University of Applied Labour Studies of the Federal Employment Agency

Founded in 2006, the University of Applied Labour Studies UALS (Hochschule der Bundesagentur für Arbeit - HdBA) is publicly recognised and accredited by the German Council of Science and Humanities (Wissenschaftsrat). Each year, around 500 students at the two university sites in Mannheim and Schwerin are qualified in dual bachelor programmes to become guidance experts for education, career, employment and labour market management.

The three-year degree programme is comprised of nine four-month trimesters rather than semesters. What is special about the HdBA: The course is a work-and-study programme (dual studies) in which theoretical education alternates with practical phases. The students spend five trimesters at the university in Mannheim or Schwerin. During that time, they do four internships in an Employment Agency, Jobcenter, company, chamber or abroad. The practical part is thus given much more weight than in many other universities, allowing the students to gain experiences in real working life early on.

Guidance and labour market experts as trained by the UALS have to possess distinct professional, methodical, social and personal skills. This is why the curriculum includes a well-balanced combination of subjects from economic, social, educational and legal sciences complemented by expertise in labour market policy, labour market related services and guidance – exactly the kind of skills needed by professionals working for the Federal Employment Agency.

Besides teaching, the professors also spend time doing applied research and development in the fields of guidance, placement and integration, and organise scientific further training courses for the BA's staff. Although the UALS is supported and financed solely by the Federal Employment Agency, it acts independently in all academic aspects. As a result, all skills taught here can also be applied outside of the BA, e.g. in the field of public management or HR service providers.

Not only does the UALS have an excellent student-faculty ratio, it also gives students of the bachelor courses a financial advantage over their fellow students at other universities, one that is especially important for young people at the beginning of their careers: They receive attractive remuneration already during their studies which allows them to fully concentrate on their courses. Once graduated, they can launch their career. The master's programme is designed for employees of the Federal Employment Agency who want to obtain further scientific qualification while continuing to work.

Being close to the labour market is what many young people have in mind when they start to study. The students want to have the feeling that they chose a seminal subject that opens up a variety of perspectives and allows them to start a job immediately after graduating. The courses should have as much practical relevance as possible, be challenging intellectually, varied, with intensive support from teachers and good conditions of studying.

The University of Applied Labour Studies (UALS) is capable of meeting all these expectations. It offers a course of studies that is highly practice-oriented, interdisciplinary and professionally attractive and guarantees excellent job prospects.

Nowhere else are students as close to the labour market as here: The UALS is the Federal Employment Agency's (BA) pool for recruiting young talents. Synonymous with competent career guidance, placement and employment promotion, the BA is also one of Germany's biggest employers with some 90,000 employees, a fact that is frequently overlooked.

To qualify skilled personnel for assuming the varied tasks involved in implementing the public labour market policies, the University of Applied Labour Studies (UALS) needs a course offer that combines specific elements of economic, social and legal sciences. What is more, the University of Applied Labour Studies (UALS) offers a unique curriculum with its focus on guidance sciences.

Although the training at the UALS is primarily geared to the special requirements of the BA, the students are also qualified for tasks outside of the BA that overlap with the BA's range of services, e.g. in the field of public management or HR service providers.

The 'Labour market management' degree course qualifies students for the tasks involved in placement and integration into education and gainful employment, benefit entitlement and benefit counselling as well as for labour market related services and tasks in the internal operations of the Employment Agencies, joint facilities or other labour market policy agencies.

The course 'Guidance for education, career and employment' qualifies students for the tasks of providing vocational guidance and orientation (concentration in vocational guidance), advising and supporting persons fit for work in particularly difficult circumstances (concentration in case management) and qualified guidance on participating in work for people with disabilities (concentration in participating in work) in the Employment Agencies, joint facilities or social insurance agencies and companies.

In the beginning 21st century, the labour market is transforming. A number of long-term substantial trends are responsible for this development: The consequences of demographic change are beginning to be felt, markets are becoming more international, work is getting more mobile, flexible and volatile, and the information and knowledge society is increasingly gaining importance as is the technical development in the goods manufacturing and service sector. The research focus "Employment and transitions in a changing labour market" studies the impact of these trends on the labour market and on guidance services, in particular on transitions in school and career.

Interactive labour market services that require intensive communication are provided in an environment of tension that can be defined by the polar terms individual/situational and organised/standardised. The "Governance of labour market services" focus puts the micro-, meso- and macro-level of such interactions into the centre of analyses and looks at their institutional conditions from this angle. Different aspects of development dynamics and governance of labour market services requiring intensive communication are analysed theoretically and empirically from the angle of different scientific disciplines.

Social security systems are rooted in the welfare state principle. The welfare state principle entitles and commits the legislative branch to design social security. The societal context is crucial in this regard. The "Social protection and legal context" focus emphasises the future economic, social and political developments with regard to their impact on the social security systems. Topics of labour and social law are covered besides migration and EU law in the transformation of social and labour law.