Methods of Education and Social Research with Specific Consideration of Gender Studies / Sociology

Department of Educational and Social Sciences

 

Jenny Gusyk Award

 

The Jenny Gusyk Award (awarded by the equal opportunity commissioner for strucutral measures improving equality) 2011 was awarded for the concept

“Mentoring for students from the ‘first generation university’ and mentors from mid-level faculty (Akademischer Mittelbau)”

to: Dr.in Claudia Nikodem; nikodem@uni-koeln.de (Coordinator of the mentoring program)

                Prof.*in Dr.*in Susanne Völker; susanne.voelker@uni-koeln.de

                Prof. Dr. Elke Kleinau; elke.kleinau@uni-koeln.de 

 

The award is endowed a prize money of 10,000 Euro.

 

Aims and target audience

We want to support students who are part of the first generation of their family of origin attempting to succeed in their studies at a university. Aside from their special commitment, these students have a need for specific support and assistance.

 

Supporting students from the ‘first generation university’, this project is addressed to women coming from so-called educationally-deprived families and who, despite obstacles like a lack of economic, cultural and/or social capital, have started their studies at a university. These students especially have to struggle with special, often habitualised, difficulties, and lacking the appropriate social orientational knowledge, an exceptional effort is demanded from them to get along with the day-to-day university life with its numerous obstacles and barriers. Tying in with insights about the correlation between social origin and educational success, this form of support is starting to fill a current gap, in which there are only very few institutional efforts for equal opportunities so far.

 

You can find general information about the Jenny Gusyk Award on the web pages of the equal opportunity commissioner.