The bachelor's degree program in Social Work at the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam offers a very broad, scientifically sound and at the same time practice-oriented education, with which you can work in all areas of social work after graduation. During your studies, you can set and pursue your own focal points. In the integrated internship, the acquired theoretical knowledge is applied and reflected upon.
Our society is a complex web of social relationships and processes. Individuals, groups, organizations or entire neighborhoods face different challenges and difficulties in the process of coping with life. Social work recognizes, examines and addresses the social challenges and problems and works out solutions, arrangements and agreements together with a large number of actors involved.
The focus is always on sensitizing society to perceive injustice and disadvantage. With the study of social work you gain the qualification to realize and reflect such help processes and to build communities. In doing so, you will acquire research, preventive, intervening and aftercare working methods. The fields of social work are complex and varied.
In the study of social work, you formulate your special and specific epistemological interest in certain phenomena of social work in the corresponding fields of action. From this, explicit research questions are generated, which you then work on with the support of teachers and tutors. For this purpose, there are various teaching and learning formats in our department that stimulate and support the research processes. The basics of scientific work are integrated, as is of course the acquisition of specialist knowledge on the individual work-research springs. The integrated internship is flanked by the university day. Here you will receive training supervision, attend methodological seminars relevant to the internship and be coached in a project support seminar in the implementation of an independent project.
The social work program at the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam ensures a reflective transfer of theory and practice by teaching you how to apply your scientific knowledge in practice and how to scientifically process questions from practice.
Social work is intensive work with people, groups and institutions. It requires a high level of reflection to be able to grasp and assess one's own abilities and approaches. A pronounced ability to communicate as well as empathy are basically good prerequisites. You should also have the ability to assess the balance between distance and closeness. If you also have a basic interest in scientific work and want to devote yourself to social, legal and business issues, you have all the important prerequisites for studying social work.
Would you like to learn more about the Social Work program, get opinions and tips from students and lecturers, or take a look at typical study tasks?
The colleagues at the Student Counselling Service provide information to prospective students, first-year students, parents, teachers and students on all general questions concerning the study program. If you have specific questions or concerns about the degree program, please contact the Student Counselling Service for the BA Social Work.
| Degree program | Teaching language | Start of study | Application deadline |
|---|---|---|---|
| BA Social Work | German | Winter semester | 25.05. – 15.07. (NC degree program
|
| MA Childhood Studies and Children's Rights | English | Winter semester | 01.02. – 15.07.
|
| MA Early Childhood Studies | German | Winter semester | 15.06. – 15.08. (NC free).
|
| MA Social Work with a Focus on the Family | German | Winter semester | 25.05. – 22.06. (NC degree program)
|
The approximately 105 different fields of work in social work range from advisory activities at aid institutions or accompaniment and support to coordinating and controlling activities in the area of organizing institutions and social agencies. The intensive transfer of practical theory in the Social Work degree program forms the basis for your later, everyday work in addition to the transfer of knowledge.
The generalist bachelor's degree program in Social Work gives you access to various institutions and fields of work in social work, in which you can work in an advisory and mediating capacity as well as in an accompanying capacity or work within coordination. These include, for example:
Graduates of our Bachelor's programs at the Social and Educational Sciences Department receive state recognition upon separate application.
The basis for state recognition is the Brandenburg Social Professions Act. On the website of the Brandenburg State Office for Social Affairs and Supply you will find all important information as well as the form for applying for state recognition and for the medical certificate. The leaflet of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the State of Brandenburg summarizes the documents to be submitted.
| Degree program | Teaching language | Start of study | Application deadline |
|---|---|---|---|
| BA Social Work | German | Winter semester | 25.05. – 15.07. (NC degree program
|
| MA Childhood Studies and Children's Rights | English | Winter semester | 01.02. – 15.07.
|
| MA Early Childhood Studies | German | Winter semester | 15.06. – 15.08. (NC free).
|
| MA Social Work with a Focus on the Family | German | Winter semester | 25.05. – 22.06. (NC degree program)
|
The standard period of study for the Bachelor of Social Work program is six semesters and concludes with a Bachelor of Arts degree.
| 1st – 2nd semester | Compulsory modules |
| 3rd semester | Compulsory modules, FleX module |
| 4th semester | Practical phase (internship, accompanying courses) |
| 5th semester | Compulsory modules, FleX module, possibly semester abroad |
| 6th semester | Research colloquium, Bachelor thesis |
Knowledge transfer in the bachelor's degree program in Social Work takes place mainly in lectures and seminars with a small group size. Since the methodological focus of the study program is based on the approaches of research-based learning, you will not only receive a theoretical education in social work, but also establish a direct connection to practical application in practice modules and projects. In addition to classical lectures and seminars, the methodological focus in the program is on reflective application. This ensures a transfer between theory and practice as well as between research and professional action.
In the fourth semester, you will complete an 800-hour (approx. 20 weeks) integrated internship. This practical phase is supervised on one university day per month by training supervision, methodological seminars relevant to the internship and a project support seminar. The university day is mandatory.
Internships at the Social and Educational Sciences Department
The fifth semester of study lends itself to a stay abroad. In addition, it is possible to complete the integrated compulsory internship as an internship abroad. For more details, please refer to the module manual.
During the last semester you will write your bachelor thesis and will be accompanied in the process by a seminar on scientific work/research colloquium.
A detailed description of the course contents, study plans and descriptions of individual modules of the Social Work program can be found in the module handbook, in the subject-specific study and examination regulations and in the internship regulations.
Community and intergenerational transfer for a self-determined lifestyle in old age
The EU research project "CoAct" pursues an innovative approach to participatory citizen research. The focus is on the further development of a Citizen Social Science (CSS) and its research methods. CoAct is funded by the European Commission's Horizon 2020 program under the call "SwafS-15-2018-2019 - Exploring and supporting citizen science"
.
EDIT is a cooperative practice research program of the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam (FHP) and the University of Potsdam (UP). In EDIT, practice development and practice research on the development of dialogical interaction and participation in early childhood education are implemented.
The degree program participates in the central allocation of study places, the dialog-oriented service procedure (DoSV) via hochschulstart.de. For this, you must register at hochschulstart.de within the application deadline and then create and submit your application in the MyCampus university portal of the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam. Let us guide you step by step through the procedure and use our DoSV Guide.
Enrollment is only possible from 25.05. until 15.07. for the next winter semester. Applications for a higher semester are possible from 15.05. to 15.07.
For enrollment in the Bachelor of Social Work you need a university entrance qualification according to the Brandenburg Higher Education Act. This higher education entrance qualification comprises the general higher education entrance qualification or the advanced technical college entrance qualification or a previous professional training recognized as equivalent.
In addition to the online application, the following documents must be submitted in hard copy:
For submission, please use the supplementary sheet "Application documents to be submitted" on the last or penultimate page of your personal checklist, which is available at the end of the online application in the MyCampus - University Portal. This lists all the supporting documents that you must submit in paper form based on the information you provided in the online application. In addition, the checklist contains information on the rest of the procedure.
The day of the application deadline (receipt of mail at the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam) applies for the submission of the documents.
Applicants who meet the admission requirements take part in the procedure for the allocation of study places.
In the allocation procedure for the first semester, the following are deducted in advance from the number of study places to be allocated:
The remaining study places are allocated 80 % according to the result of a university selection procedure and 20 % according to waiting time.
The result of the university selection procedure is determined on the basis of the following criteria (weighting in brackets):
The enrollment application is submitted online in the MyCampus university portal of the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam. After entering the information required for enrollment, an enrollment application is created. This application must be signed and submitted to the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam by mail together with the university entrance qualification in paper form. Please refer to the enrollment application if you need to submit additional documents. The deadline for submission is the last day of the enrollment period. The date of receipt at the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam is decisive.
Following the university selection procedure, the study places are awarded in the dialog-oriented service procedure via hochschulstart.de. Applicants with a correspondingly high ranking receive a temporary offer of admission on hochschulstart.de, which they can actively accept. Further information on the coordination phase at hochschulstart.deyou will find in our DoSV Guide.
After accepting the offer of admission, you will receive your notification of admission from hochschulstart.de. If you do not accept the offer of admission by the deadline, the ranking list will continue to be processed and the study place will be reallocated.
There are various application procedures at University of Applied Sciences Potsdam. General information on application and enrollment procedures as well as information on part-time studies, guest auditors and second degree studies can be found on the general application pages.
You would like to apply for studies from the first or a higher semester and have acquired your school leaving certificate and/or university degree abroad? Then you can have degrees and achievements obtained abroad recognized and study with us.
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