A total of more than 100 students and lecturers participated in the International Days in Social Work at the FH Upper Austria Linz Campus in June: 84 international students and lecturers from the field of social work and around 18 students from the in-house master's degree programme Social Work. The lecturers and students came from Armenia, Germany, Canada, Finland, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, UK and the USA.
15 lectures and workshops took place, covering a wide range of different areas of social work. The World Café was especially well received on the first day with a presentation of all universities and countries including regional specialties.
The visitors also showed great interest in site visits to and presentations from different organisations:
- Exit Sozial (forensic residential facility)
- LENA (social work with sex workers)
- SOS Human rights (social work with asylum seekers)
- Verein Substanz (substance abuse and harm reduction counselling center)
- Center for Family Therapy and Men's Counselling Center
- Notschlafstelle B37 (emergency sleeping center).
During the second week (19 - 23 June 2023) an additional programme for our guests from the US and Canada was organised - 45 students and lecturers from the Concordia University of Milwaukee, Nova Scotia Community College, University of the Fraser Valley, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Winona State University. Highlights during this week were visits to the Garsten Prison or a day at the City Police in Linz as well as visits to various social institutions such as B7 Work and Life, ISI Outreach, Plan B (foster care and adoption), Prevention Center, HIV-Center and Caritas Wärmestube.
The cultural program included visits to the salt mine in Hallein, the city of Salzburg and the Mauthausen Memorial.
