Master of Social Work

The School of Social Work is proud to offer Canada’s first health-focused Master of Social Work (MSW) program. The MSW program is housed at Renison, and is part of the Faculty of Health at the University of Waterloo. The MSW will build on your Bachelor of Social work degree and prepare you for leadership in health-related practice areas including clinical, community, health promotion and advocacy, program evaluation, policy, and research settings.

 

Waterloo’s online MSW degree will advance your understanding of, and practice skills needed to be responsive to, the social and structural determinants of health in relation to individual, community, and global well-being. You will also develop an advanced understanding of social work’s unique commitment in interprofessional health settings to address structural sources of injustice and inequity as they relate to health and health services access.

 

The MSW is delivered primarily online, allowing you to continue to participate in family and community life while pursuing a graduate degree in social work. The MSW program offers a rich and highly interactive learning environment where you will gain knowledge and skills in advanced social work practice within a focus on health, research/scholarship, professional leadership, and social work supervision.

 

On-campus attendance is mandatory on ONE occasion for a one-week (Monday to Friday inclusive) block course offered as an intensive Summer Institute in August at the start of the program.  This on-campus experience will give you an important opportunity to meet face-to-face with your peers, faculty members, and staff to build and strengthen teaching and learning relationships. The second Summer Institute occurs in August of the graduating year and is offered as a three-week long intensive, online course with synchronous components in the second week. 

 

 

PROGRAM OPTIONS
 

Your MSW degree can be completed in one year (full-time; 3 terms) or in two years (part-time; 6 terms). Whether you pursue the full-time or part-time option, you will participate in:

* Anti-requisites. You may take SWK 609R or SWK 610R. 

 

 

Field education (i.e. the practicum) is the key method of instruction and learning through which Social Work prepares you to become a practitioner, and is often considered the 'heart' of social work education. The practicum is intended to provide you with opportunities to integrate knowledge into your practice, and develop competence through a supervised social work experience related to your learning goals. Field education is comprised of two milestone requirements, the Practicum and the Integration Seminar.

The MSW field education program provides you with:

CAREER OPTIONS
 

Your MSW degree will lay the foundation for leadership in a range of settings related to health, including:

Practicing in this field involves working with individuals, families, groups, communities and organizations on issues such as health disparities and inequities, health promotion and education, treatment and rehabilitation, building community partners and social support, and/or health reform promotion.

 

 

Graduates from the MSW program often pursue a PhD in Social Work as well as Public Health, Health Systems, and Social Justice Education, among other doctoral degrees.