SocNet’98 was initiated by Menno van Veen (Groningen) und Thomas Trenczek (Jena) during an International Exchange Week of both universities in June 1998 in Groningen. It was the idea not only to intensify the bilateral exchange but also to invite other university partners to establish a broader network of European university schools of social work that fosters students and lecturers exchange in particular.
→ SocNet98 – 20year-Anniversary – Reflections
The „official“ inaugural meeting of the international coordinators invited has been conducted November 4th until 6th, 1998 in Jena with participants of Groningen (Menno van Veen and Theo Koning), Jena (Thomas Trenczek), Newcastle (Henry Ross), Porsgrunn (Ketil Eide), Rovaniemi (Iiris Happo), Bremen (Lutz Walk) and Emden (Gertrud Cuers). The second coordinators conferences in Jan. 2001 in Porsgrunn (Norway) has been hosted by Veslemøy Wiese (Porsgrunn). In 2001, our partners in Odense (Nicolai Paulsen) und Hasselt (Ilse Vanderstukken) joined the network, in the following years St. Pölten (Peter Pantucek und Karl Dvorak), Budeovice (Adéla Mojžíšová), Leuven (Maurits Wysmans), Linz (Carolyn Mayr) and Malaga (María Luisa Gomez Jiménez).
In the meantime, the network includes the following partners:
- Bournemouth University, Faculty of Social Sciences and Social Work (England)
- City University of Applied Sciences Bremen, School of Social Work, Bremen (Germany)
- Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra (Slovakia)
- Ernst-Abbe-University of Applied Sciences Jena, Department of Social Work, Jena (Germany)
- European School of Higher Education of Social Work, Lille (France)
- Hanzehogeschool Groningen, Univ. of Appl. Sciences, School of Social Studies, Groningen (NL)
- Humak University of Applied Sciences, NGO and Youth Work Unit, Helsinki (SF)
- PXL Hogeschool Limburg, School of Social Work, Hasselt (Belgium)
- Telemark University College, School of Social Work, Porsgrunn (Norway)
- University College Lillebaelt, Department of Social Work, Odense (Denmark).
- University College Leuven-Limburg, School of Social Work, Leuven (Belgium)
- University of Applied Sciences Emden/Leer, Department of Social Work, Emden (Germany)
- University of Applied Sciences St. Pölten, Department of Social Sciences, St. Pölten (Austria)
- University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria, School of App. Health and Social Sciences, Linz (A)
- Universitat de Girona, Facultat d’Educació i Psicolagia (Spain/Catalonia)
- University of South Bohemia Ceske Budejovice, Faculty of Health and Social Studies, Budweis (CZ)
- University of Toulouse – Jean Jaures, IUT Figeac (France)
The network relies and lives based not only of a working structure (annual international university weeks – IUW – in spring as well as coordinators meeting each autumn) but most important on reliable personal contact of the international coordinators.
Since the beginning, the most important part of our network activities was the organisation of the International University Week (IUW) each year as well as fostering the individual exchange of students and lecturers. For more information: à SocNet 98 – self-portrait and invitation to join an existing Erasmus Network in Social Work.
→ SocNet98 – 20year-Anniversary – Reflections
