A Quick Start With Staying Power

In the beginning, everything went much faster than expected: "In January 2004, I didn't realise that the Psychological Counselling Centre for Giftedness and the early study programme would start work the following December." Wolfgang Schneider introduced his speech at the 20th anniversary celebrations with this statement. Schneider held the Chair of Psychology IV at the University of Würzburg until 2016; he was the initiator and, from 2005 to 2019, Director of the counselling centre.

It was a series of favourable circumstances and coincidences that were partly responsible for both services being able to start work so quickly: Shortly after Wolfgang Schneider had become a member of the Karg Foundation's advisory staff, he had received the suggestion there to establish a Psychological Counselling Centre for Giftedness at the University of Würzburg - the foundation would provide the start-up funding. As a newly appointed Vice President, Schneider was quickly able to convince the other members of the University Board of this idea. And when rooms became available in the immediate vicinity of his chair, nothing stood in the way of the foundation ceremony.

Regional Contact Point for Gifted Students

According to Schneider, the aim was to establish a regional contact point for the topic of "giftedness". One of its main tasks is to provide gifted counselling for families with concerns relating to the (possible) giftedness of their children. However, adults who are concerned about potential giftedness can also contact the centre.

Other central tasks include orientation counselling for high school graduates, prospective students and students on choosing the right subject and possible careers, psychological research on the topic of giftedness, the organisation of lectures and group offers on topics relating to the diagnosis and promotion of giftedness - and the implementation of the selection procedure for early studies.

An Average of 45 Early-stage Students Per Semester

The establishment of the early studies programme at JMU proceeded at a similar pace to that of the Psychological Counselling Centre for Giftedness - the preparatory work for this was carried out by Dr Richard Greiner at the Institute of Mathematics. With the idea "We could be the first in Bavaria", Schneider once again obtained the approval of the University Board and then the approval of both the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Science. Even the necessary amendment to the Higher Education Framework Act - previously, pupils were not permitted to study at a university and earn credits - was completed in the short space of time. "This meant that the early study programme was able to start in the 2004/05 winter semester - with a total of four students," says Schneider.

Since then, the programme has met with lively demand: 896 early studies students have taken part so far - an average of 45 per semester. The early study programme is aimed at motivated and high-achieving pupils (generally) from Year 10 at grammar schools; they are exempted from school lessons to attend selected courses. They have to make up the missed lessons on their own.

In principle, early studies are possible in every undergraduate degree programme offered at JMU, provided that appropriate supervision is available. This is currently the case in 22 subjects, from English/American Studies, Law, Mathematics and Physics to Economics and Business Informatics.

The Change at the Top Brings New Tasks

In 2016, Tobias Richter took over the Chair of Psychology IV from Wolfgang Schneider, who also handed over the position of Director of the Psychological Counselling Centre for Giftedness to him in 2019. "This added another important area of responsibility: the commitment to the further development of the courses on offer, particularly in the Master's degree programme in Psychology, as well as practice-oriented courses in the teacher training programmes," as Richter explained in his lecture. According to Richter, one criterion of these courses is the close integration with practice through collaboration in the counselling centre. Accordingly, many graduates would also work in this area.

While the start of the two programmes in 2004 was characterised by fortunate circumstances, Richter was quickly confronted with several challenges. The coronavirus pandemic was the first. "During this time, we had to cope with a small slump in the number of early students at the beginning," says Richter. However, this was quickly compensated for as the university organised a digital course offering in a very short space of time. This was an attractive alternative, especially for early students with their sometimes long journeys, which is why the numbers were able to "stabilise at a high level again within a short period of time", says Richter.

The number of counselling sessions for gifted and talented students has reached record levels in each of the last two years, which demonstrates the continued high demand for the service. The situation for guidance counselling is more difficult. Since the discontinuation of funding as part of the BMBF's Teaching Quality Pact at the end of 2020, Richter and his team have been trying to "maintain the service on a low flame". Voluntary donations are a central pillar of this; otherwise the motto is: "We hope for better times".

Talk Round With Early Students From the Past and Present

What would a review of 20 years of history be without the voices of users of the programme? At least incomplete. For this reason, Richard Greiner invited former and current early years students to a panel discussion - with a live link to the USA. One of the first early students works there: Thimo Heisenberg. After enrolling in philosophy in 2005, he is now Professor of Philosophy at Rice University in Houston, Texas. Heisenberg says that his early studies were a "surprising turning point" in his life. He had actually only wanted to take a quick look at philosophy in order to later study medicine "seriously", "but then I was so enthusiastic about philosophy that I stuck with it."

Corinna Wiedenmann described her time as an early student as "very formative and a total stroke of luck". Because it involved a relatively large amount of time and organisation compared to attending school, she learned a lot about self-management in addition to the subject matter - a skill that still benefits her today in her work as Director of Business Development at an international law firm.

Time management is also required of Reem Ghazwan-Motaaz. The current early student attends school in Ansbach. The commute from there to the Hubland Campus was a challenge for her - "but I've got the hang of organising it now," she says. Not least this experience has boosted her self-confidence; just as her early studies helped her to better identify her strengths.

Jonas Heintze had a similar experience. Following his early studies in mathematics, he is now a Master's student at the University of Bonn. However, he didn't have to research bus and train connections: as an early student at the height of the coronavirus pandemic, he attended all of his courses online, he explains. Nevertheless, he found his fellow students to be extremely courteous. "If I didn't have the lecture material from school, there was always someone there to help me," he says.

And what advice would these four give to anyone else who is interested in an early degree programme? They all agree: "Pursue your passions, do what interests you - and don't despair if it gets difficult!"

Lecture on the Topic of "Giftedness and Support for Gifted Students"

"Cooperation partners, current and former employees, specialist mentors, early career students, academics from JMU and other universities, teaching staff, school administrators, representatives from the government of Lower Franconia, the Karg Foundation and the university administration": Tobias Richter welcomed them and many other guests to the Röntgenring for the ceremony.

There they also listened to a keynote speech by Franzis Preckel, Professor of Research and Support for Gifted Students at Trier University. Preckel spoke on the topic of "Giftedness and gifted promotion from a talent development perspective". This was not only related to the anniversary event in terms of content. Preckel had already been a guest at JMU in March 2005 at the invitation of Wolfgang Schneider. At that time, she reported on her experiences as Head of the Gifted Psychology Counselling Centre at LMU Munich. She warmly congratulated her colleagues in Würzburg on their anniversary: "I am very impressed by what has grown here since then."

Congratulations From the University Board

Congratulations also came from the JMU University Board, represented by Vice President Anja Schlömerkemper. She thanked Wolfgang Schneider, Tobias Richter, Richard Greiner and all employees for their work to date and wished them all the best for the future.

The Hilaris Quintet, a woodwind ensemble made up of students from the Würzburg University of Music, provided a confident and energetic musical backdrop to the ceremony.