IP Wellbeing

Intensive programmes (IPs) are activities or projects within the Erasmus programme, subsidized by the National Erasmus Agency and in the case of Spain by the Autonomous Body of European Educational Programmes (Organismo Autónomo de Programas Educativos Europeos, or OAPEE), and coordinated and run by higher educational institutions forming part of the Erasmus scheme.

The structure and methodology of this type of programme permit the attainment of goals that would not be possible in other short-term international learning programmes. IPs offer students and teachers a single learning space, placing particular value upon innovation, internationalization and multidisciplinarity. IPs aim to offer students and teachers a unique learning space, which places particular value on innovation, internationalization and multidisciplinarity.

Institutions participating in IPs are also expected to recognize the efforts of students by awarding credits. They should make use of ICT tools and services in the preparation and completion of the programme.

The IP developed and coordinated during academic year 2013-2014 in the Faculty of Social Work of UCM had the principal objective of considering so-called “social sustainability” as a means of encouraging responsible and active European citizenship.

Social workers all over Europe play a fundamental part in the transition process towards a sustainable future, as agents of social change. Three international organizations representing social work practice (IFSW, IASSW, ICSW), committed in their 2012 Global Agenda (http://cdn.ifsw.org/assets/globalagenda2012.pdf) to:

- Promote standards in education and practice that facilitate sustainable social development outcomes.

- Encourage and facilitate research into the role of social work with relation to disasters and environmental challenges.

- Promote the importance of sustainable, interdependent communities to achieve social development and wellbeing.

The main aim of this IP was therefore to analyze the contributions of social work as an agent of change to encourage social action, responsible citizenship and sustainable development. The IP offered students and teachers the opportunity to participate in an English-speaking programme that is part of the European Policy statement of all partners in the network.

The programme sought to offer, as part of the social work curriculum, the opportunity to recognize and understand the importance of sustainable development in society, as well as the importance of this element when social workers perform their jobs. The majority of undergraduate degrees lack subjects or seminars dedicated to this topic, and the need was identified to introduce it through intensive programmes. As highlighted by OAPEE, an IP “must provide something new with relation to learning opportunities, skills development, access to information, etc., to the participating teachers and students (principle of innovation). The IP must offer added value compared with existing courses offered by the participant institutions”.

Specifically, the Sustainable Wellbeing IP involved a total of nine foreign institutions in addition to the Faculty of Social Work of UCM, with 59 students and 16 teachers from those countries and institutions. 

City/country	Institution	Number of students	Number of teachers
Kortrijk/Belgium	Katho University College	7	1
Geel/Belgium	Thomas More University	7	1
Gent/Belgium	Artevelde Hogeshool	7	2
Birmingham/U.K.	Newman University	5	2
Helsinki/Finland	Helsinki Metropolia of Applied Sciences	6	2
Ludwigsburg/Germany	Protestant University of Applied Sciences	7	2
Vilnius/Lithuania	Faculty of Social Policy, Mykolas Romeris University	6	2
Prague/Czech Republic	Protestant Theological Faculty	7	2
Madrid/Spain	Social Work Faculty, Complutense University of Madrid	7	2