From training to a professorship

Prof. Dr. Monika Schaffner teaches nursing science at HM – and knows from her own experience what it feels like to sit in a lecture theatre as a student. Her story begins with an apprenticeship as a dental assistant and continues through a dual-track nursing degree at HM, on to a doctorate and finally to a professorship. A portrait of courage, practical orientation and the power of taking the right step at the right time.

Anyone seeing Monika Schaffner in the lecture theatre today would hardly suspect that her path into nursing was not originally planned at all. Her first ambition was to study medicine. But when she failed to secure a place at university, she decided to train as a dental assistant – initially as a stopgap. What she discovered during that time changed everything. “During my training, I quickly realised that, as a dental assistant, I had so much more contact with patients than the dentists did. That was exactly what mattered to me.” Instead of waiting for the place on the medical degree course she’d been hoping for, she chose a different, bolder path.

She chose the dual nursing degree programme at Hochschule München – and that was no coincidence. Schaffner wanted both: theory and practice, a qualification and career prospects. “Thanks to the constant practical focus throughout the programme, I found studying very easy, because I could always put what I’d learnt into practice straight away.” She particularly appreciated the diversity of the practice partners and the personalised support provided throughout the programme.