The coaching programme

We offer intensive and personal support to our students in the form of a voluntary coaching programme during the Assessment Year.

Our goals
The objective of our coaching programme is to improve our students' most crucial interdisciplinary skills. Right when you begin your studies we provide you with an experienced coach. We offer you support and opportunities for personal development, complemented by a diverse seminar and workshop programme.

We place particular emphasis on the following four skills: 

• social competence 
• leadership 
• personal responsibility 
• self-reflection

During the conventional portion of studies, in particular the large lectures of the Assessment Year, the extent to which these skills can be developed is limited. Our programme thus complements the Core and Contextual Studies components, thus contributing to a holistic experience during your first of studies in the Assessment Year.

Our programme 

• accompanies you during the Assessment Year,
• is an optional supplementary programme unique to European universities,
• is compromised of individual coaching and selected seminars, 
• is purely formative, meaning it does not influence grades or passing the Assessment Year, 
• requires extra commitment above the level required to complete the other aspects of the course programme and 
• is supervised by faculty members and persons active in the field.

Our sponsors

Since the beginning, the coaching programme is collaborating with leading companies. The Goldman Sachs Bank AG enabled the conception and implementation of the innovative studying-component through a generous start-up funding in 2001. From 2007 to 2009 the main sponsor was the Metro & Carry GmbH located in Düsseldorf.

The Haniel Stiftung supports the coaching programme as the main sponsor starting in 2010. The foundation, located in Duisburg, Germany, cooperated already for nine years closely with the University of St. Gallen. Apart from the financial support several Haniel coaches make a vital contribution to the personal development of the Coachees.

Additionally the coaching programme collaborates closely with the Swiss Academic Foundation as well as the ITB Consulting GmbH for its further conceptual development.