RegelWerk research group
Related research
This selection brings together research on institutional rules, study trajectories and student success that connects with RegelWerk’s research questions. These works are related research and are not presented as direct project outputs.
2026
Crossing individual university boundaries: a comprehensive approach to predicting dropouts in the higher education system
Berens, J., Diem, A., Rumert, L., Schneider, K. and Wolter, S. (2026). Higher Education, 91(6), 2055–2076.
Leaving a university does not necessarily mean dropping out of higher education. Using Swiss administrative data, the study distinguishes transfers from system-wide dropout, providing a foundation for analysing student success.
Keeping an Eye on Students: Evidence from a Low-Cost Early Alert System
Berens, J., Henao, L., Rumert, L. and Schneider, K. (2026). Education Economics, forthcoming.
Warning emails to students at risk of dropping out show no statistically significant average effect. Differences in responses by prior study activity and degree programme offer insights for research on targeted student support.
Following freshman footprints: early student activity & academic performance
Gößl, T., Rumert, L. and Schneider, K. (2026). European Journal of Higher Education, forthcoming.
Moodle activity and examination registrations help predict study trajectories before the first examination results are available. The study shows how student activity can be captured early in the transition to university.
The role of student behavior for (the research of) academic success from an individual and institutional perspective
Bauer, V. A. (2026). Conference poster presented at the progress meeting of the BMFTR funding programme “Nachwuchsforschungsgruppen and Forschungsgruppen”, Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg.
How do teaching and examination conditions connect individual circumstances with student success? This doctoral research examines student behaviour as the link, focusing on examination participation and early study trajectories.
2025
Tuition fees and academic (in)activity
Berens, J., Schneider, K. and Henao, L. (2025). Labour Economics, 97, 102809.
The abolition of tuition fees was followed by changes in study activity and graduation timing. The study examines how financial incentives can shape study trajectories, informing research on institutional conditions.
2024
The Effect of Germany’s Federalism on Student Success: The “Index of Commitment” as Comparative Measure for Study and Examination Regulations
Hönnige, C., Bauer, V. A., Bernauer, J., Zittlau, S., Epping, V., Widdig, V., Jungbauer Gans, M., Oberschelp, A., Isleib, S. and Nguyen Xuan, A. (2024). LCSS Working Papers.
The “Index of Commitment” measures differences in advising and examination rules across Germany’s federal states. It provides a methodological foundation for studying binding institutional rules; the observed associations with student success alone do not establish causation.
Bedeutung des institutionellen Kontextes für Studienabbruch und Langzeitstudium (BiK) – Folgerungen des Projektverbundes
Oberschelp, A., Bauer, V. A., Nguyen Xuan, A., Bernauer, J., Jungbauer-Gans, M. and Hönnige, C. (2024). Poster, draft version.
The BiK consortium examines study and examination rules from state legislation to individual modules. Its findings provide groundwork for comparing institutional study conditions across different levels of regulation.
Studying Student Behaviour: Towards an Integrated Conceptual Framework
Bauer, V. A. (2024). In J. Huisman and M. Tight (Eds.), Theory and Method in Higher Education Research, Volume 10. Emerald Publishing Limited.
The chapter connects individual circumstances, institutional conditions and study outcomes in a framework for student behaviour. It offers a theoretical foundation for examining how rules may shape study trajectories.
Determining Perceived Text Complexity: An Evaluation of German Sentences Through Student Assessments
Thome, B., Hertweck, F. and Conrad, S. (2024). Proceedings of the 17th International Conference on Educational Data Mining, pp. 714–721.
How easy a text is to understand also depends on its readers. The study combines linguistic and personal characteristics to predict perceived text complexity, offering a methodological starting point for examining the clarity of study information.