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Faculty
Applied Social Sciences

Hochschule Niederrhein. Your way.
Students
Studying Degree Programmes Research Teaching Staff
Contact and Further Information

Studying at the Faculty of Applied Social Sciences

Our degree programmes are designed to meet academic and practical demands so that you can achieve the best performance in your working life. Lectures and seminars will provide basic and specific knowledge - based on relevant social science theories and current research findings - as well as methods and didactics so you can perform professionally within the various fields of Social Work, Education and Management in non-profit organisations. Specific training activities in small groups will help you develop your professional role and apply your skills to a variety of different user groups and institutional contexts.

Academic standards are based in social work science, in interdisciplinary collaboration, ethical research and social work principles as well as in a commitment to the joint dissemination of theory and practice.

International Students

  • International Students are very welcome...
  • to join in the international activities (English)
  • to spend a study semester at the Hochschule Niederrhein and/or carry out an internship/work placement in the region under the supervision of the Hochschule Niederrhein.

(Language of Instruction and Working Language: German)

Learning and Working Together

The lecturers, teachers and students at the Faculty of Applied Social Sciences soon get to know each other as our methodological and training seminars are taught in small groups. This guaranties good quality learning as well as assistance with the choice of study orientation, exam preparations and the process of finding the right professional role.

Further student representatives collaborate within the Faculty Council and have formed various student groups, such as the faculty's student council ('Fachschaftsrat') and the Student Union ('Allgemeiner Studentenausschuss' (AStA). This student organisational structure guarantees that student interests are heard and considered. Everybody is invited to join and collaborate.

Career Opportunities

Our Bachelor's and Master's programmes are designed according to the Bologna requirements and enable students to step from Bachelor to Master, and from Master's degree to PhD programme. This allows successful students to choose and pursue their chosen field and level of professional objectives up to managerial, social policy and academic research related tasks and objectives.

Purchasers and providers in the region - and far beyond - greatly appreciate the students from our faculty - which helps our successful students find good agencies and institutions to work for in Germany and even abroad.

Tradition & Modernity

The Faculty of Applied Social Sciences looks back on 40 years of educational work and research. The first students were taken in for the Diploma in Social Work and Social Pedagogics in 1971, and over the following years, the faculty has taken a leading role in developing social work education and the social work profession in North Rhine Westphalia (and in wider Germany). The BA in Social Work holds one of the very top ranking places in Germany to this very day.

Being aware of societal changes and following specific challenges and demands, additional degree programmes have been designed and installed - such as the BA in "Cultural Education" and the BA in "Early Childhood Education" as well as the Master's programmes in the fields of "Social Management", "Psychosocial Counselling and Mediation" and in "Cultural Education and Cultural Management". All the degree programme designs meet the Bologna criteria and thus help students build their professional and academic career up to the achievement of a PhD via graduation programmes in cooperation with various universities.

Bachelor Programmes

3 years full-time, 180 ECTS - Language: German

Social Work and Education (B.A.)
Cutural Education (B.A.)
Early Childhood Education and Care (B.A.) (2nd and 3rd year, 180 Credits)

Master Programmes

2 years full-time, 120 ECTS - Language: German

Cultural Education and Cultural Management (M.A.)
Social Management (M.A.)
Psychosocial Counselling and Mediation (M.A.) (Besides working, students complete distance learning and weekend attendance blocks)

Module overview and module handbooks

For a module overview and module handbooks in German and English take a look at the downloads. Further Overviews and Module Handbooks to follow.

BA Social Work: Overview Modules
BA Cultural Studies: Overview Modules
BA Cultural Studies: Module Handbook

The whole of the Lower Rhine is fully committed to playing an active role in the region by driving research and development forward and engaging in knowledge transfer together with the Hochschule Niederrhein.

The potential scope and range of applied scientific services offered at the HN is truly unique.

The successes achieved in research and innovation, in the many high-profile projects and networks and in the Euregio itself, as well as the growing number of pioneering affiliated and in-house business start-ups confirm the quality of this approach every day, as does the ever-increasing volume of contract research and examples of successful cooperation.

The following provides an initial impression of our institutes and Competence Centres as well as the services they offer.

Contact:

Prof. Dr. Dr. Alexander Prange
Vice-President, Research and Transfer

Prof. Dr. Theodor Maria Bardmann
Media Communication
Prof. Dr. Rudolf Bieker
Theory and Structures of Social Services – Social Administration
Prof. Dr. Michael Borg-Laufs
Theory and Practice of Psychosocial Work with Children Vice-Dean
Prof. Dr. Andris Breitling
Ethics, Social Philosophy, Theory of Culture
Prof. Dr. Burkhart Brückner
Social Psychology, including Psychosocial Prevention and Health Promotion
Prof. Dr. Claudia Bundschuh
Educational Studies - Children and Young People
Prof. Dr. Ulrich Dieter Einbrodt
Cultural Work with a Focus on Music
Prof. Dr. Michael Els
Contract Law in Social Work and Education
Prof. Dr. Peter Floerecke
Youth Sociology, Socialisation and Deviant Behaviour
Prof. Dr. Dorothee Frings
Constitutional, General Administrative and Social Law in Social Work and Education
Prof. Dr. Wilfried Gebhardt
Organisational and Human Resources Development in Social Institutions
Prof. Dr. Werner Heister
Business Management in the Social Sector
Prof. Dr. Christina Jasmund
Early Childhood Education
Prof. Dr. Claudia Kaiser
Gerontology
Prof. Dr. Max Kreuzer
Therapeutic and Special Needs Education
Dr. Ann-Marie Krewer
Interim professorship - Quality, Project and Communication Management
Prof. Dr. Astrid Krus
Early Childhood Education
Prof. Dr. Sabine Krönchen
Methodology and Didactics of Social Work and Education Vice-Dean International Coordinator
Prof. Dr. Gina Kästele
Methods of Social Work and Education – Methods of Counselling and Advice
Prof. Dr. Beate Küpper
Social Work and Education in Group and Conflict Situations
Alexander Lamprecht, Dip.-Math. Dipl.-Soz.Arb.
Elekronische Datenverarbeitung / Digitale Medien
Prof. Dr. Felicitas Lowinski
Theory and Medial Practice in Cultural Education
Prof. Dr. Waltraud Meints-Stender
Civic and Cultural Education
Prof. Dr. Mona Meis
Art and Cultural Pedagogics
Prof. Dr. Kristina Reitz
Methods of Social Work and Education – Mediation and Counselling
Prof. Dr. Dietmar Rost
Sociology and Empirical Social Research
Prof. Dr. Walter Röchling
Institutionalisierte Soziale Arbeit in Familien- und Jugendhilfesachen einschließlich Verfahrensrecht (Honorarprofessur)
Prof. Dr. Gunzelin Schmid Noerr
Social Philosophy and Social Ethics, including Social Anthropology
Prof. Dr. Peter Schäfer
Family Law and Youth Welfare Law for Social Work and Education Dean
Prof. Dr. Nadine Schöneck-Voß
Sociology and Empirical Social Research
Prof. Dr. Silke Schütter
Social Policy
Prof. Dr. Sven Steinacker
Theory and History of Social Work
Albert Verleysdonk, Dipl.-Betriebsw.
Elektronische Datenverarbeitung / Digitale Medien
Sigrid Verleysdonk-Simons, Dipl.-Geront., Dipl.-Soz.Arb.
Competence Center for Resource-Orientated Age Research (REAL)
Prof. Dr.
Prof. Dr. Jürgen Weintz
Kulturarbeit / Kulturmanagement
Prof. Dr. Dieter Wälte
Clinical Psychology and Personality Psychology

The Faculty of Applied Social Sciences regularly offers international seminars (held in English), where international students are invited to take part.

  • Postgraduate Course in Victimology, Victim Assistance and Criminal Justice 14-day attendance at the Dubrovnik Conference, ECTS (advanced BA Level and MA Level)
  • International Master's Module: Working with migrants and their families 7-day attendance in Pamplona/Spain; 7-day attendance in Mönchengladbach, up to 7.5 ECTS (MA Students in programmes related to Social Work or equivalent)
  • Member of the European Network, which convenes annually for the "European Social Work Symposium" (ESWS) in a Network member country. (Social Work Educationalists, Practitioners, and Students are invited).
  • The Faculty's European Partners (Erasmus & Lifelong Learning Programme/EU)

International Coordinator

Prof. Dr. Sabine Krönchen
Methodology and Didactics of Social Work and Education Vice-Dean International Coordinator