Master of Social Work (MSW Program)

Program Overview

The Master of Social Work (MSW) program at University of Northern British Columbia provides advanced skills in research, policy, and practice. It offers concentrations in northern and remote areas, Indigenous peoples, women and human services, and community practice and research. Students can choose a thesis or practicum option and develop critical intervention skills that link social policy, research, and practice.

Program Outline

Degree Overview:

The Master of Social Work (MSW) program at University of Northern British Columbia (UNBC) is designed to provide students with advanced social work research, policy, and practice skills. The MSW is available on a full- or part-time basis and can be completed by thesis or practicum.

Objectives:

• To prepare students for advanced practice in social work, including independent research, policy formulation, program consultation, planning, clinical practice, and research within the human services.

Program Description:

The MSW program is built on the Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) by offering students an integrated research/policy/practice concentration in one of the key thematic areas:

• social work in northern and remote areas
• Indigenous peoples
• women and the human services
• community practice and research
The MSW curriculum emphasizes a pro-active orientation that aims to provide informed theoretical, empirical, and substantive choices for improvements in human service programs, policies, education, and social work practice. This approach to social work and social policy is known as social administration. The key elements in this social administration approach consist of:

the description and analysis of the operation of human services in northern and remote regions;

the study of social policies and social work practices, and their individual and social consequences for the people and communities in the interior and northern British Columbia;

the examination of global, historical, social, and economic changes, and the way these affect the living conditions and the people served by human service agencies and organizations in northern and remote areas;

Courses are arranged so students develop skills that integrate the research/policy/practice domains of social work. A major emphasis of the MSW is to foster critical intervention skills that link the domains of social policy, social work research, and social work practice. Students can choose to develop a specialty in community practice and research, or social policy.

Outline:

Entry Routes and Course Schedule:

Entry Route 1:

• For applicants with a CASWE-accredited Bachelor of Social Work (BSW).
• Advanced Year: Consists of 33 credit hours, including thesis or practicum report.
• Thesis Option: 21 credit hours of required courses, two electives, and a thesis
• Practicum Option: 24 credit hours of required courses, three electives, and a practicum

Entry Route 2:

• For applicants with a Bachelor's degree in a related field and two years of full-time equivalent human service experience.
• MSW Foundation Year (first year): Six 600-level courses, two 600-level social work electives, and practicum.
Total of 33 credit hours
• Second Year: Consists of coursework and practica.
Thesis or practicum report required. Typically consists of 66 credit hours (33 credit hours per year).

Required Courses for Thesis Option:

• SOCW 602-3 Indigenous Peoples: Advanced Social Work Practice
• SOCW 609-3 Advanced Quantitative Research
• HHSC 703-3 Qualitative Research Approaches in Health and Human Sciences
• SOCW 704-3 MSW Integrative Seminar
• SOCW 700-12 MSW Thesis

Required Courses for Practicum Option:

• SOCW 602-3 Indigenous Peoples: Advanced Social Work Practice
• SOCW 609-3 Advanced Quantitative Research
• HHSC 703-3 Qualitative Research Approaches in Health and Human Sciences
• SOCW 704-3 MSW Integrative Seminar
• SOCW 732-9 MSW Practicum II

Elective Courses (All Students):

Students are required to select one elective from the following list, and may take the other two as additional electives:

• SOCW 601-3 Current Issues in Northern/Remote Social Work
• SOCW 603-3 Women: Policy/Practice Issues
• SOCW 605-3 Community Work/Politics of Change

Additional Elective Courses for Thesis Students:

• SOCW 604-3 Directed Readings (taken only once)
• SOCW 610-3 Wellness: Alternative Approaches
• SOCW 613-3 Clinical Social Work Practice
• SOCW 670-3 Indigenous Peoples in Canada: Past/Present/Future
• SOCW 671-3 Reflections on Practice: Indigenous Child/Youth Mental Health
• SOCW 672-3 Social Work/Counselling Skills with Indigenous Children/Youth
• SOCW 673-3 Mental Illness and Addictions Among Indigenous Children/Youth
• SOCW 674-3 Crisis Work With Indigenous Children/Youth: Restoring Balance
• SOCW 675-3 Community-Based Prevention with Indigenous Peoples: Creating Balance
• SOCW 698-3 Special Topics
• SOCW 701-3 Research Practicum

Elective Courses for Practicum Students:

• One elective must be selected from the elective list for all students (see above).