The accompanying virtual zero semester in NRW: brush up on previous knowledge for greater academic success

The qualification paths for university admission are diverse – consequently, the levels of competence of first-year students is also heterogeneous. A sound educational background is an essential prerequisite for successful studies. In order to enable academic success regardless of educational biographies , universities are confronted with the additional task of refreshing school skills in a needs-oriented and individualized manner and closing any possibly existing knowledge gaps. This means additional time and effort for students, which is not reflected in the accredited curricula. This is where the beVinuS.nrw project comes in.

The offer, which consists of online self-assessments and matching course offerings, is designed to run parallel to the introductory phase of studies so that students can refresh or expand their skills as needed. The selection of courses according to their own needs in terms of content, formats and media enables students to complete the beVinuS programme flexibly and individually and to take responsibility for their own learning process. By closely linking the project offerings to the teaching in the degree courses, the aim is to promote in particular those skills that are actually relevant to the course later on.

In the project recommended by the DH.NRW, the universities BU Wuppertal, RWTH Aachen, and TU Dortmund University are working on developing a reference process for operating an accompanying virtual zero semester that enables a systematic framing of the support services. In cooperation with the Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, they are striving to design a reform model in accordance with Section 58 (2a) HG NRW in order to be able to offer supplementary courses for first-year students during the course of their studies and in a BAföG-neutral manner. The concept will be available as a blueprint for other universities in NRW after the end of the project (December 2025). To this end, a handbook will be published in which legal and organizational framework conditions will be presented and information on the implementation of beVinuS in practice, in the sense of "lessons learned", will be provided.

The TU Dortmund University departments of Mathematics, Physics, Mechanical Engineering – represented by Engineering Didactics – and Electrical Engineering and Information Technology as well as the Institute for School Development Research, which is responsible for the accompanying research in the project, are involved.