BFH on the right track with continuing education

What factors influence the choice of continuing education courses at BFH? And how do graduates rate the effectiveness of continuing education courses for their work? These questions were investigated in an interdisciplinary study at BFH. Researchers from various departments at BFH interviewed 690 students and graduates about their experiences.

Four fifths are satisfied

The results of the study can be summarised as follows: Participants primarily want to use the continuing education course to expand their skills in professional practice and they appreciate the practical nature of the continuing education courses at BFH. The lecturers in particular received high marks for using practical examples and exchanging experiences to sustainably support the transfer of what has been learnt into everyday working life. Four-fifths of graduates are satisfied with the continuing education course and 90 percent recommend it to others.

The study revealed five main findings in detail:

• The choice of a further education course depends heavily on the individual motives of the participants. Interest and enjoyment in learning new things outweigh career-related motivations such as the desire for career advancement or a higher salary. The focus is on interest in the specialist area, the expansion of professional scope for action and networking and exchange with other continuing education participants.
• Graduates of continuing education courses primarily strive for professionalisation in their profession. Far-reaching transformations in the world of work also influence the choice of continuing education course. Participants particularly want to strengthen their skills in the following areas through continuing education: successful collaboration and leadership, coping with complexity in the working environment and successful interaction with different stakeholders, improvement of theoretical expertise and its professional application in everyday working life.
• Participants rate the transfer into practice as good to very good. They particularly value the insight into practice provided by the lecturers and the exchange of experiences with them and other participants. Graduates rated the opportunity to apply what they had learnt in everyday life as slightly worse. They cite a lack of time and a lack of support from superiors as the main reasons for this.
• Central study locations and the compatibility of teaching with work and family are important. These are key factors for choosing a continuing education course. In addition, graduates prefer face-to-face teaching, followed by hybrid forms that combine face-to-face and online sequences.
• Participants are satisfied with their continuing education course. 80 per cent of those surveyed felt that their expectations had been met. As many as 90 per cent of graduates would recommend the training course they attended to others.

Strengthening employability

For BFH, the results of the study show that its continuing education courses meet a need and that it is on the path it has mapped out with its own strategy. Jochen Schellinger, Vice-Rector Teaching, comments: “We feel that the quality and market relevance of our continuing education programmes have been confirmed and we will continue to develop them so that they meet the needs of graduates and the world of work in the future.”

Among other things, BFH wants to strengthen students interdisciplinary skills and particularly promote so-called future skills. These include the ability to deal with and solve complex problems in multi-layered contexts independently. In this way, BFH contributes to sustainably maintaining or expanding the employability of students and graduates of continuing education courses.