Amman- 1 November 2018

In October 2018, Prof Dr. Ute Straub from the Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences, Germany, visited the School of Applied Humanities and Languages (SAHL) at the German Jordanian University (GJU) in the frame of the DAAD-Program “Flying Faculty”. She is teaching and researching mainly in the field of international and transnational Social Work, especially in a BA program “Transnational Social Work that trains students for working in transnational organizations and NGOs.

Prof. Straub is the speaker of the section of International Social Work of the German Association of Social Work and a board member of the International Association of Schools of Social Work (IASSW).

At the GJU, she participated in teaching subjects in the BA German and English for Business and Communication program 'How to behave as a student at a German University’, the Master Program Social Work and the diploma of Social Work with mainly international students.

Straub covered many topics including international social work, its organizational structures, e.g., the international umbrella organizations. She also covered the current discussions, with a focus on how Western Social Work approaches can be transferred to other countries and adopted to local needs.

Prof. Ute Straub commented, “I am very impressed by the students and how they reflect their practice experiences. They critically review the methods they apply to whether they match with the needs and living conditions of their target groups.”

In a meeting with Dr. Wael Masoud and Dr. Rihan Tarawneh, both part-timers at SAHL topics in how is it possible under the given circumstances to enhance the capacity of NGO or cooperatives in terms of income generation and networking? and how the topic of community development might be integrated to a broader extent in the curriculum were discussed.

On a practical level, Prof. Ute accompanied with Prof. Christine Hildebrandt met Mrs. Afaf Al-Rjoob, the Chairwoman and Manager of the 'Women's Cooperative of Umm al-Jimal District'. They investigated together, which capacity building projects will be most helpful for local women (computer training or English or German courses) and how the marketing for the products of the cooperative can be improved – with the financial support of the Gerda Henkel-Stiftung. Prof Christine Hildebrandt using the expertise of the local groups will further develop this capacity-building project.

In a further step towards strengthening the university’s international profile, GJU will peruse a membership in the International Association of the School of Social Work as one of the first universities in the region.

Prof. Christine Hildebrandt concluded “In the future, there will be more networking between the School of Social Work at the Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences and SAHL. The next occasion will be the meeting of the German-Jordanian Network in Kassel, Germany at the beginning of November. This exchange with Prof. Ute Straub has brought up quite a lot of starting points for joint projects and a basis to perpetuate our cooperation.”