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A podcast about international social work. Made by SocNet98, an European network of 18 universities that graduates students in social work. In this podcast you can listen to a broad specter of topics that is all connected to social work in an international perspective.
[Steinar]: [Automatic captions by Autotekst using OpenAI Whisper V3. May contain recognition errors.]
Welcome
to The Social Pod, a podcast brought to you by Socknet98, a network of
[Steinar]: universities sharing the common interest for social work in an
international perspective.
[Steinar]: And now we're here, the podcast is now here in Emden in Germany, and we
just had our coordinators meeting. That is a meeting that we have here in
[Steinar]: SACNET 98 every year, where all the coordinators from the 16-17
universities in Europe gather together to plan what is the best week of
[Steinar]: the spring, I think, the International University Week. So here
together with me today, I have three other fabulous people that is going
[Steinar]: to talk a little bit about their International University Week. So
first of all, to do a random introduction, let's start to my left.
[Astrid]: Thanks, Steiner. My name is Astrid Hübner and I'm the head of
international relations here in our department of social work and
[Astrid]: health. And I have also a professorship for child and youth welfare.
Yeah. Have you had International University Week before here in Emden?
[Astrid]: Yeah. The International University Week in 2027 will be our fifth one.
Fifth. So yeah, you've been in the game for some while. Yeah. That's
[Steinar]: great. Next one. Okay. Hi, my name is Ivona Hundstorfer and I'm the head
of the international office at the University of Applied Sciences,
[Iwona]: Upper Austria, which is basically in Upper Austria. So we are located in
Linz. In Linz. Thank you so much. Next one. I'm Eduard Carrera. I'm the
[Eduard]: coordinator of Bachelor of Social Work degree in the University of
Girona in Catalonia, Spain. In Girona. Yeah. I can already say I want to
[Steinar]: go to that place this year. And my name is Steinar Vikult. Everyday work,
I work at the University of Southeastern Norway. And I'm also having the
[Steinar]: opportunity to be the host for this episode. So for the people listening
right now, you most likely are either students or maybe a lecturer that
[Steinar]: is thinking about going to one of these four places that we're going to
present. So we hope to with this episode just give you a short, short
[Steinar]: introduction and maybe an impression of the places you are able to go.
After listening to this episode, please go into the saknet98.eu
[Steinar]: webpage, because there you'll find all the details. After you have done
that, if you want to go to one of these places, you have to contact your own
[Steinar]: university to know how you can apply, because you need to be a part of this
network to be able to apply to go to one of these university weeks. So the
[Steinar]: first short presentation that we're going to have is about the
international universe debate that you're going to have right here in
[Steinar]: Emden. So Astrid, can you say a little bit about that? Yeah, I think we, I
like to tell you something about our topic. The topic will be methods of
[Astrid]: social work in a European context. And as you know, social work draws on a
wide range of traditional and creative methods. We will a little bit
[Astrid]: examine the advantages and limitations of these methodological
approaches and discuss how they can be combined. And we will put a focus
[Astrid]: on aesthetic methods in social work. and focusing especially on dance,
art, music, movement, and drama education. Yeah, and the most thing is
[Astrid]: that we want to have interesting interactive workshops, field visits,
and we share and discuss the comparable professional perspectives
[Astrid]: that we have in the European context. You know, we have many
similarities, but we have also differences. So it's interesting to
[Astrid]: compare a little bit these kind of methods and how we act in our special
social welfare system. Yeah, because my question would be methods of
[Steinar]: social work. So that means different kind of ways of doing social work
from different kind of places. Yeah, from different kind of places and
[Astrid]: also with different kind of clients and in different fields of social
work, like youth work or community work or working with the elderly. So
[Astrid]: it depends also on the people you are working with. So we focus also on the
different fields. Yeah, so that is the theme. So just to summarize also,
[Steinar]: all of the International University Week, they have different themes
going for them. So yeah, this is method of social work in a European
[Steinar]: context. But in addition to the workshops and the theme, what other
stuff will the students do? The students will mix in groups with
[Astrid]: students from different countries in Europe and this is very important
because they should go in contact with each other and speak about their
[Astrid]: experiences they made and especially in the lectures but also in
internships or in other fields they have explored and therefore we will
[Astrid]: also visit different NGOs, make field visits and we want to make also
some interesting excursions in the region to get a little bit more
[Astrid]: information about East Frisia, how we live here and what is interesting
in East Frisia. That sounds very exciting. And I will also say that the
[Steinar]: methods in social work, just being in this network for so long time, it's
been very interesting seeing, because when the students travel here,
[Steinar]: they will not only learn about the methods of social work from Emden,
they will then have methods from social work throughout Europe,
[Steinar]: because you will meet a ton of other students from Europe. That's very
exciting. That's for sure. If you go to Linz, what is your theme? Yes. In
[Iwona]: Linz, we will welcome you with the topic that is social work responses to
global challenges. So we have many of them and in many countries they are
[Iwona]: the same, but maybe in some other countries they're different. So, you
know, it's sometimes depending on the region, on the location where you
[Iwona]: work. in which part of Europe you are. So we will explore the different
kinds of global challenges and then also talk about how does social work
[Iwona]: react on that? What are the responses? What are the questions? But also
what are the responses? And are there some similarities? Are there
[Iwona]: common responses? And where are the differences? And also talking
about climate change, of course, but also migration, some economic
[Iwona]: recessions, of course, the politics nowadays, the nationalism in
different countries. So what is the role of a social worker also? How to
[Iwona]: respond to this really big variety of challenges? Yes. Yeah, because
social work responses to global challenges. I think that if I try, and I
[Steinar]: also tried teaching or discussing this topic with my own Norwegian
social work students, and their impression is like, what should we
[Steinar]: actually do? I'm a social worker. I'm just going to work with one or two or
three people. So this is actually the topic you're going into. What
[Steinar]: should or should social workers also think about this? Yes,
absolutely. each one of us actually so this is actually a topic not only
[Iwona]: for social workers yeah but for each one of us that how much can we really
achieve and is it is there you know a chance to change something if you're
[Iwona]: just a little little spot on the earth yeah but if you take many of the
spots maybe there's like you know a big oh i'm getting goosebumps
[Iwona]: because it's such an important topic I think because yeah I'm just a
little small thing but if we all are together then we are not just a small
[Iwona]: thing we are a big group and then we can achieve something And then we talk
about students coming from different countries. I noticed that
[Steinar]: students from some countries, they are very much interested in this
topic. It's maybe the reason why they become social workers and they
[Steinar]: have a big political meaning about being a social worker. But from some
countries, it's like, yeah, I'm a social worker, not because of that
[Steinar]: stuff. It's because I need a bachelor degree. I like working with
people. And that's it. I don't want to be an advocate for the big
[Steinar]: discussions. So that is also something that will be interesting then,
seeing students from different countries coming together and their
[Steinar]: views on this topic. Yes, I think that's also a very good thing to
explore. What are the differences, but what are the similarities? And
[Iwona]: where can we maybe also cooperate on which kind of topics or which kind of
topics? challenges can we approach together maybe as well or learn from
[Iwona]: each other you know what do the Norwegian students do differently from
the Spanish students for example can we also learn combine our
[Iwona]: knowledge and learn from each other and you know use the approaches
taken from this international university week and bring them home to
[Iwona]: our own learnings and to our own outcomes and to our own professional
life after graduating right yeah yeah yeah Absolutely. Linz, before I
[Steinar]: went there, because I've been there, I did not know where Linz is. Can you
say a little bit about where is it? It's in Austria. Yeah, it is in
[Iwona]: Austria. So Austria is not that big. Okay, so geographically speaking,
it's somewhere between Vienna. And Salzburg. Okay, so it's about one
[Iwona]: and a half train hours from Vienna to Linz and then one more hour to
Salzburg, which also gives you a good opportunity to visit one or even
[Iwona]: both of those cities. But also Linz is very beautiful and it is right at
the Danube. And so it had been a cultural capital of Europe in 2009, which
[Iwona]: is some time ago. But we still have a lot of tourists and very nice
buildings, very nice student life as well. And we will be also visiting
[Iwona]: different organizations in different fields of social work. So the
students and also the lecturers will have the opportunity to learn
[Iwona]: about social work in Linz, in Upper Austria, but also, of course, from
the other participants to learn about social work in the other
[Iwona]: countries. And whenever I send students out, I say that you're coming to
a place with five days of pretty packed programs. So you have workshops
[Steinar]: and afternoon stuff to do, social activities. But I always tell my
students, please, the weekend before or the weekend after, or both of
[Steinar]: them, see the area. So book the weekend in Vienna, for example, or
Salzburg. So you can also use the time to see places at the same time. Yes,
[Iwona]: exactly. And also within the program, we will have students guiding
students through the city. So students will see different places shown
[Iwona]: by our own students. And of course, we will have also guided tour for the
lecturers as well. So they will also get to know Linz a little bit better.
[Iwona]: Yes. Thank you so much. Let's go move over to Girona. Good pronunciation
now. Very good pronunciation. Thank you so much. Your topic is living
[Steinar]: together in diversity. Can you tell me a little bit more about that?
Yeah, in fact, diversity define our societies right now. but also at the
[Eduard]: same time it's a huge challenge in the future. We see that how diversity
is our reality but it impacts in the quotidianity of a lot of people that
[Eduard]: experience discrimination, inequality, reactionary discourses.
And this is the new reality that we must challenge and to get out of. And
[Eduard]: it's for that that in Girona thought that we reflect on what is our role as
social workers and how can we build diversity societies more cohesion
[Eduard]: and more equality and it's for that that we put this topic on the table in
the International University Week.
[Eduard]: And we propose a week with plenty of activities, workshops. Keynote
that we will open the week with an expert of diversity of our university.
[Eduard]: and social visits and field visits to show how in Girona we face the
diversity and enrich with the perspective of the other students of
[Eduard]: other countries in Europe. You talk about Girona, and that is to the east
in Spain, and it's also close to France, the border of France, I believe.
[Steinar]: Is Girona itself a very diverse place? Yeah, in fact, we have a lot of
neighborhoods, but we will visit one neighborhood that is the most
[Eduard]: diverse neighborhood in Girona, also in the province of the region.
that they have more than 80 nationalities in their neighbourhood and in
[Eduard]: September they organise an art festival that is focused on diversity
but also on the challenge that we have as a city. And the students can
[Eduard]: visit this festival and we will offer a guided tour in that neighborhood
to approach to our reality and to see how we face diversity. The area that
[Steinar]: Girona references is Catalonia. A part of Spain?
[Eduard]: We are proud to be Catalonia. Also, we said we are in Spain right now, but
we hope not in the future. but we are part of Spain and all the people
[Eduard]: around Europe say us that we are in Spain but we are different and we have
our own language we spoke Catalan the people if knows Spanish has no
[Eduard]: problems to speak with others But we are singular in Spain. We have a
different climate with a different cultural approach and it's quite
[Eduard]: different than the rest of the state. For traveling purposes, the
biggest nearby city would be Barcelona. Yes, Barcelona is so broad,
[Eduard]: it's one hour distance from Girona, it's easy to come by train. There is a
high speed train that you can get to Girona in 36 minutes. With a normal
[Eduard]: train you spend an hour and 15 minutes and it's very very near from
Barcelona. There are a lot of combinations and it's easy to come by train
[Eduard]: or by other... Yeah, very nice. The last place that is hosting
International University Week is the College of Polytechnics in
[Steinar]: Jilava in the Czech Republic. I'm
[Steinar]: going to talk a little bit about it. The theme would be building
resilience in beginning social workers. And we just heard a little bit
[Steinar]: about it. Unfortunately, the coordinator is not here in the Pascal
episode, so we do our best. When we heard about the topic, the topic had to
[Steinar]: do with that if you're going to be a social worker, you need resilience.
You need to be able to withstand in the social work field for a long time.
[Steinar]: And this is the topic going to be then how can we build this resilience?
That was my interpretation of it.
[Steinar]: You are nodding, everybody. But they don't hear the nodding on the
podcast. Everybody's just supporting me. Yes, yes. You have explained
[Steinar]: it very, very good. Yeah, thank you so much. You're clapping our hands.
Clapping our hands. So if you want to know more about that, then you need
[Steinar]: to check out the webpage for more information regarding International
Universe Week in Zilava. Do we know anything else about Zilava? Where to
[Steinar]: travel? Prague? Prague? I think Prague is the biggest city. Yeah, I
think so. For being international coordinators, we're not that good in
[Steinar]: geography. So yeah, that's a quick presentation of the four different
places. Other than that, what we have been doing, most of us have been
[Steinar]: doing internationally on Robustvik for a while. What do you think is the
biggest learning outcome for the students to travel to these kind of
[Steinar]: places? Whatever place you travel to because I tell my students Yeah,
the topic might be interesting But the biggest thing they're gonna
[Steinar]: learn is just being there and talking together with other students from
other countries So for me, I try to say it doesn't really matter where we
[Steinar]: go. You're gonna learn something either where you're going, right?
Yeah, I think the students very often tell us afterwards that the
[Iwona]: connections they get from that week, you know, they are connecting to
many, to the lecturers, but of course, especially to the students. And
[Iwona]: so very often afterwards they meet each other, they travel to each
other. So there really are friendships that stay sometimes forever.
[Iwona]: Yeah. And so, yeah, that's also a very interesting point. Not only the
topic social work or each topic we have chosen for our university week,
[Iwona]: but also the gathering together and exchanges, exchanging the
different views, the different knowledge, but also the social part,
[Iwona]: like really to be together, to go to the welcome party, to the farewell
party, to explore the city, to... It is not only social work, it is a
[Iwona]: social event. I think that's a great thing. Today we heard from a
colleague that it doesn't only bring a better understanding of each
[Iwona]: other within the whole university week and with other international
students, but also with your own group. Because maybe you're mixed up
[Iwona]: with students from your own university, who you didn't know that well
before. And then it's even more positive things to bring home. And I
[Eduard]: think that it's an opportunity to reinforce the engagement in your
future profession as a social worker. I think that when you go to this
[Eduard]: week, you are more social worker and you are engaged with other social
workers around Europe. and of course of your own faculty because as you
[Eduard]: said in our university we have experiences of students that know each
other around this week and it's nice because after probably they will
[Eduard]: work together and if they know each other it's better than if you don't
know anybody. Yeah. So the saying of Saknet 98 is the slogan would be that
[Steinar]: the students meeting students and teachers meeting teachers. So now
we're about the students meeting the other students and also students
[Steinar]: doing something that they might never done before, challenging them
themselves. traveling abroad, maybe do some presentations, but also
[Steinar]: just speaking. Like we're sitting here right now, none of us has English
as their first language, but they will be challenging themselves by
[Steinar]: speaking English and communicating, right? And I think it's also
important for the students to point out that actually none of us is a
[Iwona]: native speaker. Because sometimes also the lecturers, sometimes
they're afraid of giving a lecture in English because, oh, my English is
[Iwona]: not that good. And sometimes they're really good. But of course, you're
not a native speaker, but nobody expects you to be a native speaker. So
[Iwona]: also this is something to really point out. It's that you don't have to
have a C1 in English. If you're willing to be with others and to share your
[Iwona]: knowledge, you're very welcome to join us. And to challenge yourself a
little bit maybe. And I think what is also very interesting for the
[Astrid]: atmosphere that it's also a little bit challenging for the teachers and
sometimes the students help the teachers and the lecturers and getting
[Astrid]: a good atmosphere because they are more speaking on one level with each
other and it's quite a very very special atmosphere because we are all in
[Astrid]: the same situation and so we can learn from each other in different ways.
And I also think that one of the things to trace that the students will
[Steinar]: have and also the teachers is getting out of your comfort zone. Because I
think as a future social worker, you need to be able to, yeah, you know
[Steinar]: that you have a comfort zone, but you need to go outside of that. And that
is something you truly most likely will experience. And that is a good
[Steinar]: thing to feel of the uncomfortness of being in a different environment,
speaking a different language. But it's all going to be all right,
[Steinar]: because as long as you're there for the five days, you will get a pass or a
grade. There's no final exam. I think my students always say that it's
[Steinar]: always a great experience. It's one week that they remember for the rest
of their life. And a lot of them, they keep in touch. in a WhatsApp group or
[Steinar]: anything like that. So you will get both a sense of being a part of
something bigger than yourself, a big network, European social work
[Steinar]: movement or organization, and also just building that network for the
future. Having people that you know in a different country, that is
[Steinar]: something extremely nice. So that was the presentation of the four
places. Thank you so much, everyone. Now it's time for dinner here in
[Steinar]: Emden. Emden is in the capital of East Frisia and East Frisia is a right
and nice region. So if students will come to East Frisia, they will find
[Astrid]: the university very close to the sea. And so we make a little bit of a free
time program like water sports, windsurfing, canoeing, things like
[Astrid]: that. That's going to be nice. But we're not going to do that right now.
Why not? Well, thank you so much, everyone, for being in this podcast
[Steinar]: episode. And we absolutely hope that a lot of students will come to the
International Universe Week and also that the teacher will join them.
[Steinar]: So thank you so much.
Thank you.