HAW International BTU - A Teaching and Research Network in the East

The Social Work programme in Faculty 4 has been granted a new funding project from the DAAD Programme for the Internationalisation of Universities of Applied Sciences under the title: HAW International BTU - A Teaching and Research Network in the East. The project will run for four years, with a total budget of approximately 740,000 euros. The project is being managed by Prof. Dr. Ulrich Paetzold. In addition to the support of the International Office, the coordinator for the German-Polish programme Dr. Mengel and the coordinator for the German-Romanian programme MA Grosu are also taking part. Through the funding programme, additional personnel resources can be allocated for these four years. The target regions of the cooperation are Poland and Romania. With regard to the content, the existing partnerships with the Academy of Gorzow and the West University of Timisoara are to be strengthened, while the Polish-German degree programme with a double degree and the German-Romanian degree programme with a double degree (each with a Bachelor of Social Work and 10 places per year) are to be consolidated. The cooperation with Gorzow has been existing since 2001 and with Timisoara since 2009. To attract more students, the DAAD programme now offers scholarships, additional intensive language courses in German, short-term lectureships, and study tours. Another programme line is the development of further partnerships in Poland and Romania. There are written declarations of intent from the Pontifical University of Krakow and the University of Cluj. Ideally, current social work topics can be dealt with at tri-national conferences with the involvement of representatives from the field. This funding project thematically reinforces the existing strategy of the BTU Cottbus Senftenberg under the motto "Gateway to the East" and contributes to further internationalisation.