CHEFIN - Equal career development opportunities for women in the STEM field

The joint project CHEFIN (with the subprojects "Development of the technical recommendation system" of RWTH Aachen University and "Quantitative and qualitative accompanying research for career factors" of TU Dortmund University) pursues the goal of providing female STEM students, female career starters in the STEM field, and female young professionals who have already entered a profession in the STEM field with confidence regarding their own professional identity and thus supporting highly qualified women on their career path to the top of companies and public institutions.

For this purpose, qualitative and quantitative methods are combined in a mixed method approach, by which current success and inhibiting factors for the career paths of women in the STEM sector are researched and analyzed. The core of the project is the "Competence Development Recommender" (CDR), an innovative tool that automatically provides users with tailored recommendations for career development. Based on a Big Data analysis of XING CVs in the STEM sector, a technical system is being developed in which women can link their electronic XING CVs and as a result receive comparative results, recommendations for improvement and positive reinforcement regarding their achievements and qualifications made so far. The CDR will be available free of charge to all interested parties. The results enable a realistic assessment of one's own CV and thus reinforce the aforementioned confidence with regard to one's own professional identity. In addition, the results are useful for career planning, as they provide the user with individual recommendations based on the success and inhibiting factors identified in the project for career paths of women in STEM fields, which are neatly presented in a "Competence Roadmap".

Project period: 01.10.2017 to 30.09.2020, extended until 31.03.2021

Location & approach

By car

The campus of TU Dortmund University is located close to interstate junction Dortmund West, where the Sauerlandlinie A 45 (Frankfurt-Dortmund) crosses the Ruhrschnellweg B 1 / A 40. The best interstate exit to take from A 45 is “Dortmund-Eichlinghofen” (closer to South Campus), and from B 1 / A 40 “Dortmund-Dorstfeld” (closer to North Campus). Signs for the university are located at both exits. Also, there is a new exit before you pass over the B 1-bridge leading into Dortmund.

To get from North Campus to South Campus by car, there is the connection via Vogelpothsweg/Baroper Straße. We recommend you leave your car on one of the parking lots at North Campus and use the H-Bahn (suspended monorail system), which conveniently connects the two campuses.

By train

TU Dortmund University has its own train station (“Dortmund Universität”). From there, suburban trains (S-Bahn) leave for Dortmund main station (“Dortmund Hauptbahnhof”) and Düsseldorf main station via the “Düsseldorf Airport Train Station” (take S-Bahn number 1, which leaves every 15 or 30 minutes). The university is easily reached from Bochum, Essen, Mülheim an der Ruhr and Duisburg.

You can also take the bus or subway train from Dortmund city to the university: From Dortmund main station, you can take any train bound for the Station “Stadtgarten”, usually lines U41, U45, U 47 and U49. At “Stadtgarten” you switch trains and get on line U42 towards “Hombruch”. Look out for the Station “An der Palmweide”. From the bus stop just across the road, busses bound for TU Dortmund University leave every ten minutes (445, 447 and 462). Another option is to take the subway routes U41, U45, U47 and U49 from Dortmund main station to the stop “Dortmund Kampstraße”. From there, take U43 or U44 to the stop “Dortmund Wittener Straße”. Switch to bus line 447 and get off at “Dortmund Universität S”.

By plane

The AirportExpress is a fast and convenient means of transport from Dortmund Airport (DTM) to Dortmund Central Station, taking you there in little more than 20 minutes. From Dortmund Central Station, you can continue to the university campus by interurban railway (S-Bahn). A larger range of international flight connections is offered at Düsseldorf Airport (DUS), which is about 60 kilometres away and can be directly reached by S-Bahn from the university station.

The H-Bahn (Suspended Monorail System)

The H-Bahn is one of the hallmarks of TU Dortmund University. There are two stations on North Campus. One (“Dortmund Universität S”) is directly located at the suburban train stop, which connects the university directly with the city of Dortmund and the rest of the Ruhr Area. Also from this station, there are connections to the “Technologiepark” and (via South Campus) Eichlinghofen. The other station is located at the dining hall at North Campus and offers a direct connection to South Campus every five minutes.

Map

The facilities of TU Dortmund University are spread over two campuses, the larger Campus North and the smaller Campus South. Additionally, some areas of the university are located in the adjacent “Technologiepark”.

Site Map of TU Dortmund University (Second Page in English).