Studica - studying à la carte

Dr. Anne Meuter

Studica - studying à la carte

STUDICA is an acronym and stands for “Studying à la carte.” This is the name of the research and development project that Alanus University carried out in two phases since 2012 as part of the nationwide competition “Advancement through Education: Open Universities”. It was funded through this program announced by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), from April 2015 in a second phase (“STUDICA II”), which ran until September 2017.

The “Open Universities” program is about finding the most effective ways for German universities to make access to higher education and academic knowledge easier—or possible in the first place—for people with extensive life and professional experience, regardless of formal school-based entry requirements. One frequently chosen path is to develop new practice-oriented part-time degree programs that are attractive and, above all, easily accessible for people with life and professional experience by reducing the barriers to studying alongside work. Alanus University also offers a wide range of such degree programs that can be studied successfully alongside work or family commitments.

However, the STUDICA project pursued a different approach: Current academic knowledge should be used to help people with life and professional experience move forward in their own life situation and solve the tasks they face using academic tools. To do so, they do not necessarily need to embark on a full degree program leading to a university qualification. This is where STUDICA comes in.

The project was headed by Prof. Dr. Sascha Liebermann, who is also happy to answer questions about STUDICA.

The basic STUDICA idea

With these target groups in mind, the STUDICA project explored a fundamental alternative to part-time degree programs: it examined the possibilities and effects of “studying à la carte,” i.e. a largely requirement-free, individual, and flexible compilation of a personal “learning menu” from the university’s extensive existing range of very different courses.

In concrete terms, this means that STUDICA is intended to offer everyone the opportunity—regardless of specific school-based prerequisites and solely on the basis of life and professional experience—to select individual courses from the university’s overall “buffet” of offerings in a targeted and practice-oriented way, combine them into individual combinations and sequences, and study these individual “menus.”
To do this, interested participants need to consider which knowledge-related questions drive them, which problems they currently need to solve, where they want to close personal knowledge gaps, or quite simply: what they are interested in learning or where academic knowledge can help them. They can then make targeted use of the university’s learning opportunities and acquire the relevant knowledge and academic skills. Everything they study in this way is documented as academic achievement, certified according to the European ECTS credit system and can, if desired, later be credited toward a corresponding regular degree program leading to an academic qualification.

This form of study makes studying realistic for many people and concentrates it on the knowledge and skills needed at a particular time. The aim is for STUDICA to create an open university in which all people with professional and life experience, without restrictions based on background, previous educational pathway, or age, can acquire the academic knowledge, ways of thinking, and skills they want and that can help them develop personally and professionally, in light of their experiences and learning needs.
The Open University is a place where people with life and professional experience of all ages, regardless of formal school admission requirements, can acquire the academic knowledge they want or need and develop academic ways of thinking—in a way that fits their personal circumstances and living conditions. Studying à la carte is one form of implementing the Open University.

Publications from the first funding phase

Publications from the second funding phase

STUDICA Completions
STUDICA Final Conference Poster ePortfolio
STUDICA Final Conference Poster Evaluation Results
STUDICA Final Conference Poster Business Model
STUDICA Final Conference Poster Individual Learning Path
STUDICA Final Conference Poster Learning Offer Catalog
STUDICA Final Conference Poster Learning Needs Analysis
STUDICA Final Conference Poster Online Research Workshop
STUDICA Final Conference Poster Orientation Advising
STUDICA Final Conference Poster Reflection Tool
STUDICA Final Conference Poster Academic Preparatory Course
Accompanying Offer Invitation Academic Preparatory Course
Accompanying Offer Slides In-Person Phase WissProp Part I and II
Accompanying Offer Slides In-Person Phase WissProp Part III
Accompanying Offer Research Workshop Information
Accompanying Offer Information and Presentation Materials
Accompanying Offer Planning and Process of the Subproject
Accompanying Offer Poster Reflection Tool
Accompanying Offer Poster Didactics
Accompanying Offer Poster Research Workshop
Accompanying Offer Poster Learning Event Atelier Spring School 2017
Accompanying Offer STUDICA Poster Academic Preparatory Course
Accompanying Offer Toolbox Two-Phase Reflection Tool
Accompanying Offer Academic Preparatory Course Blended Learning
Accompanying Offer WissProp In-Person Phase Process
Advising Documentation Learning Support and Advising
Advising Handout Orientation Advising
Advising Guide Learning Needs Assessment
Advising Poster ePortfolio
Advising Poster Learning Offer Catalog
Advising Poster Orientation Advising
Advising Browsing in Learning Offers
Advising Wiegers Faber ePortfolio
Higher Education Didactics
Evaluation Report 2016-02-29
Evaluation Report 2017-03-28
Evaluation Report 2017-08-09
Evaluation Results Poster
Business Model Registration Agreement
Business Model Welcome Email STUDICA Participants
Business Model STUDICA Poster
Business Model STUDICA Poster Networking
Business Model Agreement on Cooperation Between Departments
Business Model ZELLL
Presentation Final Conference STUDICA 18052017
Presentation Graph Illustration Final Conference
Presentation Study and Professional Practice
STUDICA Contribution Conference Proceedings TUHH
STUDICA Brochure
STUDICA Card Final Conference
STUDICA Short Presentation