Annual report 2022

Psychological-psychotherapeutic advice

The psychologists provide support with a comprehensive range of advice studierendenWERKs the personal development of students and their academic success. The consultation takes place at two locations in the Hardenbergstraße and at Franz-Mehring-Platz. A total of 2022 students were advised in 1.980 (2021: 1.731). The proportion of consultations in English has increased slightly to 13 percent (2031: 11 percent).

Social advice for financial, social or socio-legal problems

The social advisors of the studierendenWERK BERLIN continued to offer information and support to students in difficult social situations in 2022. The focus was on advice on financing studies as well as advice for pregnant women, students with children and international students.

The number of consultations only increased slightly after the pandemic: a total of 5.457 consultations including writing advice were carried out (2020: 5.280).

46 percent of those advised either identified themselves as diverse or did not want to provide information about their gender. 39 percent of those advised identified themselves as female students, 14 percent as male students. The proportion of people seeking advice of non-German origin was 42 percent (2021: 33 percent).

Advice for students with disabilities and/or chronic illnesses

In 2022, consultations on the subject of studying and disability or chronic illness were offered at three locations, and the same was also awarded studierendenWERK Inclusion services (formerly: integration assistance) according to Section 9 Paragraph 2 BerlHG.

The aim is to enable students to study at university with equal opportunities despite their impairments and to counteract discrimination. In 2022, the advice centers carried out 3.384 consultations, roughly the same number as in the previous year (2021: 3.335). 82 percent of the consultations took place in writing (2021: 84 percent).

Other topics included student financing, information on compensating for disadvantages and barrier-free living. In 2022, 1,32 million euros were paid out for inclusion services (2021: 1,56 million euros). 176 students (2021: 180) received inclusion services, of which 101 were female, 73 were male and two were diverse.

Childcare close to the university

The studierendenWERK operates seven daycare centers. In 2022, 668 state-financed places were available. On average, 87,3 percent of the places were occupied. The origin of the children in care reflects the high proportion of foreign students at Berlin universities. The proportion of children whose native language is not German increased slightly to 23,4 percent in 2022 (2021: 21,7 percent).

Tutoring programs

20 dorm tutors have this studierendenWERK BERLIN 2022 supported as student assistants.

Social support in emergencies

As part of the award from the “Grant for starting or completing your studies” fund, 166 students were supported, 87 of whom were international students.

Multilingual offers  

The special attractiveness of Berlin's higher education landscape for international students remains unbroken. More than one in five students at Berlin universities still have an international background. The proportion of foreign students among Berlin students was 2021 percent in 23,6 (2021: 22,4 percent).

The studierendenWERK has had numerous publications of his offerings translated into English and also operates his website bilingually. In addition, many events, such as workshops and training courses as well as introductory events in the area of ​​culture and international affairs, are offered in English.

House notices in the dormitories are usually bilingual. When hiring employees in the customer center, attention is paid to multilingualism: all employees speak at least English, and some also speak other languages.

The content of social media channels is also increasingly being published in English.

catering offers 

The studierendenWERK BERLIN operates 52 canteens and coffee bars in Berlin. The sales of dining establishments increased compared to the previous year, to 10,2 million euros in 2022 compared to 4,2 million euros in the pandemic year 2021. This corresponds to around half of the sales from 2019 (20,2 million euros), the year before the outbreak of the pandemic. We are observing a continuous increase in the number of guests, which will continue in the coming year.

The dining establishments currently have 12.725 table seats, 2.290 of which are outdoor seating. A third food truck was added to the offering in 2022. The fleet supplies students in the dormitories and also operates on weekends.

Residence inventory 

The studierendenWERK At the end of 2022, BERLIN had 9.197 residential spaces in its inventory and thus remained largely stable compared to the previous year (9.188 residential spaces). The supply rate continues to decline slightly. It fell below the 2014 percent mark for the first time in 6 and remained below it in 2022 (5,2 percent). Students at universities in southwest Berlin, especially at the Free University of Berlin, continued to be severely underserved at 2,4 percent.

The renovation program to maintain the existing dormitories was continued in 2022. 11,6 major construction projects were carried out with a volume of around 15 million euros.

The InfoCenter Wohnen, which went into operation in 2018, was even more frequented in 2022 and carried out a total of 53.665 consultations, of which 36.636 were written, 11.661 telephone and 5.372 personal consultations (2021: a total of 36.012 consultations).

Communication of the offer 

The site of studierendenWERKs counted around 2021 million visits in 5,1 in 2022 (2021: 4,2 million). The increase is mainly due to the increased number of clicks on the menus in the canteens. The return of universities to face-to-face operations is particularly visible in the customer center: a total of 10.600 students contacted the InfoPoint (2021: 5.000). The telephone volume amounted to around 14.600 calls (2021: 14.000), 9.451 email inquiries were processed by the customer center (2021: around 16.000).

This was achieved with his Instagram appearance studierendenWERK BERLIN 347.000 people and the Twitter channel around 142.000. A total of eight live streams were offered on the YouTube and Instagram channels during the start of the semester to inform first-semester students about the offers studierendenWERKs and answer their questions live via social media. The videos had around 30.000 viewers studierendenWERKs clicked on YouTube.

Despite Facebook's generally acknowledged loss of importance, the channel achieved... studierendenWERKs in 2022 growth in reach: around 309.000 users studierendenWERK achieved here in the reporting period (2021: 248.000 users).  

Development of external and internal quality management

To improve process quality, the essential processes of the studierendenWERKs recorded and documented with IT support.

Students complained in writing, verbally, by telephone and email, as well as online and increasingly via social media studierendenWERK. Depending on the service offered, students make very different use of their right to complain. All complaints were recorded, answered promptly and evaluated. The number of objections against BAföGAt 814, the decision is once again below the previous year (2021: 923).

Promoting student participation and self-organization

In 2022, 21 student self-governments advocated for the interests of students and enriched life in the dormitories. Financial support for ongoing work continued, and the majority of local authorities received relevant grants. The dormitory tutors also helped shape cultural life.

The orientation of all offers is strictly based on the wishes of the students. A large number of the offers and their communication are implemented with the participation of students, for example in the cultural area, in corporate communication and in the writing center.

In 2022, students were again employed as student assistants studierendenWERK deployed and prepared for the respective activities. It has 84 students studierendenWERK BERLIN employed as of December 31.12.2022, 2021 (78: XNUMX).

Promoting the health and motivation of employees

The number of sick days increased in 2022 compared to the previous year, from 7,2 percent to 12 percent. The focus of company health management continued to be the implementation of various health promotion measures. In 2022, the collectively agreed performance-related remuneration was also paid out on the basis of a service agreement.

The continuing education and training rate also increased in 2022 and fell to 54,5 percent (2021: 44,8 percent).