First federal states start “BAföG Digital”

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Federal Education Minister Anja Karliczek explains: “Our education system must take advantage of the opportunities offered by digitization. The federal government supports development in all areas of education – and now also specifically with BAföG new online tool ‘BAföG Digital’ Schoolchildren and students will in future receive an answer to their application more quickly and the offices will also be able to save time in processing. Errors can now be avoided when completing the application and evidence can be uploaded with a low threshold. I am very pleased that the new digital BAföG application will make things much easier for schoolchildren and students as well as the administrations. This shows that digitization will make our lives easier in many areas. “

Dr. Markus Richter, State Secretary in the Federal Ministry of the Interior, for Building and Home Affairs and Government Commissioner for Information Technology: “We are working flat out on the nationwide digitization of the administration with a special focus on services that are important for many people in this country. Here the BAföG With hundreds of thousands of beneficiaries per year, this is highly relevant. ‘BAföG Digital’ is currently being launched in five countries and, thanks to the ‘one for all’ principle, will quickly be available nationwide. “

Rüdiger Malter, State Secretary in the Ministry of Finance of the State of Saxony-Anhalt and Representative of the State Government for Information Technology (CIO): “An administrative procedure that is complicated in itself has to be simplified for the students through digital implementation.

Saxony-Anhalt’s Minister of Science Prof. Dr. Armin Willingmann emphasizes: “In Saxony-Anhalt we want to take advantage of the many opportunities that digital change offers. That is why Saxony-Anhalt played a leading role in the development of the application assistant for BAföG Digital and will start the pilot phase together with four other federal states The main aim of the project was to develop an uncomplicated online application process for BAföG. I am delighted that students in Saxony-Anhalt will be among the first to apply for BAföG using the new online process. “

The project is part of a joint effort by the federal, state and local governments to enable all essential administrative procedures digitally by the end of 2022 – as provided for in the Online Access Act (OZG). One of the goals of the OZG is that citizens and companies need on average only half as much time online for each issue as offline.

In particular, for prioritized services with a high number of cases, significantly simplified and intuitively operable digital application processes are created that are intended to significantly increase the online usage rates of these services. For BAföG this means: Schoolchildren and students should be able to complete the BAföG application completely online. With the application wizard “BAföG Digital”, the digital application that has been possible since 2016 has been significantly improved and standardized.

The BAföG online application was prepared in a digitization laboratory on behalf of the Federal Ministry of the Interior, Building and Home Affairs. In terms of method, a user-centered approach was chosen, which puts the customer at the center of attention during the development of products. Digitization laboratories are a new, innovative method with which user-friendly online solutions for administrative services in the federal digitization program are developed. In the digitization laboratory, interactive teams work agile on the development of a target group-oriented online application. They take place in the course of the thematic field work in each country. Schoolchildren, students and parents first tested the BAföG application in all development phases and fed their feedback into the process. The employees in the offices for training grants at the student unions and local authorities were also involved in the user tests.

The digital BAföG application is particularly clear and data-saving. Using the configurator, all relevant forms are combined into an application with simple and understandable questions. A dynamic form allows applicants to only answer relevant questions. In addition, citizen-friendly help texts support the application. Evidence can be uploaded via computer or smartphone during the application process or at a later point in time. Students can also track the status of their application online. The application was designed in a responsive design so that it can be used on any device. Furthermore, “BAföG Digital” ensures secure identification and authentication of applicants through the use of the federal user account of the Federal Ministry of the Interior, Building and Home Affairs. Authentication with the online function of the ID card provides the highest level of security.

In order to save time and money, Saxony-Anhalt, as the subject area manager on the state side, and the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) as the leader on the federal side, have developed the application wizard and made it available to the other federal states according to the “one for all” principle. The development of the online application using the “digitization laboratory” method was financed by the Federal Ministry of the Interior, Building and Home Affairs.

“One for all” means that a country develops and operates a service centrally – and then makes it available to other countries and municipalities. They can then take over the application almost smoothly. The participating countries share the costs of operating and developing the service. The BMBF finances the first-level support in the form of a hotline. The online application is operated by the IT service provider Dataport (AöR) in Saxony-Anhalt for all federal states.

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