10 September 2025

Nordhausen University of Applied Sciences and the non-profit organisation gehZEITEN gUG Chemnitz signed a cooperation agreement on 8 September 2025. The partnership aims to strengthen practice-orientated education at the university while providing even more targeted support for families, children and young people with special needs.

The agreement was signed by Prof Dr Jörg Wagner, President of Nordhausen University of Applied Sciences, and Michaela Kemper, Managing Director of gehZEITEN gUG. "With this cooperation, we are combining academic training with direct practical experience. Our students are given the opportunity to apply their knowledge in a highly relevant social field, while families and children benefit from the latest scientific findings," explained Prof Wagner.

Friedrich Ederer, lecturer in the field of early intervention at the university, emphasised: "We want to enrich our teaching with strong practice partners. In the future, the collaboration will also offer opportunities for practical teaching programmes and joint accompanying research."

Together for children and families

The gehZEITEN management team, Yvonne Roscher and Michaela Kemper, founded the non-profit organisation a few years ago in order to provide families with more sustainable psychosocial support. Both have completed the Heidelberg Parent Training Programme, which is now also offered at Nordhausen University of Applied Sciences - an experience that has now laid the foundation for the cooperation.

"We have seen how much families need support, especially when children are living with special challenges. This experience gave rise to our commitment, which we can now deepen further through our collaboration with Nordhausen University of Applied Sciences," says Michaela Kemper.

About gehZEITEN

gehZEITEN is committed to helping children and young people with special needs - including young people with developmental peculiarities, disabilities, chronic illnesses, severe physical limitations or an increased risk. The focus is not only on the children themselves, but also on their families and carers.

The multi-professional team works with individually tailored programmes for:

• Children and young people,
• Parents and close carers,
• Siblings and
• skilled labour.

Support is provided at home, by telephone, online or at the offices in Chemnitz. The services are aimed in particular at people in the Chemnitz region, the Erzgebirgskreis district, Central Saxony, Vogtland and Zwickau - but also beyond on request.

Cooperation with added value

For Nordhausen University of Applied Sciences, the collaboration offers clear added value: students on degree programmes with a pedagogical and social focus gain practical insights, can participate in real projects and at the same time benefit from the experience gained from working directly with families. This not only enriches their education, but also enables a direct transfer of research into practice.