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My GUIDE for Higher Education Institutions
My GUIDE: The interactive DAAD portal for prospective international students
Prospective international students can gather information in many ways, and they have a great need for information: They are planning their future and searching for an appropriate course of study. On My GUIDE, the DAAD’s interactive platform, prospective international students can find courses of study at German higher education institutions that individually suit them. Every month, about 20,000 people use this platform in order to identify and compare possible courses of study and then to select an appropriate programme. They can also check scholarships that fit the degree programmes.
Best fit: Which study programme fits with my profile?
My GUIDE brings together the most comprehensive database for study programmes at German higher education institutions, the „Hochschulkompass“ of the „Hochschulrektorenkonferenz“ (German Rectors’ Conference, HRK), with the admissions database of the DAAD. In the admissions database, prospective students from more than 130 countries worldwide can check to see if their school leaving certificates make them eligible to obtain a first academic degree in Germany and which limitations they will need to take into account. This allows users of My GUIDE to filter the courses for which they have an individual university entrance qualification by entering their previous educational background. This makes it easier for prospective students to conduct this research, and they can contact the higher education institutions of their choice in a more informed manner.
Support for your communication and marketing measures
Higher education institutions can present their courses of study free of charge on My GUIDE, and it also does not involve any extra work on their part. Through a partnership of the DAAD and HRK, courses of study that have already been released in the Hochschulkompass are published. As before, they will be entered into the Hochschulkompass by employees of the higher education institution and will be published there at no cost. In the event that an update is needed, information must only be updated one time, as updates are automatically adopted in My GUIDE. In this way, My GUIDE always relies on dependable and current data firsthand.
At the same time, My GUIDE helps higher education institutions to reduce the effort involved in advising prospective students, as the students can check beforehand to see if their school-leaving certificates are adequate for application.
Additionally, My GUIDE helps to facilitate the dialogue between prospective international students and the advisors at higher education institutions. With the help of a well-structured contact form, specific questions are sent directly to the relevant departments. Especially for this, e-mail addresses of the international office as well as the programme-specific contact information will be taken from the Hochschulkompass. These addresses can be updated in the Hochschulkompass at any time. The contact concept of My GUIDE has been developed in collaboration with many representatives of the higher education institutions that are part of the DAAD system. Even though the first direct contact between applicants and the higher education institution will be facilitated, thereby making it easier and more structured, direct contact will not be replaced. The contact form in My GUIDE is already often used to initiate contact with the desired higher education institution.
And in the future?
The DAAD is continuously working on this platform to be able to offer international students even more help and to support the guidance and counselling services of higher education institutions.
Currently, there are plans to allow higher education institutions to offer pre-written text modules through the contact form. This means that common enquiries from potential students can be promptly and automatically addressed without requiring individual handling by advisors at the institutions. With this, the DAAD aims to support the advisory services at the higher education institutions and to help them find the time to process more complex enquiries.
In workshops with attendants from German higher education institutions and the DAAD, input was collected, so that My GUIDE can be of additional assistance to advisory and support offices. In the future, there will be periodic workshops to jointly formulate requirements so that My GUIDE’s further development is informed by the higher education institutions’ unique perspectives.
Contact
For feedback and questions, you can contact myguide@daad.de. The DAAD is very interested in continuing to optimise My GUIDE, and we are glad to receive tips from you on how we can continue to expand this service.