EU-project started:
International perspective on child and youth welfare

Child and Youth welfare is nationally organised – though there are children growing up in families that reach beyond national borders. Eight universities from Israel, Italy, Ireland, Russia and Germany aim at strengthening an international perspective and jointly develop a curriculum. First courses shall be offered in 2014.

Academics from the University of Hildesheim together with partners from the EU, Israel and Russia develop an internationally oriented curriculum in the field of child and youth welfare. „The universities contribute with various expertise, for example migration and transnationality, trauma-therapy, intercultural pedagogy and social work in a global context“ says Alia Herz-Jakoby, who is part of the research group at the University of Hildesheim, with Dr. Stefan Köngeter and Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Schröer.

First courses shall start in 2014. They will deal with ethical principles in child and youth welfare, the role of a migration experience for children and their families and vulnerable life conditions due to unemployment and poverty. „Study programmes so far lack of an international perspective that takes into account how families organise their life transnationally“ says Herz-Jakoby after the first meeting of the project consortium. Representatives from all partner institutions met at the University of Hildesheim in February. The participating universities plan to modernise their curricula in order to offer master and PhD-students courses in „International Child and Youth Welfare“, where in future a specialisation will be possible.

The project „Transnational Academic Careers in Child and Youth Welfare“ (TACHYwe) is funded for three years by the EU- cooperation programme Tempus IV with about 970.000 Euros.

For the implementation of the jointly developed curriculum, the courses shall be integrated in existing master and PhD study programmes in Russia and Israel. With scholarships, students from Hildesheim will have the opportunity to get to know practice and research in the field of child and youth welfare in the respective partner countries and thus gain insight in social services that are shaped by other cultural aspects and welfare systems. Online and face-to-face courses will be combined, e.g. in a summer school. Students thus get the opportunity to network and learn from fellow students from Europe, Russia and Israel. „All courses will be developed by at least two partners from different countries in order to strengthen the transnational dimension“ says Herz-Jakoby. The next meeting will take place in Dublin this summer.

With the Tempus-project, the Institute for Social Work and Organisation Studies and the University of Hildesheim expands its international cooperation in the field of child and youth welfare.

The cooperation partners are: the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Israel), the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (Israel), the Free University of Bozen (Italy), the Moscow State Regional University (Russia), the Don State Technical University (Russia), the Haruv Institute Jerusalem (Israel), the Fondazione Emanuela Zancan (Italy), the Trinity College Dublin (Irleand) and the Sapir College (Israel).

"This project has been funded with the support of the European Union/Tempus programme of the European Union".