Bachelor of Social Work (part-time)

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If you already work in a branch of the social services and are keen to develop further, are interested in moving up to a managerial position or would like to qualify for other disciplines within the social services sector, then this part-time Bachelor of Social Work degree course will open up new career opportunities in the many and varied areas of social work and social education.

Starting from the 2016/17 winter semester you will be able to acquire a highly diversified academic knowledge base and a comprehensive qualification spectrum while continuing to pursue your professional work in the social sphere.  This part-time BA course will enable students to rely on their own skills and expertise in many different fields of social work and constitutes a basis from which graduates can progress to a Master degree programme. The course of studies Bachelor of Social Work is accredited and bears the seal of the German Accreditation Council. State recognition for this degree programme is linked to its accreditation. The accreditation process will be completed in time before the first cohort of the degree programme graduates.

Course content and objectives

The aim of the course is to teach the knowledge and skills required to ensure that your actions have a sound scientific basis and that you can incorporate the latest scientific findings into your professional work and so expand your specialist and interdisciplinary skills profiles.

The course’s scientific teaching takes as its basis the educational and social sciences, social work theory, legal aspects of social work, health science and the human sciences, among other factors. As well as acquiring specialised knowledge you will learn social and method skills that will help promote personality development, and the ability to design learning and work processes independently and sustainably. You will develop leadership skills and the ability to identify complex problems relating to specific fields and to develop and implement effective solution strategies. We will also familiarise you with the use of modern information and communication technologies.

A particular emphasis of this study course is to take the knowledge you have already acquired and build on it to give it a solid scientific foundation so that it can be practically applied to specific cases. The course content covers the following specific subject areas:

• Migration-sensitive social work
• Education and social work
• Socio-environmental and inclusive social work
• Child and youth welfare
• Theories of social work
• Methodical action in social work
• Legal principles of social work
• Social management and human resource management

Target group

The part-time BA course in Social Work provides you with an opportunity to enrol in a course at a university of applied sciences without the need for a university-admission diploma and so gain an academic qualification to accompany your existing vocational qualifications.

Applicants for the course will be required to hold a qualification as:

• Educator
• Social care worker
• Remedial teacher

The BA in Social Work is designed so that you can be credited with parts of your previous teacher training.

Career opportunities

An especially broad range of opportunities for both careers and professional development is open to you:

• Child and youth welfare/youth office
• Youth social work in schools/school social work
• Social work in a migration context
• Health service
• Support for the disabled
• Educational and social work with the elderly
• Welfare planning/youth welfare planning
• Support for addicts and drug users
• Social reintegration/help for at-risk persons
• Occupational social work
• Adult education/further education
• Counselling and prevention

Entry requirements

There are different routes by which prospective students can enter the part-time BA in Social Work:

• You hold a ‘Fachhochschulreife’ (qualification for entrance to universities of applied science) or ‘Allgemeine Hochschulreife’ (general qualification for university entrance) and have completed a relevant vocational training course as educator, social care worker, remedial teacher, or
• You have a subject-related higher education entrance qualification for vocationally qualified applicants (Bavarian Higher Education Act Article 45) as an educator, social care worker or remedial teacher. The subject-related higher education entrance qualification for vocationally qualified applicants is linked to a one-year trial course (10 credit points must be gained at the end of the first trial semester and a total of 25 after the second trial semester).

Applicants will be required to attend a consultation interview.

Course structure and duration

This is a part-time course covering eleven semesters, although parts of your previous vocational training may be credited to reduce the length of the course to nine semesters.

A particular feature of this BA course is that the concept brings together blended learning, practice-based and exploratory learning as well as periods of attendance at OTH Regensburg. Compulsory attendance courses take the form of block modules as well as a number of weekend dates. About one third of the course content is taught by blended learning. Three local authorities also provide educational sites that serve as points of contact for local students, offering an additional spatial and technical infrastructure for learning groups, courses and events and for working through online content. These educational sites are available in Abensberg, Cham and Tirschenreuth.

At the end of each module or part-module is an assessment such as a written examination, oral presentation, course assignment or project report. You complete your course with a written dissertation in the 11th semester. Students who pass the final examination gain the academic degree of Bachelor of Arts (BA).

Details in brief