Schools@University formats and the accompanying teacher trainings are booked out regularly. Each year, about 2600 students visit campus and ca. 140 teachers attend the teacher trainings. In 2008, Schools@University offered 40 workshops per week, a number which has now risen to 80. Since 2009, a total of 20,000 students in 14 program cycles participated in 750 individual events. 860 teachers and disseminators attended the teacher trainings. All program cycles are evaluated and each single event receives feedback from two to three students and their teachers.

We forward the feedback to participating experts in order to customize and improve future workshops. Content, methods and administrative procedures are improved continually. About 80 % of the feedback forms, an impressively high number, are returned and provide a good overview. Feedback is positive throughout. Good to very good grades are given, judging the topic selection,methods, experts, atmosphere on campus and overall organization.

According to the feedback forms of 2014 and 2015, teachers especially valued the diversity of key issues and the different perspectives cast upon them by experts from various backgrounds. They also praised the participatory methods. On average, 65 % of teachers assessed the quality of content and methods as well as the overall intention of the education format with very good grades, and 30 % of them gave good grades. A female teacher who repeatedly attended Schools@University workshops with her 5th-graders summed up her experience: “Once again, I am thrilled and inspired by the offer. We cannot teach this wealth of ideas with so many different methods and material at school. I now feel confident to apply the Schools@University ideas to my science classes. The students have seen real life examples and can relate better to topics like renewable energies because they had so much fun in the workshops.”

The evaluation of the teacher trainings was very positive as well. Organization, implementation, structure, content, supervision, and atmosphere were praised. 40 % of teachers rated the taught methods and content modules as “very good” and 50 % as “good”.

These results show that the format meets the needs and interests of teachers as well as students. Teachers emphasize that they are more motivated to integrated Schools@University’s topics into their lessons. The network of experts, regional education stakeholders and other teachers is considered to be very valuable to exchange ideas and experiences.