A buddy for all cases

Anyone who has started studying these days has to master a number of challenges: How do I organize my studies, how do I apply for BaföG, where can I do a semester abroad? "Especially in the initial phase, many first-year students have the feeling that they are facing a huge mountain of unanswered questions," Karolin Gunkel knows. To make matters worse, the Corona pandemic has meant that virtually all courses have been moved to digital.

Together with colleagues from the mechanical engineering department, she has therefore conceived the so-called "buddy program": "Buddies are students from the 3rd semester onwards who have already taken the first big hurdle into their studies, have already been able to gain important experience and want to pass this experience on to first-year students," Gunkel describes.

One of these buddies is Christopher Taylor. He is studying mechatronics in his bachelor's degree and is currently in his fifth semester. "I received support myself at the beginning of my studies as part of a mentoring program, so I know how helpful that can be," says Taylor. That's why he spontaneously decided to join the buddy program.

All students who began their studies in the Department of Mechanical Engineering this winter semester were divided into "buddy groups" consisting of a maximum of nine first-year students and one "buddy." Since the introductory events in the buddy program took place in time for the new "lockdown ligth", there was even the opportunity to get to know the university campus and the other students live at the beginning, while maintaining the hygiene guidelines.

In addition to the professional questions, Taylor especially likes the opportunity for students to interact in a casual setting. "The fact that we are all students and meet each other at eye level, so to speak, means that the first-year students are not very shy about asking their questions," Taylor describes. Tarek Tubail, who is currently preparing his master's degree in mechanical engineering and is also a "buddy," also hopes that his commitment will contribute to a successful start to his studies: "I have the impression that many of the new freshmen are really suffering from the difficult study conditions - so it's all the nicer to see that our department is really doing everything possible to give them a good start!