ADVICE-Project

Advice: Individually recommended? – How AI-based Advisory Systems affect Student Diversity

On March 1, 2020, the research project “ADVICE”, sponsored by the Volkswagen Foundation, will start at the Schöller Endowed Chair of Information Systems. In interdisciplinary cooperation with the Department of Vocational Education and Training and Human Resource Development and the institute of Labor Markets and Socioeconomics, the influence of how artificial intelligence affect student diversity will be examined.

Universities are faced with the challenging task of providing individual advice to students in the face of limited resources, an increasingly diverse society, non-traditional students (e.g. employed persons, uncommon university entrance qualification, single parent) and increasingly complex or changing job profiles on the labour market.

The use of AI-based counselling systems using machine learning algorithms can help to scour and analyze large data sets and make individual recommendations and early predictions based on this.

The quality and availability of the data itself are of crucial relevance for the effective and efficient use of AI-based advisory systems. A major challenge is posed by missing, inconsistent or insufficient data sets, often due to the lack of integration, heterogeneity or missing functionalities of the different information systems in many universities. Thus, within the first project phase the quality and availability of the data will be investigated at the Schöller Endowed Chair of Business Informatics.

Ultimately, the research project will contribute to the design of an AI-based advisory system to provide students with valuable data-driven information and individual recommendations for their professional and academic career decisions/paths, while at the same time promoting student diversity at German universities and technical colleges.Further information can be found on the homepage of the Volkswagen Foundation.

Project team and contact persons:

Department of Vocational Education and Training and Human Resource Development:

Labor Markets and Socioeconomics:

Schöller Endowed Chair for Information Systems