The reason for this additional qualification is the complex new legal regulations of the Federal Participation Act (BTHG), which, among other things, reforms the integration assistance law in four reform stages.

What is integration assistance?

The aim of integration assistance is to enable people with disabilities or people at risk of disability to participate in society on an equal footing by providing tailored services. Previously, these services were regulated in the Social Security Code XII and thus assigned to the state welfare system of social assistance. With the third stage of reform, integration assistance will be transferred to SGB IX (Rehabilitation and Participation of People with Disabilities) on January 1, 2020 and thus to a modern benefits law. Implementation is the responsibility of the federal states and local authorities as the providers of integration assistance, who have been given responsibility for managing the entire process.

Major reform as a challenge for local authorities

The implementation is considered to be the biggest socio-political reform of the past ten years and poses major challenges for local authority service providers. In particular, a new or larger, multi-professional workforce needs to be established and trained.

In order to meet the requirements of the people entitled to benefits and to be able to reflect the legal changes in the best possible way, a cooperation agreement was concluded between the cities and the Ostfalia in order to be able to offer the further training measure.

Implementation of the new legal regulation scientifically monitored

In addition to the qualification of social workers, the "Social Work" faculty at Ostfalia, under the direction of Prof. Dr. Ludger Kolhoff, will conduct research to observe the implementation of the Federal Participation Act in the region. The research will focus on social solutions to support the participation opportunities of eligible individuals and organizations. The planned research also strengthens Ostfalia's "third mission", as it contributes to solving social challenges by jointly considering social and political dimensions, applying the process results of the research across disciplines and transferring them into practice.

The "third (academic) mission" is in part closely interwoven with the two missions of teaching and research, but the third mission goes far beyond this. Direct exchange and mutual interaction form the core of this third mission.

(Press release: Ostfalia University of Applied Sciences)