Social Work

The Department of Social Work, Visva-Bharati became the first Institute to introduce Bachelor’s degree in Social Work (B.S.W) in the year 1963. Being one of the oldest and premiere institutes of Social Work, it has engaged itself towards developing social work professionals in the surrounding villages of Sriniketan where the ‘Sriniketan Experiement’ was initiated by Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore, the founder of the University of Visva-Bharati.

Currently the Department offers the following programmes:-

1.  Four Year Undergraduate Programme with Social Work Major
2.  Master in Social Work (MSW)
3.  PhD in Social Work
4.  Post Graduate Diploma in Disability Studies (PGDDS)
5.  Post Graduate Diploma in Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policy (PGDSEIP)

The department encourages and trains its student to identify the strengths of the clientele to develop capabilities to professionally support the people in need. The curriculum’s major thrust in on capacity building and advocacy while working with disadvantage and marginalized sections of the people. Classroom lectures, case studies, roleplays, individuals and group assignments, situational analysis, seminar presentations, project assignments, study visits and training at fieldwork are important components of our teaching and learning exercise. National and international professionals are invited to help the students gain insights into real life field situations.

Fieldwork is the core of Social Work education. With the objective of integrating theory into practice, fieldwork has been included as a vital component  of the curriculum of the Department of Social Work. The students are helped in developing a holistic understanding of the issues, the problems, the situations, the causative factors, and possible strategies of interventions towards improvement of the well-being of the individuals, groups, and communities. The curriculum has major thrust on empowerment and capacity building of the students. It is based on the mission of ‘Rural Reconstruction’ as envisioned by Gurudeb Rabindranath Tagore.

The Department also publishes a UGC-Care Listed Journal named ‘Journal of Social Work and Social Development’ from 2010 and is continuing till date. The Journal provides an opportunity to promote the researches across the country and the world and also encourages young scholars to reflect their scholarly output to interested readers.

There is a designated Audio-Visual Unit and a Field Work Unit which is always working towards enriching the fieldwork, documentation, internships, and placement of the students.

The Vision:

To train professional social workers who can contribute to the development of individual, community and the nation and enable them to be self-sufficient in all aspects of their life.

The Mission:

To provide and integrate professional social work education, research and service to promote social justice and empowerment in communities through social work practices locally, nationally and internationally.” The department equips its students to help people realise their self –potentialities and by doing so helps them to integrate the theories and models of social work into practice. The extensive field work helps the students to understand the reality and thus they become individuals well aware and adept to the situation.. The students are trained to work with the rural people and help them to exercise their individual agency in developing their potential as creative beings so that their participation in the composite life is meaningful and significant.