Between student engagement and academic recognition – A module for committee work in higher education institutions

In German higher education, students can participate in various governance and decicion-making processes via committee work. To increase the readiness to actively participate in committee work, some universities have established modules in which students can earn credit points for committee work. This paper explores the design of one such module. It describes the approach, outlines the module’s possibilities, and identifies the challenges, which primarily lie in the regulatory framework of the university and concepts of competency development.