International Summer University in Social Work

The International Summer University in Social Work (ISUSW) is a two-week academic program that aims at enriching the professional experiences, knowledge and skills of participants from all over the world. Organized by a consortium of nine University Partners who signed a Memorandum of Understanding pertaining to the ISUSW, each edition of this program addresses a specific theme in the field of social work.

The creation of the Consortium in 2017 stems from various and past collaborations that have been developed over the course of more than ten years between several universities. It aims at ensuring the continuity of a short-term program – the ‘International Summer University in Social Work (ISUSW)’ – in order to promote scientific, social and cultural exchanges between participants from all over the world and to engage critically with global issues concerning social work theories and practices. The labelling ‘international summer university’ refers then to the academic wording commonly used to promote institutional collaboration and not to the activities’ contents that are geared towards globalization processes affecting professional perspectives and resources.

The Consortium ensures that the ISUSW takes place annually. It lives up to conditions of pedagogical and scientific quality; it guarantees that all participants benefit from a stimulating and critical learning framework for all proposed activities (academic and professional lectures, institutional visits or workshops). It is geared towards graduate students, mainly at Master’s level.
The Consortium promotes activities that link teaching and research as well as social and cultural activities mainly through the ISUSW that fosters cross-border collaborations in order to encourage and support fruitful exchanges between students, professors, experts and social work professionals, among all the member universities of the Consortium (‘member universities’) and throughout the world.