Every student should have one by the end of the year – the new chip card recently presented by the Giessen -Friedberg University of Applied Sciences. The plastic rectangle with a passport photo replaces the paper student ID. The card uses a multifunctional chip that enables contactless data transmission. The Hessian Ministry of Science has provided €300,000 from its "Higher Education and Science Programme" for the rollout.
The new student ID card makes student life more convenient. It serves as a semester ticket for the Rhine-Main Transport Association and replaces the library card. The integrated digital wallet can be loaded with up to €100, explained Sylvio Pfaff, who oversees the chip card project at the university. Students will be able to use the card to pay in the cafeterias and, in the future, also to operate photocopiers. It will also be used as a key in the student residences of the Giessen Student Union.
The university of applied sciences will also equip its buildings in the medium term with locking systems that will allow access to sensitive facilities such as laboratories using a chip card, thus enabling students to have more flexible working hours. For university president Prof. Dr. Günther Grabatin, this is an example of how the new card brings "a gain in quality for the individual student.".
{mosimage}Students receive the chip card free of charge – partly because the university has partnered with AOK, a health insurance company that advertises for new members on the back of the card. A contract, which also stipulates further advertising activities by the health insurance company at the university, was signed by the university president and Fritz Müller, CEO of AOK Hessen, at the chip card presentation.
Grabatin and Müller pointed out that the advertising partnership complements a long-standing cooperation between the two institutions. For example, there is a lively exchange of lecturers between the university and the AOK training center. The specialization in health insurance management within the dual business administration degree programme was developed jointly.