All you need to know about Master of Social Work (MSW) Course

Introduction to Social Work

Social work is a hands-on profession that strives to help people and families deal with their different problems. The exact work that social workers perform depends on their specific field of their study and specialisations. The social workers help people cope with challenges in every stage of their lives. They help with a wide range of situations, such as adopting a child or being diagnosed with a terminal illness, etc.

The social workers work with many populations, including children, people with disabilities and people with addictions. Social work can be mentally and emotionally exhausting and always considered as a challenging field of work. Social workers often have a heavy caseload with limited time and resources. Sometimes, the social workers are needed to be compassionate, yet firm and assertive when dealing with hostile clients.

Few details about Master in Social Work (MSW) Course

Master in Social Work or (MSW) is a 2-year specialised post-graduate course that is divided into 4-semesters. The course consists of macro and micro aspects of professional social work practices in community, hospitals, schools and other fields of social services. The course trains the students and turns them into skilled social workers. The primary aim of the course in a society is on the marginalised and weaker sections of the society who are often suppressed and neglected.

The course imparts the knowledge and training related to the upliftment of the marginalised communities in the students. The course gives a greater picture about education sanitisation and welfare related programmes for the students. The course offers specialisation in the four main areas like industrial relations and personnel management, family and child welfare, psychiatric social work and community development.

Eligibility for Master in Social Work (MSW)

The students who have passed their under graduation in any stream with 50% aggregate from the recognised university are eligible to apply for MSW course.

Admission Procedures

The eligible students can join to master in social work (MSW) by two modes of admission. The first one is merit-based admission and the second one is direct admission.

1. Merit Based Admission

There are many top colleges and universities that conduct institution-based entrance exams for the admission to MSW course, such mode of admission is called merit-based admission. The colleges will be having specific and limited number of merit-seats and entrance exams are conducted to select deserving students for these merit seats. The students who qualify the entrance exams are allotted merit seats. The main idea for conducting institution-based entrance exams is to select the right candidates from the group of non-serious students. The fees are also nominal for merit-based admission.

2. Direct Admission

The students can also take admission to MSW course by another mode called direct admission. Under this mode the students are given direct admission to their desired colleges under management quota. The main advantage of this mode is that the students are given special privileges and facilities, where they are not required to appear for any institution-based entrance exams for admission. Another benefit is that the students can choose their desired colleges and book their seats in advance even before the college starts. The interested students can contact the Galaxy Educational Services for more details about direct admissions.

Syllabus for MSW

The students of MSW will be studying the following syllabus in their course duration

Career and Scope

MSW graduates are entitled to a good reputation at international level. They can find ample job opportunities across different sections. They are hired in government agencies, private agencies, NGOs, non-profit organisations, rehabilitation centres, etc. They can take up research by joining a PhD programme. They can have an in-depth study by joining the M.Phil programme. They can join as lecturers in colleges and they can even take up UGC-NET exams to become assistant professors.

Job roles for MSW students

Some of the important job roles available for MSW students are:

• Community Worker
• Social Welfare officer
• Public Relations officer
• Training Coordinator
• Project Coordinator

Salary and Emoluments

The MSW students can easily get around 4 lakhs to 6 lakhs per annum. The experienced professionals will be earning still more about 5 lakhs to 7 lakhs per annum. The salaries are dependent on the location and recruiter.

Top organisations hiring MSW students

Some of the top organisations are:

• Infosys Foundation
• Tata Foundation
• Reliance Foundation
• CRY
• HelpAge India
• UNICEF
• Adani Foundation

Final Lines

The demand for the MSW students continues to stay in the future. Today more and more organisations are developing philanthropic attitudes and taking up community centric initiatives under their corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities. The organisations are in need of a large number of MSW students to carry out these activities effectively. The MSW students are hired in large numbers and their main job role is to effectively implement community centric initiatives so that every deprived community gets all the benefits.

The MSW degree is for those students who have an urge to help society and believe in the upliftment of the community, those can join this course and serve the society with no expectations. They are paid decent salaries and are also given opportunities to grow further in their careers.