More than 100 students and lecturers participated in the International Days in Social Work at the FH Upper Austria Linz Campus in June: 77 international students and lecturers from the field of social work and around 25 students from the in-house master's degree program Social Work. The lecturers and students came from Armenia, Canada, Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, Mexico, The Netherlands, Sweden, Turkey and the USA.
20 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:
- SOS Human rights (social work with asylum seekers)
- Center for Family Therapy and Men's Counselling Center
- Neustart (Social Work with Offenders)
- Exit Sozial (forensic residential facility)
- Notschlafstelle B37 (emergency sleeping center)
- Verein ISI (Outreach Work)
During the second week (10 - 14 June 2024) an additional program for our guests from the US and Canada was organised - 25 students and lecturers from Nova Scotia Community College, University of the Fraser Valley and University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Highlights during this week were visits to the Garsten Prison and Lebenshilfe Steyr as well as visits to various social institutions such as Verein Substanz (Substance Abuse & Harm Reduction Counselling Center) and the Prevention Center (Counselling for Female Victims).
The cultural and social program included visits to the salt mine in Hallein, the city of St. Wolfgang, the Mauthausen Memorial and for our guests who stayed two weeks with us we organized a trip to an Alpaka Farm and a visit to "Mayer Schokoladen" - one of the best chocolatiers in Austria.
