The panel of school leavers is usually referred to as the DZHW-panel study of school leavers with a higher education entrance qualification, which uses standardised information on the post-school careers of school leavers with a (school-based) higher education entrance qualification acquired in Germany. These can be school leavers with the Abitur (Switzerland: Matura), the subject-related Abitur (Fachabitur) or the entrance qualification for studies at universities of applied sciences (Switzerland: Berufsmatura). This goes beyond a survey of pure Abitur graduate cohorts. Ordinarily, several waves of surveys are carried out for each year of school leavers with university entrance qualifications at different times before and after the acquisition of the university entrance qualification. Accordingly, this is a combined cohort panel design.
