The school students of the BG Dornbirn with course director, lecturers and high school professor.
©Laurence Feider
Three seventh graders from BG Dornbirn have completed a semester as non-regular students.
Dornbirn. Nicolas, Lorenz and Linus already have four ECTS points, even though they are only in the seventh grade at BG Dornbirn. The students in the branch of industry took the opportunity to be the first to study for a semester as school students at Vorarlberg University of Applied Sciences. As extraordinary students, they went to school in the part-time industrial engineering course. “Since we are already working with the University of Liechtenstein (in person) and also with the Johannes Kepler University (online), it made sense to start a student course with the FH Vorarlberg due to the immediate distance,” says Erika Schuster, who is responsible for the pilot project of the BGD in the context of gifted and gifted promotion.
Since the industrial engineering course is offered part-time, it can be easily combined with the timetable of high school students. They attended the “General Business Administration” course, which was held on Fridays and Saturdays. “The students were part of the year for a semester and got to know active studying. They had all the rights and obligations of students, such as attendance, examinations, presentations and ECTS,” explains FH coordinator Claudia Franceschini. In addition to the lectures, the students also took part in a simulation game. “The course was not only very instructive, but the lecturer also presented the material in a very entertaining and exciting way,” says Nicolas Jenny, who at 15 was the youngest student at Vorarlberg University of Applied Sciences.
The school students passed the exam successfully, and they also excelled in the final presentation on the subject of marketing. This much to the delight of the lecturer Edmund Maier: “I was able to look into three very young faces, who were well received by my fellow students from the beginning and who worked with great commitment in the lecture, asked precise questions and did both the exam, the seminar paper and the mastered the subsequent presentation in the plenum very successfully.”
It was a unique opportunity for the students to get a taste of student life and to think about their educational plans after graduation. “Studying at a technical college was not an option for me before – now I think that it offers great opportunities for high school graduates, depending on their interests,” reflects Linus Riedmann, 16 years old. The Vorarlberg University of Applied Sciences offers an interdisciplinary education in the areas of technology, business and social skills with the part-time industrial engineering course. “On the one hand, we address young, inquisitive people from schools (high schools, HAK, HTL) who can apply for the combined DUAL model. On the other hand, the three-year course offers higher qualifications for people with professional experience with and without basic technical training, even in the second half of their working life,” explains course director Peter Muckenhuber. That is not an option for Lorenz Rümmele, who is aiming to study medicine after graduating from high school. “Nevertheless, I was able to take a lot with me and really appreciated the opportunity to do early studies,” says the 16-year-old Dornbirner.
