The target activity of the NEPS is to collect longitudinal data on the development of competencies, educational processes, educational decisions, and returns to education in formal, nonformal, and informal contexts throughout the life span. The longitudinal study, launched in 2009, is carried out by an interdisciplinary excellence network of different research institutes, research groups, and researchers from various disciplines across Germany based at Otto-Friedrich-University in Bamberg. “The project is of immense significance for the University but also for the region of Upper Franconia,” confirmed the State Secretary during her visit. At the beginning of the presentation, Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Hans-Peter Blossfeld summarized the most important details of the theoretical design of the NEPS and informed the State Secretary about the current status of the project. According to State Secretary Huml, who has accompanied the NEPS since the very beginning, “especially the long-term prospects are fascinating.”

 

After a round of talks with representatives of the NEPS (group photo), State Secretary Huml caught up with several departments on-site. Jennifer Lorenz and Sebastian Megerle of stage 1 “From Birth to Early Child Care” vividly explained the interesting procedure of surveying families with newborns (picture 1). Jan Skopek gave an insight into the data center and presented the services offered by the department to the users of the data collected by NEPS (picture 2). Due to the fact that the National Educational Panel Study is one of the biggest research infrastructure facilities in the social sciences, the clear and efficient provision of data for researchers from home and from abroad holds special significance.