Report on Erasmus-Exchange to Hanzehogeschool Groningen 1.4.2009 to 4.4.2009

(http://www.hanze.nl/home/International)

Hanze University Groningen is the largest University of Applied Sciences in the northern part

of the Netherlands and is located in the vibrant student city Groningen. Hanze University has

a wide variety of Bachelor Programmes, Master Programmes, Certificate Programmes,

Exchange Programmes, Dual Degree Programmes and Preparatory Courses. The university is

situated a little bit outside the city so as to gibe enough space for the campus, which now

consists of a number of modern buildings that seem to meet the best standards and supply

ample room for teaching and

studying.

The City of Groningen is rather

impressive because of the

many students (more than

40.000) that dominate public

and cultural life. Schooling and

education probably are the

biggest part of Groningens

economical turnover.

The town meets all classical

clichees of a typical Netherland

city with it’s Graachten,

drawbridges, houseboats and

thousands of bicycles.

In the first 7 weeks of the

summer semester the faculty of Social Studies ran a program on migration and integration.

The end of this part was marked by an Erasmus Exchange program, inviting 5 teachers from

different universities to talk about their

experience in their countries.

David Urban from České Budějovice (

Czech Republic), Elisabeth Welser and

myself from St.Pölten / Austria, Connie

Gunderson from Bremen / Germany and

Saleh Mousavi from Porsgrunn / Norway

My part was a lecture on international,

European and Austrian law concerning

foreigners and asylum seekers.

The lecture consisted of an introduction into

the legal framework of the United Nations

(Declaration of Human Rights, Convention

on the Status of Refugees), the European

Union and Council of Europe (Charta of

Fundamental Rights, Charta of Social

Rights) and of Austria (Niederlassungs- und

Aufenthaltsgesetz, Fremdenpolizeigesetz).

The second part of the lecture was a

discussion of what this legal framework

means to us social workers and how the

political development influences the

opportunities and chances of integration of foreigners and protection of refugees in Austria

and Europe.

As the number of students was rather large they were devided into 4 groups. We gave the

lectures twice on Thursday and twice on Friday. The groups on Thursday were rather

overcrowded and on Friday rather small, which probably had it’s background in a clever

weekend-engineering of the students.

Bert Gijsbers from the Hanzehogeschool was responsible for the

program. He gave us a very warm welcome, introduced us to his

colleagues and organized meetings with some staff of the

university, including the dean Han de Ruiter. He also gave us a

great opportunity to get to know the city of Groningen and it’s

gastronomical miracles.

After the lectures we made a quick evaluation of the program.

Everybody seemed to be pleased, a continuation of this program

appears to be quite recommendable. There should be provisions

next time to make it possible for the lecturers to take part in

each others lectures, so that there is more exchange within the

staff. An evaluation by the students is to be undertaken 2 weeks

later, to see how they liked the program.

I like to thank Bert Gijsbers for his work!

MagFh Sepp Ginner

seppginner@mvnet.at

0043 680 1259586