Voluntary peer-led exam preparation course for international first year students: Tutees’ perceptions

Background: While the number of international students has increased over the last decade, such students face diverse challenges due to language and cultural barriers. International medical students suffer from personal distress and a lack of support. Their performance is significantly lower than non-international peers in clinical examinations. We investigated whether international students benefit from a peer-led exam preparation course. Methods: An exam preparation course was designed, and relevant learning objectives were defined. Two evaluations were undertaken: Using a qualitative approach, tutees (N = 10) were asked for their thoughts and comments in a semi-structured interview at the end of the semester. From a quantitative perspective, all participants (N = 22) were asked to complete questionnaires at the end of each course session. Results: International students reported a range of significant benefits from the course as they prepared for upcoming exams. They benefited from technical and didactic, as well as social learning experiences. They also considered aspects of the tutorial’s framework helpful. Conclusion: Social and cognitive congruence seem to be the key factors to success within international medical students’ education. If tutors have a migration background, they can operate as authentic role models. Furthermore, because they are still students themselves, they can offer support using relevant and understandable language

International medical students’ expectations and worries at the beginning of their medical education: a qualitative focus group study

Background: The number of international students has increased substantially within the last decade. Due to cultural barriers, this specific group faces diverse challenges. In comparison to German colleagues, international medical students perform significantly lower in clinical examinations and exceed the average duration of study; they suffer from personal distress as well as insufficient support. Within the present study, their individual perspectives, expectations, hopes and fears were examined. Methods: Four focus groups with first-year international medical students (N = 16) were conducted in October 2013. Each 60- to 90-min discussion was audiotaped, transcribed and analysed using qualitative methods. Results: International medical students go abroad in search of good study-conditions. For the choice of place of study, affordability, social ties as well as an educational system following the achievement principle are decisive factors. While contact with German-students and other international students is seen as beneficial, international medical students are most concerned to encounter problems and social exclusion due to language deficits and intercultural differences. Conclusions: Facilitating the access to university places, the provision of financial aid and, moreover, social support, nurturing cultural integration, would greatly benefit international medical students. Hereby, the establishment of specific medical language courses as well as programs fostering intercultural-relations could prove to be valuable

BlueGreenStreets – Adapting Urban Streets for Climate Change

Strategies for the adaptation of cities to the consequences of climate change such as dry periods, heat waves and urban flooding are needed. As urban streets account for about 25% of the area in inner-city neighbourhoods, they also have to be included. In the project BlueGreenStreets concepts are being developed to increase the resilience of cities by means of blue-green infrastructure in urban streets. The basic philosophy is to develop streets as 'multi-talents', taking into account not only the traffic function but also the requirements of urban drainage and green infrastructure. Concepts for the multidimensional redesign and retrifiting of existing streets in urban neighbourhoods are being developed, and tested in pilot projects. Two innovative solutions “the street as a drain” and “stormwater tree pits” are presented in detail

Spatial variation of the physical conditions of molecular gas in galaxies

Multi-line studies of CO-12, CO-13, C-18O, HCN, and HCO(+) at 3 mm, 1.3 mm, and 0.8 mm using the Institute for Radio Astronomy in the Millimeter range (IRAM) 30 m telescope, with the IRAM superconductor insulator superconductor (SIS) receivers and the Max Planck Institute for External Physics (MPE) 350 GHz SIS receiver, show that the densities and temperatures of molecular gas in external galaxies change significantly with position. CO-12 measures the densities and temperature of diffuse interclump molecular gas, but not the bulk of the molecular gas. Simple one-component models, with or without external heating, cannot account for the weakness of the CO-12 J = 3 to 2 line relative to J = 2 to 1 and J = 1 to 0. CO-12 does not trace the bulk of the molecular gas, and optical depth effects obviate a straightforward interpretation of CO-12 data. Instead, researchers turned to the optically thin CO isotopes and other molecular species. Isotopic CO lines measure the bulk of the molecular gas, and HCN and HCO(+) pick out denser regions. Researchers find a warm ridge of gas in IC 342 (Eckart et al. 1989), denser gas in the starburst nucleus of IC 342, and a possible hot-spot in NGC 2903. In IC 342, NGC 2146, and NGC 6764, the CO-13 J = 2 to 1 line is subthermally populated, implying gas densities less than or equal to 10(exp 4) cm(-3)

National unterschiedliche Produktionsbedingungen als Schranke einer gewerkschaftlichen Internationalisierung: Zur Kritik des syndikalistischen Internationalismus

Die gewerkschaftliche Diskussion über multinationale Konzerne, die Anfang der Süer Jahre in den USA entstanden ist, und seit Mitte der 60er Jahre auch von den westeuropäischen Gewerkschaften aufgegriffen wird, hat - zumindest vorübergehend - zu einer euphorischen Beurteilung der Möglichkeiten einer gewerkschaftlichen Internationalisierung geführt. Einer solchen Euphorie liegt die Annahme zugrunde, daß durch den Prozeß der ,Internationalisierung des Kapitals' in Gestallt der multinationalen Konzerne erstmals in der Geschichte des Kapitalismus objektive Bedingungen für eine Überwindung der nationalen Fraktionierung der Gewerkschaftsbewegung gegeben seien. ,,Die objektiven Voraussetzungen sind gegeben: sie sind viel weiter ausgereift als die subjektiven Bedingungen .... Die Schwierigkeiten sind hauptsächlich bei den Gewerkschaften zu suchen ... " (1 ). Eine derartige Reduktion der Frage nach den Möglichkeiten und Grenzen einer internationalen Gewerkschaftspolitik auf ein bloßes „Nachlaufspiel" (2) der Gewerkschaften, in dem es für diese nur noch darum gehe, politisch-rechtlich nachzuholen, was durch die ökonomische Entwicklung bereits vollzogen sei, ist unserer Auffassung nach in mehrerer Hinsicht problematisch

Bauprozesse aus Weiterbildungsperspektive: Flexibilität, Helligkeit und Transparenz

Der Wissensturm in Linz, der südpunkt in Nürnberg sowie das zib: Zentrum für Information und Bildung in Unna gelten seit Jahren als international sichtbare "Leuchttürme" des Bildungsbaus. Die Projekte stehenfür eine besonders gelungene Verbindung aus pädagogischem Konzept und räumlicher Gestaltung. Richard Stang befragte Wolfgang Eckart und Anne-Kathrin Lindner zum südpunkt Nürnberg, Hubert Hummer zum Wissensturm Linz und Rita Weißenberg zum zib Unna. Die wichtigsten Ergebnisse werden im Folgenden synoptisch zusammengefasst und inhaltlich sortiert, um zukünftige Bildungsbauvorhaben bei ihren Planungsprozessen zu unterstützen