On 30 September 2016, the opening ceremony of the Centre for Integration Studies of TU Dresden will take place in the lecture hall of the Sächsische Landesbibliothek – Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Dresden (SLUB).

The Centre will be formally opened with greetings from Minister of State Dr Eva-Maria Stange, Prof. Dr Hans Müller-Steinhagen, Rector of TU Dresden, and Prof. Dr Christian Prunitsch, Speaker of the Humanities and Social Sciences Division. Afterwards, Prof. Dr. Naika Foroutan will speak about the specific challenges and potentials of an interdisciplinary centre for integration studies in the current situation - in the field of tension between science, society/public and politics. Ms Foroutan is deputy director of the Berlin Institute for European Integration and Migration Studies and head of the BIM work area "Integration Studies and Social Policy".

The Centre for Integration Studies is part of the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at TU Dresden. Researchers from various disciplines have joined forces here to bundle and redesign projects in research and teaching, but also practice-oriented projects with transfer potential. On the one hand, the ZfI is to serve as an umbrella and networking place for corresponding projects, on the other hand, new research projects are initiated. Currently, work has begun on four projects that deal with the subject area of integration from educational, social, linguistic and legal perspectives.

One of the projects deals with political education for refugees: "In the last year, a whole host of new materials for the political and social orientation of refugees have been newly developed and made available. Many good intentions are visible in these materials - but are the published materials really suitable for supporting people in their arrival?" asks Prof. Anja Besand.

The aim is to evaluate what appropriate political learning opportunities for refugees might look like. For this purpose, the existing materials and concepts of the diverse integration offers will be analysed and related to retrospectively formulated learning experiences of migrants. On this basis, new, empirically founded statements about promising didactic concepts can be established.

The Centre for Integration Studies (ZfI) is supported by funds from the Institutional Strategy of the TU Dresden - financed by the Excellence Initiative of the federal and state governments - and funded by the Saxon State Ministry for Science and the Arts (SMWK).

Opening ceremony of the Centre for Integration Studies
Date: 30 September 2016
Time: 10:00 am
Place: Lecture Hall of the Sächsische Landesbibliothek – Staats- und                        Universitätsbibliothek Dresden (SLUB)

Information for journalists
Dr. Sara Hägi-Mead
Junior Research Group Leader | Centre for Integration Studies (ZfI)
Tel: +49 (0) 351 463 40629 I E-Mail: sara.haegi-mead@tu-dresden.de

Dr. Karoline Oehme-Jüngling
Research Coordinator | Centre for Integration Studies (ZfI)
Tel: +49 (0) 351 463 40628 I E-mail: karoline.oehme-juengling@tu-dresden.de

Prof. Dr. Anke Langner
Chair of Inclusive Education | Faculty of Education Sciences
Tel: +49 (0) 351 463 34001 I E-Mail: anke.langner@tu-dresden.de