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Press release

The state government of North Rhine-Westphalia is expanding its talent scouting program to provide students with support for their professional development - with the University of Siegen as a new partner university.

The state government of North Rhine-Westphalia is expanding its talent scouting program. One of the six new partner universities is the University of Siegen. With three talent scouts, the university will establish fixed consultation hours at project schools in the region in future. The aim is to provide young pupils, particularly those from non-academic families, with support for their professional development. On September 12, NRW Science Minister Ina Brandes presented awards to the new partner universities. Prof. Dr. Alexandra Nonnenmacher, Vice-Rector for Education, accepted the award on behalf of the University of Siegen. From 2024, the state will provide around 10 million euros per year for the talent scouting program.

"We are delighted to have the opportunity to show young people new opportunities with the talent scouting program. This will give our support for pupils a new quality. The South Westphalia region has a strong economy that needs many academically educated young people," explains Prof. Dr. Alexandra Nonnenmacher.

Science Minister Ina Brandes: "A good education should not be a question of where you live or where you come from. With talent scouting, we have embarked on a very successful way of advising and supporting pupils in the decisions they have to make after leaving school. Our talent scouts support young people in developing their talents and inclinations. Every success story is proof that good education is possible for everyone. This benefits both young people and North Rhine-Westphalia as a business location, which urgently needs qualified specialists."

Since 2014, the Ministry of Culture and Science of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia has been funding an institution that is unique in the educational landscape nationwide: the NRW Center for Talent Development based in Gelsenkirchen. This is where the talent scouts are trained, who advise pupils from their respective universities and accompany them on their way to university or vocational training - as individually as they are open-ended. With the University of Siegen, 23 partner universities are now involved, with 100 talent scouts in the state looking after up to 600 cooperating schools.

The program is primarily aimed at pupils from non-academic backgrounds. Talent scouts discover exceptional achievements inside and outside of school, encourage young people to pursue their education with determination and develop prospects for the future together with the young people. This also includes average grades, for example, if they were achieved under difficult conditions. Extracurricular activities are also taken into account in the search for talent. The young talents are then supported and advised on an individual basis, sometimes over several years, in order to find the right next step on their educational path. This can be a (dual) course of study, vocational training, a voluntary social year or an internship abroad. The focus is always on the young person's optimal development prospects.

Talent scouting works: According to a long-term study (since 2017) by the Social Science Research Center Berlin, talent scouting has an extremely positive impact on equal opportunities and helps young people to make individually tailored training choices. Young people without an academic family background are more likely to study in the talent scouting program; young people from academic families, on the other hand, are more likely to opt for dual training in the talent scouting program. Taken together, these two effects reduce the inequality of opportunity in access to higher education by over 70 percent. In addition, talent scouting breaks down gender-typical career choices. The proportion of students in a gender-atypical degree course doubles in the talent scouting program. Young women are more likely to study STEM subjects, while young men are more likely to study to become teachers.

Background
New talent scouting universities are the University of Bonn, the University of Münster and the Münster University of Applied Sciences, the Niederrhein University of Applied Sciences, the University of Siegen and the Hamm Lippstadt University of Applied Sciences. The existing partner universities will receive 12 additional talent scouts. Since 2014, the existing partners have included the Westphalian Universities of Applied Sciences Gelsenkirchen, Bocholt, Recklinghausen, the University of Duisburg Essen, the Ruhr West University of Applied Sciences, the universities and the Bochum and Dortmund Universities of Applied Sciences. Since 2017, RWTH Aachen University and Aachen University of Applied Sciences, the universities of Düsseldorf and Wuppertal and the Campus OWL university network with Ostwestfalen University of Applied Sciences, Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences, Bielefeld University and Paderborn University have been involved. At the previous locations, around 400 cooperation schools with around 20,000 pupils have been supported in the active guidance process. With the expansion, there are now up to 600 cooperation schools.

Talent scouting is part of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia's declaration of commitment to the future contract "Strengthening studies and teaching". The expansion of talent scouting has two objectives: The aim is to reach regions in North Rhine-Westphalia that have not yet established talent scouting structures, such as the Lower Rhine and Siegerland. At existing locations, the aim is to better meet the needs of secondary schools, for example in the northern Ruhr region and in Ostwestfalen-Lippe.

NRW Science Minister certifies talent scouts at the University of Siegen