16 graduates from twelve nations

The university's contact study programme "Intercultural Competence in Education, Counselling and Social Work" is aimed at highly qualified refugees. Recently, 16 graduates of the further education programme were bid farewell. The new programme starts in April.

The graduates come from Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Azerbaijan, Rwanda, South Sudan, Afghanistan, Belarus, Ukraine, Turkey and the Congo and have been living in Germany for between two and 18 years. In their home countries, they worked as teachers, pharmacists or university lecturers, for example. Over the past nine months, the training programme has prepared them for work in educational and socio-educational fields. "There are many refugees and people entitled to asylum living in Germany who have already completed a university education in their countries of origin and have gained professional experience in the social sector. This potential is hardly utilised in Germany. The further education programme takes this fact into account and is precisely tailored to the individual participants: It is geared towards previous academic appointments and skills as well as migration biographies," says Prof Dr Rudolf Leiprecht, university lecturer in social pedagogy / racism prevention and head of the project. In this way, participants are prepared precisely for the needs and requirements of the local labour market.

A new round of contact studies will start at the end of April. Anyone interested can register now by contacting Friederike Walther on 0441/798-4962. Admission requirements are a degree or training in a pedagogical, socio-educational or social occupational field as well as good German language skills. The total number of participants is limited to 25. They are selected on the basis of written application documents and a counselling interview. During the further education programme, students acquire skills in areas such as "Approaches and concepts of racism-critical education", "Theories and methods of counselling work" and "Diversity-conscious approaches in social work".

The EU supports the project with funding from the European Refugee Fund (ERF).