Students and teachers of MASU took part in the annual intensive course
On March 12-16, an annual intensive course on the organization of social work with children and youth was held on the basis of the Arctic University of Norway — the University of Tromsø (Alta campus).
Professors and lecturers of Murmansk Arctic State University — Svetlana Petoshina, Tatyana Tegaleva (Department of Philosophy and Social Sciences), and Yulia Mitina (Department of Modern Languages), presented lectures and practical material in the framework of the course. The event was also attended by students of MASU — volunteers and participants of socially significant projects for the region.
These intensive courses have been organized for three years and are seen as one of the most sustainable forms of academic mobility at MASU and the Arctic University of Norway. As Nina Hermansen, head of the social work department of the Arctic University of Norway, notes, «an intensive course in social work allows not only to conduct a comparative analysis of existing social practices in Russia and Norway but also to create conditions for their use in both countries.»
Every year the course content expands to reflect the current trends in the educational environment — interdisciplinarity. This year, the most relevant areas, in addition to the traditional, «Social work», were «Problems of school bullying», «Social protection of children and youth», «Intercultural leadership» and «Identity».
Students shared their impressions of participating in an intensive course.
«It was a very interesting experience. For me as a specialist, I learned a lot about the problems of bullying in Norway, about domestic violence and protecting the rights of children, as well as differences in solving the problems of young people in Russia and Norway. I believe that this experience will be useful for my future profession» said Elizaveta Polozova, a 4th-year student of the Social Work program.
Both, the teachers of the MASU and their colleagues from the Arctic University of Norway, agreed that this year’s course was the most interesting from the point problems discussed and from the professional side. Moreover, work has begun on a program of a new intensive course, which is next time planned to be organized on the basis of a flagship university in Murmansk.