Stereotype Threat and Faultlines Based on Cultural Diversity in Engineering Education in Germany

This study is concerned with the evaluation of cultural awareness and its impact on student life at two German technical universities. Since the government is advertising internationally for students to come study in Germany, we were interested to find out, whether diversity is already fully accepted or needs more attention. In the interviews conducted it turned out that the general self-assessment of cultural diversity is rather low, especially among German students. Furthermore, we discovered that there seem to be differences between universities in small-scale and large-scale towns regarding stereotype threat and faultlines. Interaction and confrontation are crucial measures to reduce stereotype threat and faultlines among student groups. Faculty staff and institutional stakeholders must pay more attention to enhancing and empowering an awareness for cultural diversity as a key skill for future business life.