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First Generation Doctorate

Mentoring Programme „First Generation Doctorate“

As the first generation in your family to study at university and now continue on the path to academia, you bring special perspectives with you - and often face specific challenges: Experiencing uncertainty and doubt due to feelings of foreignness, navigating the academic environment and the feeling of having to figure a lot of things out for yourself. The mentoring programme “First Generation Doctorate” is aimed at doctoral students who come from a non-academic family background and are looking for exchange, orientation and support beyond academic questions. Together with a mentor who has travelled this path themselves, we create space for your questions - and strengthen your individual path in academia.

 

First-generation academic — much more than just new paths!

First-generation graduates are people who are the first in their family to study - in other words, whose parents did not study or obtain an academic degree. This background often entails special experiences, especially when dealing with the university system, which brings with it many unspoken expectations and social codes. 

You may know these experiences?
  • You first had to find out about university procedures and “rules of the game” for yourself
  • You had no role models for an academic career – especially in your in your non-academic environment.
  • You sometimes doubt whether you are “right” in academia - or how to move around there
  • You have experienced situations in which you sometimes felt like an outsider - even if you formally belong?
  • Is financial insecurity part of your childhood experience and has it been a challenge during your educational career?

These and similar experiences can be part of the biography of a first-time graduate. Social inequality in the higher education system is not just a characteristic of your experience: 

  • Only 27 out of 100 children from non-academic families start at a university, compared to 79 out of 100 children from academic families. (Source: Hochschul-Bildungs-Report 2022) 
  • Only 2 out of 100 children from non-academic households complete a doctorate. For children from academic families, the figure is 6 out of 100. (Source: Hochschul-Bildungs-Report 2022, Abbildung 19 (Bildungstrichter))
  • The path to a doctorate continues to be characterised by structural hurdles for first-time academics. In particular, the transition from school to university is considered a key threshold. (Source: bpb-Dossier „Soziale Ungleichheit von der Grundschule bis zur Promotion“)
  • First-time academics are more likely to experience financial insecurity in their academic careers. (Source: bpb-Dossier zur sozialen Herkunft in der Wissenschaft) 
  • On average, academics with a migration background earn around 30% less than academics without a migration background - an indication of social inequality, even after formal qualification. (Source: Factsheet „Einkommen, Bildung und Arbeit von Familien mit Einwanderungsgeschichte“ (Mikrozensus 2022))

The Programme

The programme originated as “Erste Generation Promotion Mentoring+” in 2017 from a voluntary mentoring programme provided by the association Erste Generation Promotion e.V. at the University of Cologne. The voluntary association has been supporting doctoral candidates and those interested in doing a doctorate with a non-academic family background since 2014 by offering free counselling, workshops, networking and information events, and more. 

What does the programme at the Giessen Graduate Centre for Cultural Studies (GGK) offer you?

'First Generation Doctorate' is a mentoring programme for doctoral students from Departments 03, 04 and 05 who are the first in their family to have completed a university degree and are now continuing their academic career with a doctorate. The programme entails one-to-one mentoring with a doctoral mentor who has a non-academic family background in three to four meetings over the course of a year. 

Based on shared experiences as a first-generation academic, you will be supported and counselled in an open, confidential exchange beyond disciplinary structures. The programme covers all questions and problems relating to the structural conditions and hurdles of doing a doctorate, e.g. topics such as dealing with feelings of alienation, sharing informal knowledge, the unwritten laws of the academic world, career development issues, and more.

The programme starts with a joint kick-off event for networking and introductions, then includes your individual meetings and concludes with a reflection and closing event. During the one-year funding period, a first-generation academic café is held at regular intervals for informal dialogue at the GGK/GCSC. Find the Call to Action here.

Here is how you take part:

Take advantage of the opportunity for individual support, dialogue and new perspectives. To do so, please send a CV and a letter of motivation (max. 1 page). The letter of motivation should address the following questions:  

  • What does it mean to you to be the first in your family to do a doctorate? What motivates you?
  • What topics would you like to discuss as part of a mentoring programme?
  • What support would you like from this programme?

Please send us your application by 30 November 2025 at ggk 

You already are a postdoc or professor and want to share your experience?

You are the first in your family to find your way into academia? You do know what it feels like to find your way through the academic system without prior academic knowledge - with lots of questions, little orientation and your own detours? 

As a mentor in the ‘First Generation Doctorate’ programme, you can pass on your experiences - and create a space for exchange, openness and mutual support. Your perspective can not only provide orientation but also break down real barriers. The core of the programme is matching with a mentee outside your field - for an open, protected exchange on structural issues and obstacles to doing a doctorate.

 Your reasons for becoming a mentor:  
  • Personal exchange with committed early career researchers, 
  • Reflection on your own academic biography, 
  • a contribution to more equal opportunities and diversity in science, 
  • the opportunity to network with other mentors in the programme, 
  • and all this with a time commitment of only 3 to 4 individually plannable meetings over a year! 

You would like to become a mentor? Then please send a short message to ggk and we will get back to you with further information.

Further support services at the Giessen Graduate Centre for Cultural Studies (GGK)

At the Graduate Centre for Cultural Studies (GGK), we support you throughout your doctorate - and beyond. In addition to the mentoring programme ‘First Generation Doctorate’, we offer our members a variety of other formats and advisory services:

  • Doctoral consultation hours: Our doctoral consultation hours are open to all doctoral candidates in Departments 03, 04 and 05 - personal, confidential and individual. Whether you have organisational questions, time planning or uncertainties in the course of your doctorate: We are happy to support you with your personal concerns.  
  • Career Service: Our Career Service supports you with various events and offers on career paths within and outside academia.
  • Teaching Centre: The Teaching Centre offers didactic qualification and know-how in the field of university teaching in a variety of offers such as workshops and the co-teaching programme.

You are considering whether a doctorate is the right step for you? You have not yet started your doctorate, but would like to prepare yourself specifically or find out whether a doctorate is the right step for you? Then apply for our Predoctoral Programme - a structured preparatory programme for prospective doctoral candidates in Departments 03, 04 and 05! You can find more information and apply here.

 

We are here to support you – get in touch!

Whether you have questions about the mentoring programme, are interested in participating or have further questions and suggestions: We look forward to hearing from you and will be happy to assist you. 

Your GGK-Team:

 

References and further information*
  1. Stifterverband / McKinsey & Company (2022): Hochschul-Bildungs-Report 2022 – Abschlussbericht. Daten zu Bildungsübergängen und sozialer Herkunft im deutschen Hochschulsystem, u. a. mit Bildungstrichter bis zur Promotion. Online abrufbar (PDF).
  2. Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung (2023): Soziale Ungleichheit – von der Grundschule bis zur Promotion. Ein Dossier zur sozialen Herkunft im Bildungssystem mit Fokus auf strukturelle Hürden in Schule, Hochschule und Wissenschaft. 
  3. Ramboll Management Consulting (2023): Factsheet 2 – Einkommen, Bildung und Arbeit von Familien mit Einwanderungsgeschichte. Ergebnisse aus dem Mikrozensus 2022 mit Fokus auf familiäre Bildungs- und Erwerbssituation. 
  4. Statistisches Bundesamt (2023): Mikrozensus 2022 – Glossar. Begriffsdefinitionen und methodische Erläuterungen zur Datenerhebung. 

* The data presented here serves to contextualise social inequality in the education system. They reflect current developments, statistical surveys and structural challenges that affect first degree graduates in particular.