How Dual Study Programmes Shape Personalities

The Arlt Symposium 2025 at the St. Pölten University of Applied Sciences was dedicated to personal development at different places of learning: in higher education institutions and in practice. The focus was on dual study formats and the interplay of theory and professional activity.

The two-day symposium offered keynotes, panel discussions, workshops, and interactive sessions that explored approaches such as maturity, cultural education, and critical thinking as well as strength-oriented goal attainment and biography-oriented methods.

The topic of “dual study programmes” was addressed in various formats to discuss the chances and challenges of this educational form and sound out possibilities of personal growth in the shift between places of learning: university and practice.

Promoting Reflective and Strong Personalities

“In times of so many wars, natural disasters, and artificial intelligence, we need people with reflective, strong personalities more urgently than ever – people who use their commitment, responsibility, and values to stand up for a socially just, more peaceful and sustainable future in dialogue with others. Who help bring about change in society. And personal development within the framework of higher education is a central building block to this end, maybe even THE central building block”, says Judith Studer from Bern University of Applied Sciences.

“Not only do students build a professional identity with knowledge, attitude, and specialist competencies – they make themselves available as personalities and resonance space in interaction with Social Work users”, explains Martina Hinssen from Fliedner University of Applied Sciences Düsseldorf.

Promoting Professional Development while Studying

In their presentation, Christina Engel-Unterberger and Christine Schmid from the St. Pölten UAS spoke about how professional development can be promoted in dual study programmes. “Decisive elements are the curricula, the practical implementation, and the dialogue with students as well as students’ perspectives”, emphasises Schmid, Academic Director of the bachelor degree programme Social Pedagogy at the St. Pölten UAS.

“Our annual symposium brings Social Work practitioners and researchers together to discuss this topic. The event showcases the impressive development of this professional field and education”, adds Engel-Unterberger, Academic Director of the St. Pölten UAS’ bachelor degree programme Social Work.

Theory – Practice – Exchange: Many Workshops

On both conference days, numerous workshops and lecture sessions presented insights from practice and current research results and afforded opportunities for exchange. The international ‘higher education network for personal development’ (HOPE) and the St. Pölten UAS’ Ilse Arlt Institute for Social Inclusion Research organised the symposium together.

“Our annual conferences of HOPE offer an opportunity to address current topics in an in-depth, detailed, and critical manner. This involves best practice examples as well as creative method workshops and interesting poster sessions on research and teaching projects. A big thank you to the colleagues at the Department of Social Sciences in St. Pölten and to the Arlt Symposium that provided the framework for us to host this year’s conference”, says Hinssen.

Literature on the Topic

The ‘higher education network for personal development’ (HOPE) published two groundbreaking anthologies on the symposium’s topics. The two publications “Persönlichkeitsentwicklung in Hochschulausbildungen fördern – Aktuelles aus Forschung und Praxis (Band 1)“ and “Persönlichkeitsentwicklung in Hochschulausbildungen fördern – Reflexionsprozesse verstehen und begleiten (Band 2)” (both in German) offer insights into recent research results and practice-relevant approaches to the promotion of personal development in higher education.

Ilse Arlt Symposium

Conference webpage (in German)

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