The talent scouting program of Münster University of Applied Sciences has concluded the first three cooperation agreements with schools in the Münsterland region, thus sealing the long-term cooperation with the schools. Our school is also involved! Münster University of Applied Sciences reports on this:
Supporting and accompanying talented pupils - working with them to find out which of their talents and strengths they would like to use in their professional future and accompanying them in an open-ended way in order to enable the pupils to make the most appropriate educational decisions possible: This is the idea behind talent scouting. Since last year, our university and the University of Münster have been part of the North Rhine-Westphalian talent scouting universities - a program of the NRW Ministry of Culture and Science. The talent scouts at our university have now signed the first three cooperation agreements with schools in the Münsterland region, including the Werner-von-Siemens-Gymnasium in Gronau.
"The cooperation agreements seal our long-term collaboration with the schools and ongoing support for the talented students," explains Lena Horsch, talent scout at our university together with Annika Ludewig. And it means that talent scouting is already well implemented at these schools. "So the program has been made known in teacher conferences and among the students and we have had initial discussions with talented students, some of whom we have been following for some time," says Horsch. The collaboration with Werner-von-Siemens-Gymnasium is going very well. "We are very happy about the support that the talent scouting program offers our students in terms of greater equality of opportunity and look forward to a good and long-term cooperation," agree Christiane Klockgeter and Jan-Bernd Brewing, coordinating teachers for talent scouting at Werner-von-Siemens-Gymnasium.
"The aim of our work is to enable more equitable access to education, break down barriers and break down predetermined educational paths," says Ludewig. In scouting, talent means performance in the context of life. This means, for example, commitment, motivation, voluntary work and taking on special responsibilities in the family, but also challenges such as a migration background or hurdles for first-time graduates. "We provide open-ended support for talented individuals and stand by them in the long term, even over several years. We point out opportunities that the talents might not have considered, refer them to additional offers and establish contacts," explain the scouts. This also means providing advice and encouragement on everything that can come after the Abitur or A-levels - such as training, studying or au pairing, work and travel and volunteering.
The cooperation with the schools is gradually being expanded. At the start of the scouting program in Münsterland, the Münster district government conducted a survey of schools to gauge interest - with a great response. "We are cooperating with the University of Münster on the talent scouting program. The district government initially selected 28 schools for us, 14 of which we are taking on at Münster University of Applied Sciences," explains Ludewig.
January 29, 2025 by Andreas Schapmann
