By using their programmes, the universities of applied science have the opportunity to showcase themselves in various ways.
- Regarding form:
- part-time/full-time
- didactic approach
- Regarding content:
- specialist versus generic approach in terms of knowledge
- through selection of areas of expertise of their knowledge centres and partners from the professional field
- Regarding level:
- higher end level that is above the national minimum for specific competences
- an additional competence
- with excellence or honours programmes
- with advanced programmes, in the form of professional master programmes
- Regarding professional orientation (e.g. research analyst or process engineer)
With this profiling system, the universities of applied science can make themselves stand out towards potential students and respond specifically to the demand from the regional professional field. However, the end qualification must meet the national training profile in all cases.
Striving for both flexibility and recognisability
The programmes find themselves facing a challenge to offer students flexibility and simultaneously responding to the requirements and the demand for recognisability from the professional field. On the one hand, we see that the knowledge and skills among students who have taken the exact same programme may vary strongly, due to their specialisation or profile. On the other, students may have attained the same knowledge and skills as their counterparts from other Applied Science programmes because they are also able to take subjects from other programmes.
The fact that the same competences continuously form the basis within the domain has paved the way for flexible learning trajectories. Following that, every university of applied science determines its own specific end level, the specialisations it is going to offer and student profiling, all based on the national training profile. This guarantees the level, enables the programme to remain recognisable, and enables universities of applied science to respond to the requirements from the professional field.