Using Self-Assessments for Predicting the Success of Study

Selecting the right field of study is one of the most important prerequisite for a successful study and career advancement. In order to choose the appropriate field of study, a good match between interests and abilities on the one hand and study requests on the other, are of considerable relevance for future students. This can contribute to decreasing dropout rates and increasing student´s satisfaction. The prospective student´s expectations often vary considerably from actual contents and demands. One of the reasons is many people´s reluctance to inform themselves about the actual relevance of personal strengths and weaknesses concerning their success in their studies and career. Self-assessments can be used as an instrument to give the potential student a realistic idea about the nature of the subject in question and can indicate him what cognitive and non-cognitive abilities are expected. In this paper we present a generic and extensible concept for developing a multidisciplinary self-assessment, which can be implemented for any subject, in any language by any academic institution.