Study programs

Social work supports people in shaping their lives and overcoming particular challenges. The focus is often on the social disadvantage of individuals or groups. What caused an emergency situation? How can it be overcome or prevented from the outset? Social work looks equally at personal and social circumstances, causes and effects. Dealing with social diversity is also part of social work.

The Social Work degree program enables students to acquire the scientifically based professional competence to perform this task. Through their studies, they learn to analyze individual and social problems and to use the basic modalities of social work in the various fields of action to solve them.
The basics of professional competence include above all

• scientifically differentiated perception skills
• creative, independent thinking
• objective motivation and self-control
• Interaction and communication skills
• scientifically differentiated reflection skills
• Problem-oriented and objective technical and decision-making skills

The dual study program in social work with a focus on migration and integration lasts eight semesters and combines theory and practice very closely. Over the entire period, students regularly alternate between the lecture hall and the workplace and put their academic knowledge from their studies directly into practice. The aim of the study program is to qualify students for activities in the various fields of social work and to acquire comprehensive migration pedagogical skills. Students are specifically qualified to provide professional support to immigrants and to critically examine the question of which (social) structures cause the plight of these people.
Professional competence is acquired through the following course content:

• Migration movements
• Legal framework conditions of immigration (access to the labor market, right of residence, EU law, objection procedures, etc.)
• Socio-political issues
• Social discrimination and disadvantages/ethnic attributions
• Cultural knowledge in relation to countries of origin
• Welcoming culture of the majority society
• Sensitization for own prejudices
• Approaches through outreach social work
• Resource-oriented approaches to social work
• Interdisciplinary cooperation (also transnational)

The (part-time) Master's degree course "Social Work: Youth in Theory and Practice" is characterized by its application orientation. The part-time course builds on an undergraduate and generalist diploma or bachelor's degree course. It follows the conceptual line of expanding and deepening youth and social work-related knowledge, skills, abilities and attitudes. The course offers the opportunity to specialize in a field of work and research in social work that is becoming increasingly important. It leads to a broadening and deepening of academic skills and experience. The study program thus takes into account that it is intended to serve as preparation for a further academic qualification level, which consists of a doctorate.

The sustainable shaping of society requires different levels of consideration. International challenges, social upheavals and demographic developments require concrete answers. The Master's degree program brings together social, political, ecological and economic issues, which are often treated separately, in an analytical way and focuses on questions of necessary framework conditions and the concrete implementation of measures on the ground. The Master's program comprises four central pillars:

1. Perspectives and planning of social sustainability
2. Analysis and design of aspects of demographic change
3. Transdisciplinary methods of knowledge integration
4. Own project development in the subject area

The study program integrates various social science concepts such as quality of life, participation, empowerment, diversity, justice and new models of prosperity.