DNA – Using and Accepting Diversity

Selection processes take place at all levels of the selection process: at the start of your studies as Numerus Clausus, as well as during recruitment tests and interviews during the selection of applicants. As well with observations in the Assessment center or with the application of further various selection procedures, a selection takes place. The intelligence and competence tests used in the selection process are intended to make the test results of individual applicants comparable, but cultural standards are often assumed for such tests. Standards that applicants with a migration background could not acquire in the same way as applicants without such experience. Often these standards are not a requirement for the successful completion of professional tasks in the jobs.

Persons with a migrant background finish selection tests with a worse result due to these cultural factors and standards, although they might have the same qualifications as other applicants. In order for people with migration experience to have the same chances in the selection process as applicants without, the recruitment tests and selection procedures must be culture fair.

In addition to "intercultural competence" "cultural fairness" is a key term in discussions about improved personal selection. This term is used both in literature and in practice in connection with the intercultural opening in personal selection. Culture-fair selection procedures include intercultural competences of applicants and reduce, or even avoid, difficulties that applicants with a migration background face. Culture-fair selection procedures thus form the basis for a fair selection of applicants and equal opportunities for all applicants regardless of cultural diversity.