Profile

The Faculty of Behavioural and Social Sciences excels in teaching and research on how people behave, think, learn, and live together. We work on social issues and problems that people experience on a daily basis, where individual and societal resilience takes centre stage together with the question of how we can improve these aspects. To this end, we focus our efforts on subjects such as migration, environment and climate, health, upbringing and education, the protection of vulnerable minorities, and sustainable partnerships.

The research and teaching is firmly rooted in the academic disciplines of Educational Sciences, Pedagogical Sciences, Psychology, Sociology, and in the training of teachers. The Faculty offers four Bachelor’s degree programmes and more than twenty Master’s tracks, which includes the two-year Research Master in Behavioural and Social Sciences. The Faculty also houses the University Teacher Training Programme.

Around 4,500 students and 800 staff members are part of the Faculty of Behavioural and Social Sciences.

Strategy

The main objectives of the Faculty are to offer excellent teaching and conduct innovative research in the field of behavioural and societal issues, as well as to share knowledge at both national and international levels and to facilitate discussions about this knowledge with scientists, professionals, and the general public.

Academic teaching and research are closely connected. The University is largely funded based on the number of enrolled students. This instils a duty to uphold the quality and proper organization of our educational programmes, and the content of these programmes is mainly fuelled by the formulation of theories and the results of academic research. There is a social responsibility to share this knowledge and put it up for discussion.

In accordance with the wide-ranging objectives, the departments of the Faculty of BSS decide on concrete objectives for their research and degree programmes. The starting point for formulating new faculty policy is to formulate concrete objectives for areas where they can be realized.

Strategic Plan and governance

The Faculty Board indicates in the 2021-2026 Strategic Plan what the conditions and basic principles should be for formulating and achieving those objectives, which means that the Plan mostly focuses on the general facilitating role of the Faculty Board.

An important part of the implementation of the Strategic Plan is the Governance at GMW. This memorandum mostly serves to bring clarity to the division of tasks and powers between administrative bodies in the Faculty, from the Faculty Board (FB), departments, and units to the chair groups.