The History of  the Demogene Network

Demogene-network is one of oldest ongoing networks in the European frame and the only one which concentrates on the aging policy and gerontological social work. The first step towards creating a European network was a conference in 1989, organized by the University of Bielefeld under title: ‘Selbstorganisierte Beschäftigungspolitik und Sozialarbeit’. The participants (teachers, researches etc.) of this conference came from England, Germany, France, Spain, Denmark and the Netherlands.

In this conference, professor Helmut Knüppel (Fachhochschule Bielefeld) made a proposal to his colleagues to create ‘educational European network for social work with elderly’ and the other standpoint was to develop a European certification of social work with elderly.

The first intensive course (IP) was organized in 1994 in Ottrott, France by financial support of the European Union. Until 1995, the network worked under the Erasmus-program and there under the interuniversity cooperation program (ICP). Since 1995, the network has worked under the Socrates-program. From 2007, the network has been a part of Erasmus Lifelong Learning Programme. Earlier the IP-course lasted 5 working days and since 2008 it has been 10 working days.

As members of network has been:

Fachhochschule Bielefeld, Germany

Denish School of Social Work Esbjerg, Denmark

University of Zaragoza, Spain

ITRAS-Lorraine, Nancy, France

Hogeschool van Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Fachhochschule Potsdam, Germany

University of Turku, Finland

University of Applied Sciences, Bochum, Germany

University of Budapest, Hungary

Current members:

University of Lubljana, Slovenia

University of Turku, Finland

University of Applied Sciences Bochum, Germany

West Jutland University College Esbjerg, Denmark

IRTAS-Lorraine, Nancy, France

The main activities of the network:

Intensive course (IP)

Curriculum development (CD)

Students’ mobility (SM)

Teachers’ mobility (TM)

Annual teachers meetings

From 1995 to 2005, the name of network was: The Network of Elderly Policy and Social Work with Elderly in the European perspective. Since 2005, the name of network has been: European Network on Elderly Policy and Social Work with Elderly in a World of Demographical Changes (DEMOGENE).

The goal of the Demogene-network is to be an educational, academic network of elderly policy and gerontological social work. The network creates and transmits multidisciplinary and multicultural knowledge in the European frame for students and teachers of member institutions about:

·          Demographic changes

·          Social and elderly policy

·          Theories of growing old

·          Services and care of older people

·          Gerontological social work

·          Best practices in the work with older people

·          Actual projects

·         Special topics (abuse of elderly, process of ageism, successful ageing, dementia etc.)

The content of IP-course:

·         Lectures by experts,researchers, professionals and teachers of network

·          Presentations of students

·          Workshops

·          Case studies in international groups

·          Visits in institutions and agencies

·          Cultural and social programs

·          Evaluation weeks by students and teachers