Preparing students for a career in the Public Service: the dual track training system in North Rhine-Westphalia Presentation at the Innovative Curricula Design Conference „Higher Education 2020“ Tartu, Estonia, April Prof. Dr. Andreas Gourmelon

 Professor at the University of Applied Sciences for Public Administration of North Rhine-Westphalia  Lecturer for Human Resources and Public Management  Worked as psychologist and controller in the Federal Employment Agency  Research in the area of HR-Marketing and personnel selection 

Contents of this presentation  The state of North Rhine-Westphalia, its staff and its internal university  How to become a civil servant in a municipality of North Rhine-Westphalia  Recruiting new students  Combining theory and practise in the education of civil servants

Germany and North Rhine-Westphalia Germany consists of … the Bund (federal republic), 16 Bundesländer (states), and local authorities North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) is a mainly industrial region in the west of germany; 17.6 million inhabitants.

These cities are in NRW … Cologne Dortmund Düsseldorf

Personnel in the public service of NRW (state and municipalities) Top level Graduates from master courses (e.g. studies of law) Higher level Graduates from specialised bachelor courses Medium level Jobholder passed vocational / in-firm trainings Low level Career levels in the state and the municipalities of NRW Amount of personnel: municipalites: fte state: fte

University of Applied Sciences for Public Administration of NRW (FHöV)  Responsible for the education of all higher-level and some top- level students of the state and the municipalities in NRW  Under the control of the ministry of the interior  200 full-time lecturers and 800 part-time lecturers  students in different degree courses for state / local authorities administration, police, statutory pensions administration  Degree courses on bachelor- and master-level  Seven study sites all over NRW

Becoming a civil servant in a municipality: the perspective of a bachelor-student Finishes highschool Sends an application to the mayor Studies three years, 18 months at FHöV 18 months at municipality. Is enrolled for the FHöV Gets a job in an agency of the municipality Is employed by the municipality FHöV

Recruiting of new students by the municipalities M. plans number of new students M. determines job requirements M. advertises its vacanciesM. selects best recruitsM. employs new students

Job requirements (e.g. Municipality of Bochum)  Highschool diploma  Enjoys to interact with people, extraversion  High achievement motivation  High readiness of mind, brainpower, intelligence  Team and service orientation  Good verbal skills  High sense of responsibility

Elements of selection processes  Online applications  Online tests (e.g. intelligence)  Structured interviews  Presentations, simulations, work samples  Selection commitees (including the equal opportunity commissioner, staff council)

Combining theory and practise – dovetailed study sections  Students have scientific and practical study sections  Scientific study sections are offered by FHöV, practical study sections by the municipalities  Scientific and practical study sections are dovetailed to each other  Students have to pass examinations during the scientific as well as in the practical study sections

Combining theory and practise – contents and lecturers  Contents of the study course are determined by a study course committee; representatives of lecturers, students and municipalities are members of this committee  Full-time lecturers must have academic qualifications and professional experiences from outside the universities, ideally they worked for the state or a municipality  Part-time lecturers usually have a full time job in a municipality  40 % of all lectures are held by part-time lecturers

Combining theory and practise – „Practical Project“  During the „Practical Project“ (duration: 10 weeks), students are confronted with a complex task.  The tasks are defined by the municipalities.  Students work in a team and try to solve the problems with methods from various scientific disciplines

Combining theory and practise – „Social Skill Training“  During „Social Skill Training“ students learn to interact with customers effectively and to work in a team  There a three weeks of „Social Skill Training“  Social Skill Training Groups consist of 12 to 14 students and two trainers  One trainer is a full-time lecturer of the FHöV, the other is a practitioner from a municipality

Output and Outcome  There are no plans to use other universities for the bachelor education or to change the service of FHöV significantly  My perception: FHöV plays an important role as innovator in the administrative system of NRW  Since 1976 over graduates  90 % of beginners passed all examinations  Municipalities and students are satisfied with the service of FHöV