Social Work: Local Organization of Social Participation (M.A.)

What youth education offerings are needed in a particular district? What needs do young people have there and how should these become the basis of practice development on-site? How can we utilize the variety of living environments in the community to support personal development and peaceful coexistence? Is health promotion merely an individual goal or can it also be a feature of urban development? What incites people to do something for others and for living conditions in their district of community – and how can a culture of community be promoted by Social Work?

The Master degree program Social Work: Local Organization of Social Participation pursues these questions among others and seeks to qualify students for needs-based organization of communal spaces. With this focus, graduates should be enabled to think and act from an inquisitive, plan-oriented, conceptual, strategic, and political standpoint in order to support the gradual achievement of an overall communal strategy of social participation in various fields (e.g. neighborhood management, social planning, educational bureaus, offices for family matters, migration service, etc.).

Designing local spaces in line with needs requires a master's-level, social work-based approach to participation in the fields of education, health, and migration. Graduates will therefore possess the following qualifications: conceptual, project, research, and leadership skills. They will also receive training in project management (acquisition, applications, management, and implementation) and, finally, acquire in-depth research methodological knowledge for demonstrating effectiveness (documentation and evaluation).

The program qualifies graduates for the following positions:

• Management positions in specialized services and departments of social, educational, and youth welfare administrations at the district and city levels,
• Management and coordinating positions in local networking bodies, such as education, integration, and family offices, or work as inclusion officers,
• Activities in social, educational, or youth welfare planning, often with staff functions in specialized administrations,
• Quality and evaluation officers in administrations, social institutions and service providers, welfare associations, and provider associations,
• Advisors for fundamental issues of strategic social planning in the local context, as well as for science and development in administrations and provider institutions in the social sector, including in state-level administrations,
• Academic positions in research institutes, agencies for practical consulting, and consulting for social service providers, as well as
• Activities in neighborhood management, social space structures, and urban development.