Abstract:

Balancing full-time employment with part-time academic studies presents significant challenges for many students. At the University of Applied Sciences Burgenland, the Department of Energy and Environmental Management has launched a pilot project offering free, on-demand coaching sessions to approximately 450 bachelor and master students to address this issue. The initiative is grounded in the principles of positive psychology, with the focus on students´ strengths, well-being, resilience, and self-efficacy in order to reduce drop-out rates.

The coaching program is designed as a low-threshold support system. Students can access face-to-face or online sessions voluntarily whenever they feel the need, allowing for flexibility and individual tailoring of topics. Key topics include successful stress management, enhanced motivation, realistic goal setting, and achieving a sustainable work-study-life balance by effectively combining professional, academic, and personal responsibilities. Positive psychology methods—such as resource orientation, strengths-based reflection, and solution-focused interventions—which are applied in the coaching process emphasize empowerment rather than deficit correction.

Preliminary observations will highlight increased student satisfaction, improved awareness of personal strengths, and enhanced coping strategies for managing a good work-study-life balance. In addition to providing immediate benefits for participants, the pilot project seeks to generate long-term insights into the role of positive psychology-based coaching in higher education. The ultimate goal is to evaluate whether such interventions can contribute to institutional strategies for supporting non-traditional students and sustainably lowering attrition rates.

The poster presentation will present the conceptual framework, implementation process, and initial outcomes of the project. It aims to encourage discussion on how coaching with a focus on positive psychology can be effectively transferred into practical support structures within higher education and on strategies to reduce drop-out rates and improve the well-being of part-time students.

Keywords:

Coaching, resilience, drop-out rates, work-study-life balance.