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TU Braunschweig boosts English courses after student demand survey

Students spoke, and the university listened. With €3.3M in funding, TU Braunschweig is transforming its international teaching—here's how.

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TU Braunschweig boosts English courses after student demand survey

The TU Braunschweig is expanding its international teaching offerings and expanding its English-language course offerings. To date, there has been little knowledge about how students feel about this, so a survey was conducted within the project '**ProDiGI - Promoting Digital Education through Global Interconnection**' to gather the student perspective on international teaching.

The 'ProDiGI' project supports the expansion of international and English-language degree programs and modules at the TU Braunschweig using digital elements. It is funded by the Foundation for Innovation in Higher Education with around 3.3 million euros until the end of the year. A central element is the accompanying evaluation, in which a survey on international teaching was conducted among students of the TU Braunschweig from November 2024 to January 2025.

Survey Goal

The survey used closed and open questions to capture acceptance, attitudes, and understanding of international teaching, while also collecting wishes and concerns. The goal was to find out how students feel about international teaching and internationalization, and what opportunities and risks they associate with it. The survey thus provides important insights to better align international teaching at the TU with student expectations, make it more attractive, and expand it. A total of 1,635 students participated in the survey - 16.7 percent of whom were international students - slightly more than ten percent of the student body.

English-language teaching offerings too low

Regarding what students understand by international teaching, it shows that they mainly associate it with 'teaching in English'. International students consider it more important for their future professional success than non-international students. Both groups rate the current English-language teaching offerings in their degree programs as too low - an impression shared in all faculties, with the exception of Faculty 4, whose students consider the scope 'just right'.

Regarding the learning effort in English-language courses, the results show that non-international students perceive the learning effort as higher, while international students perceive it as lower compared to German-language courses.

Regarding the number of English-language courses attended so far, international (2.25 courses) and non-international students (1.23 courses) differ significantly from each other.

Students who have not yet attended any English-language courses could give their reasons in an open-ended field. For both student groups, the most common reason for not participating was that there were no English-language offerings they could attend: 'The topics that interest me are treated in German'.

Motivation for participation: Better framework conditions

Central motivations for international students to participate are preparing for the international job market and interacting with fellow students, while non-international students cite good English skills, acquiring specialist vocabulary, or the lack of German-language alternatives. In open-ended responses, both groups mention that the event was mandatory or offered better framework conditions than German courses. For international students, another reason is the low threshold of English-language teaching: 'Just to understand the course better'. Regarding whether students would participate in English-language courses again, the survey results show that students would decide to participate again based on their previous experiences.

Between effort and yield

However, the survey also shows that some students would not participate in English-language courses again. International students cited reduced teaching quality and a lack of offerings as main reasons, while non-international students cited a lower learning success rate and increased time and workload.

Wish: Activating teaching methods

Regarding the requested support measures, students expressed a preference for activating teaching methods and exchange with fellow students; they also desired targeted assistance with oral and written language production, bilingual teaching materials, and accompanying grammar and vocabulary lists.

Conclusion

The survey results suggest that many students view English-language or international teaching as an opportunity for international careers. If they have already had positive experiences, they are willing to take more courses. An expansion of the offerings, accompanied by support formats, is welcomed.

In addition to the student survey, an online survey of the teaching staff of TU Braunschweig on international teaching was conducted from May to July 2025. The results of this will be available at the end of the year.

*Text: Marie Vahldiek, Prof. Dr. Stefanie Hartz, Caroline Kurtz*

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