Intensivprogramm “Constructors of Well-Being”, Lahti University, Finland
Geschrieben von "Redaktion" am 26. August 2010 | Abgelegt unter Lehrende im Ausland
Prof. Dr. Ulrike Schulze / FB 4 Nursing
Lahti University, Finland
Sommersemester 2010
CoW’s in Lahti – Notes from an international Erasmus IP
In Spring 2010 a team of 8 students and 2 teachers from FH Frankfurt FB 4 – Department of Social Work und Nursing – embarked on a challenging international project funded by EU- Erasmus grants. It was the first of altogether three International Programs/IP (2010-2012) which took place at the University of Applied Sciences in Lahti (LUAS) in Finland from April 25th until May7th 2010 and included participants from four European countries: Lahti University of Applied Sciences/LUAS, Lahti, Finland, Saxion University of Applied Sciences, Enschede/NL, Cork Institute of Technology/CIT, Cork, Ireland and Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences, FH Frankfurt.
Intensivprogramm Finnland
The wider focus of the project ‘Contructors of Well-Being’ (CoW) concentrated on health and social care with a specific focus on the concept of “well-being” from a multidisciplinary perspective. Therefore, the IP was based on a multiprofessional approach to support and service provision in the field of health and social care, which was reflected by the teams from the four countries including students and teachers from different academic disciplines: Social Work, Nursing and Physiotherapy1.
As soon as the German CoW – Team (4 students from Social Work and 4 students from the Faculty of Nursing) was completed in Autumn 2009 – preparations for the IP started. They included a focus on the German Health Care System in general and on palliative and hospice care in particular, but also the perspectives of the two professions, nursing and social work. The preparation at home included a visit to a hospice, seminars in English and expert talks – until, finally, the team was ready and ambitious to travel to Finland!
We arrived in Lahti with great curiosity and enthusiasm, but also slightly doubtful as to whether the wide array of topics (under the common head of health and well-being), four nationalities (in fact it turned out to be six nationalities including some exchange students from Cyprus and Portugal resident at LUAS), three academic disciplines and perhaps multiple cultural oddities would match to form a coherent entity ?
The two weeks, however, turned out to be a very positive experience for all of us, students and teachers alike. The mixture of academic input, field visits and – last but not least – an exciting social programme was just perfectly organised by our Finish hosts who did a great job in respect of all the arrangements and conveniences that were provided during our stay.
The academic programme included lectures on relevant themes and topics (such as well-being, support service provision, ethics, entrepreneurial potential) surrounded by work-shops and small case study sessions. This mixture was reviewed as particularly useful in terms of learning outcome. A challenge, that had caused some (positive) anxiety at first, was the student presentation explaining the respective national system which had to be presented in English. Our team from FH Frankfurt (see picture) performed extremely well not least because they were thoroughly prepared at home by our English teacher Yvonne Ford.
Intensivprogramm Finnland
In between lectures and work-shops students and teachers had plenty of opportunity to ‘mix and mingle’, to get to know each other, to practice language ability, to ‘see beyond one’s own nose’ and to learn from each other! The academic programme took place at the University of Lahti (located 7 bus minutes outside Lahti city centre, where the entire international group stayed in the same hotel) during daytime, while socialising continued in the evenings/nights, when most of the students (and sometimes teachers…) met again in the surrounding pubs and Karaoke Bars!
Retrospectively it can be said – and this is not only a teacher’s impression since this was also the result of the final student evaluation – that the IP was a full success!
We are looking forward to next years IP and a new team of 10 enthusiastic students!
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