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Press Release

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

The state government of North Rhine-Westphalia is expanding the talent scouting program. One of the six new partner universities is the University of Siegen. With three talent scouts, the university will establish regular office hours at participating schools in the region. The goal is to provide young students—particularly those from non-academic families—with support for their career development. On September 12, NRW Minister of Science Ina Brandes honored the new partner universities. Prof. Dr. Alexandra Nonnenmacher, Vice Rector for Education, accepted the award on behalf of the University of Siegen. Starting in 2024, the state will provide a total of approximately 10 million euros annually for the talent scouting program.

“We are very pleased to have the opportunity to open up new opportunities for young people through talent scouting. This will take our support for high school students to a whole new level. The South Westphalia region has a strong economy that needs many academically educated young people,” explains Prof. Dr. Alexandra Nonnenmacher.

Minister of Science Ina Brandes: “A good education should not be a matter of where you live or where you come from. With talent scouting, we have embarked on a very successful path to advise and support students as they make decisions about their future after high school. Our talent scouts support young people in developing their potential in line with their talents and interests. Every success story is proof that a good education is possible for everyone. This benefits both the young people themselves and North Rhine-Westphalia as a business hub, which so urgently needs qualified professionals.”

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 German educational landscape: the NRW Center for Talent Development, based in Gelsenkirchen. This is where talent scouts are trained; from their respective universities, they advise students and guide them on their path to higher education or vocational training—an approach that is as individualized as it is open-ended. With the University of Siegen now on board, there are 23 partner universities, with 100 talent scouts across the state supporting up to 600 partner schools.

The program is aimed primarily at students from non-academic backgrounds. Talent scouts identify exceptional achievements both inside and outside of school, encourage young people to pursue their education with determination, and work with them to develop prospects for the future. This includes, for example, average grades if they were achieved under challenging circumstances. Extracurricular involvement is also taken into account in the talent search. The young talents are then individually supported and advised—with an open-ended approach—sometimes over several years, to find the right next step on their educational path. This could be a (dual) degree program, vocational training, a voluntary social year, or an internship abroad. The focus is always on the best possible development prospects for these young people.

Talent scouting works: According to a long-term study (conducted since 2017) by the Berlin Social Science Center, talent scouting has an extremely positive impact on equal opportunity and helps young people make educational choices that are tailored to their individual needs. Young people without an academic family background are more likely to pursue a degree through the talent scouting program; in contrast, young people from families with an academic background are more likely to choose a dual vocational training program through the talent scouting program. Taken together, these two effects reduce 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 program doubles in the talent scouting program. As a result, young women are more likely to pursue STEM studies, while young men are more likely to pursue teacher training.

Background
New Talent Scouting partner institutions include the University of Bonn, the University of Münster, Münster University of Applied Sciences, Niederrhein University of Applied Sciences, the University of Siegen, and Hamm-Lippstadt University of Applied Sciences. The existing partner institutions will receive 12 additional talent scouts. Since 2014, the existing partners have included the Westphalian University of Applied Sciences in Gelsenkirchen, Bocholt, and Recklinghausen; the University of Duisburg-Essen; Ruhr West University of Applied Sciences; and the universities and universities of applied sciences in Bochum and Dortmund. Since 2017, the following have joined: RWTH Aachen University and Aachen University of Applied Sciences, the Universities of Düsseldorf and Wuppertal, as well as the Campus OWL university consortium, comprising the Ostwestfalen University of Applied Sciences, Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences, the University of Bielefeld, and the University of Paderborn. At the existing locations, approximately 400 partner schools—with a steady total of about 20,000 students—have been supported through the active counseling process to date. With this expansion, the number of partner schools has now increased to up to 600.

Talent scouting is an integral part of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia’s commitment to the “Strengthening Studies and Teaching” Future Agreement. The expansion of talent scouting pursues two goals: It aims to reach regions in North Rhine-Westphalia that have not yet established talent scouting structures, such as the Lower Rhine and the Siegerland. At existing locations, the goal is to better meet the needs of secondary schools, such as in the northern Ruhr region and in East Westphalia-Lippe.

NRW Minister of Science Certifies Talent Scouts from the University of Siegen