‘From Person to Person’ – 30 years of the Faculty of Social Sciences

Lecturers, staff, students, alumni, pioneers and supporters: many attended the Faculty Social Sciences’ big birthday celebration at the university’s Centre for Media and Social Work (ZMS) on 27 October. The Faculty’s 30th anniversary provided the perfect opportunity for a reunion and a chance to catch up. ‘From person to person’ served as the motto for these gatherings – in two senses – on the anniversary of a faculty whose teaching and research focus primarily on people and how they interact within society.

The social changes of recent years have also shaped the Faculty itself. It has been a constant task to find responses to the changes and crises in society and to equip graduates to make a professional contribution to society. Today’s social workers face new challenges, but also new opportunities to meet the needs of a changing society.

Over the past 30 years, the Faculty of Social Sciences at Mittweida University of Applied Sciences has undergone groundbreaking changes and has grown into an institution that not only provides academic education but is also a driving force for social innovation and change in the region. This is evident today in regular events and practice-oriented research projects: the specialist conferences on various socio-political topics such as dementia, the Seniors’ Ball, the Outdoor Technology Camp for children, as well as research projects such as the development of a social reporting framework for the district of Mittelsachsen and research into the participation of people with disabilities in working life on agricultural holdings.

After all, the way we work at the faculty has changed. The move in 2014 from Roßwein to the newly built ‘ZMS’ in Mittweida, for example, featured in every anniversary review, as did the digitisation of teaching, which makes it easier to share knowledge across borders near and far.

In their retrospective remarks this morning, Professor Armin Wöhrle, the faculty’s first dean, and Professor Christina Niedermeier traced the faculty’s journey, which was not always an easy one, particularly during its formative years. With great dedication and initiative, a comprehensive programme of study was developed in a short space of time. Changing student expectations and the evolving needs of society have made it necessary, right from the early years, to continually develop the range and content of courses on offer.

Beyond the faculty itself, the university’s teaching staff have established a number of important educational programmes, including the Institute for Competence, Communication and Languages (IKKS) and SIMKI, the Saxon Institute for Cross-Methodological Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy e.V.

The faculty’s 30th anniversary was not just a time to look back, but also to look ahead. Two new professors delivered their inaugural lectures in the afternoon: Dr Sören Hohner, Professor of Law in Social Work, and Dr Alexander Zill, Professor of Psychology. They both embody the breadth and the enduring, complex challenges of Social Work – and the faculty’s ability to break new ground in training future social workers who will bring about positive change in society.