
  • the reunification of Germany which was accompanied by a change of support tools,
  • or the change in the structure of the professional and career world, which probably condensed into a modified configuration of scholarship recipient circles,
• addressing the interest of the foundation (and the unions) in a comprehensive and precise, empirically-founded knowledge of their target group(s) and the scope and effectiveness of their support tools,
• in this context pursuing especially the question of union ties and union commitment of scholarship recipients during their studies, but primarily during their later career,
• originating from the specific meaning of the union-related study sponsorship as a „social quasi-experiment about social liberalization of universities“ (Funke et al, 1986, p. 16), pursuing the issue of achieving this goal or plan, meaning the question, to what extent union study sponsorship contributes to opening educational and access opportunities to workers, children of working-class families and working class women, and in which way these are effective in regards to remaining at a job and to career opportunities,
• at the same time taking into consideration the further advanced research status and new research approaches, primarily from two fields of research: international research about so-called non-traditional students, research about remaining at a job, and about the career paths of university graduates,
• and lastly, to describe on an empirical foundation and in more detail the profile of the union-related study sponsorship amongst the various study sponsorship unions, and to use the results for presenting the HBS in public and to use them for deepen work with former scholarship recipients.

Carrying out the new study should follow the principle of both creating as much comparability as possible with preliminary studies, and also of carrying it out with as much innovation as necessary regarding the guiding questions and the methodical approach of the study. Through the comparability with the first HBS Study of Former Scholarship Recipients and through a broad definition of the population a long-term reference period is expected to begin, viz., graduates who received HBS study sponsorship over a period of more than 30 years ought to be examined in regards to their education and career paths. It ought to be taken into account from this methodological perspective, however, that the respondents may face difficulties with remembering and recognizing information about the pre-academic chapter of their life, their past decision to study a certain program, the degree program itself and their entry into a career when self-reporting this information, considering the ever-growing period of time which has elapsed since having these experiences.

Documents and Links

Questionnaire as a pdf
List of answer options as a pdf

Kurzfassung der Ergebnisse: Frohwieser, D.; Kühne, M.; Lenz, K.; Wolter, A. (2006): Bildungs- und Berufswege von Stipendiaten und Stipendiatinnen der Hans-Böckler-Stiftung. Arbeitspapier 132. Hans-Böckler-Stiftung: Düsseldorf.

Publikation der Studie: Frohwieser, D., Kühne, M. , Lenz, K., Wolter, A. (2009): Die etwas andere Bildungselite. Julius Klinkhardt Verlag - Website

Artikel „Eine etwas andere Elite“, Magazin Mitbestimmung, Ausgabe 06/2006 - PDF

Kühne, M.; Frohwieser, D. (2008): Der Abbau von Benachteiligungen beim Zugang zu Hochschulbildung und zum akademischen Arbeitsmarkt. In: Mehlkop, G. und Graeff, P. (2008): Unterstützung und Ausgrenzung durch sozialen Zusammenhalt – Human- und Sozialkapital in der empirischen soziologischen Forschung. Dresdner Beiträge zur Soziologie Band 3. MV Wissenschaft - Webseite

Kühne, M. (2009): Berufserfolg von Akademikerinnen und Akademikern. Theoretische Grundlagen und empirische Analysen. VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften

Project management

Prof. Dr. Karl Lenz
Prof. Dr. Andrä Wolter

Contributors

Dipl.-Päd. Dana Frohwieser
Dr. Mike Kühne