12/2019 until 12/2023

The study programme Social Work in Faculty 4 has been granted a new funding project from the DAAD Program for the Internationalization of Universities of Applied Sciences under the title HAW International BTU - A Teaching and Research Network in the East. The duration of the project is four years and the total financial amount is about 740 000 Euro.

The project goals are:

1. Establishment & expansion of international, practice-oriented study programs with mobility windows
2. Networking & expansion of networks with practice partners (at home & abroad)
3. Establishment & expansion of mobility between Germany & the location of the partner universities
4. International conferences

Target regions of the cooperation are Poland and Romania. The existing partnerships with the Academy of Gorzow and the West University of Timisoara are to be strengthened and the German-Polish study programme with double degree and the German-Romanian study programme with double degree (in each case Bachelor Social Work with 10 study places per year) are to be consolidated. The cooperation with Gorzow has existed since 2001 and with Timisoara since 2009. In particular, the number of incoming students is to be increased through targeted advertising measures. In order to increase the attractiveness, the DAAD program now offers the possibility to award scholarships, to offer additional intensive language courses in German and to conduct short-term lectureships as well as study trips. Another program line is the establishment of further partnerships in Poland and Romania. Here, written declarations of intent have been received from the Pontifical University in Krakow and the University of Cluj. Ideally, current topics of social work can be dealt with at trinational conferences with the involvement of practice representatives. This funding project reinforces thematically well the existing strategy of the BTU Cottbus Senftenberg under the motto "Gateway to the East" and contributes to a further internationalization.