Our MSW program is distinctive for its strong focus on teaching clinical skills. We create strong connections between classroom content and real-life human needs; transform your innate caring into the constructive, relationship-centered practice of social work; and help you to develop a satisfying career that enhances the meaning of your own life as you help shape and affect the lives of others.
Your interest in our program suggests your caring and empathy. If our faculty selects you -- they review every application -- we will invite you to join our supportive and varied community of students and faculty, and into our wider community of field learning agencies in the NYC metropolitan area. The New York University School of Social Work is the only graduate school in the NYC metropolitan area that exclusively focuses its energy and resources on preparing clinical social work professionals. Our faculty will give you the tools for a career as a reflective, relationship-centered clinical social work professional. All of our campus-based programs -- in Greenwich Village, Rockland, Westchester and on Staten Island -- offer the same clinically-focused, teaching centered environment for your education as a professional.
the nyu clinical edge
A focus on developing relationship-centered, reflective practice with individuals, groups and families runs though our entire MSW curriculum. Curricula are designed around this idea, and selection of faculty is based in part on their ability to accomplish this goal. Practice classes are smaller, with a high level of coordination with field learning. The School has the finest cadre of clinically experienced faculty in the metropolitan area. If you want a superb social work education and a deep clinical practice focus, there is no better school for you.
Within the framework of the School's mission to improve the quality of life in New York City and surrounding areas, the objectives of the master's degree program are the following:
- Incorporation of the knowledge, skills, and values necessary for advanced social work practice with individuals, families, and groups.
- Development of an integrative, holistic approach to social work practice that permits versatility in the choice and application of intervention methods.
- Development of the attitudes and analytical skills necessary for self-critical, accountable, and effective practice.
- Development of professional discipline and self-awareness.
- Recognition of the significance of scientific inquiry in advancing professional knowledge and improving standards of practice.
- Participation in the development of a profession that takes informed action in support of social welfare objectives in a democratic society.
All clinical social workers must have a Master of Social Work (MSW) degree and be licensed or certified in the state in which they practice. The widely acclaimed NYU Master of Social Work degree is attainable through a variety of flexible programs that are geared toward the practical needs and interests of our student population. Each of the NYU MSW programs includes an emphasis on clinical training.
All of our courses of study achieve the same central goal: to channel your innate sense of caring and desire to help people into a successful career as a competent professional.
NYU offers five innovative program options and three dual degree programs for earning an MSW.
silver school of social work introduces
the integrated practice/field curriculum
The Silver School of Social Work at NYU, in consultation with the Council on Social Work Education, has introduced an innovative approach to teaching and learning. The new Integrated Practice/Field Curriculum is designed to more closely weave together the classroom and field experiences of master's level social work students. At the same time, practice and faculty advisors have greater opportunities to coordinate their teaching direction, and provide a more thorough learning experience for our MSW students.
The Silver School is moving forward with this program as part of its reaccreditation plan, and as such, the program reflects our holistic and integrated approach towards social work practice and field learning. Advisors for our foundation-level students are assigned to participate in practice classes, collaborating with instructors in teaching course content. Because the advisors are in the classroom, they are engaged in the content being taught, while the instructors gain an awareness of activities in the field. The advisors and instructors align their efforts to provide a superior social work education to our students.
Additionally, during the course of the academic year, students and advisors participate in one-to-one meetings. In the Advanced Concentration year, students meet in small groups with their advisors.
"We believe that by bringing field and classroom learning closer together, in a thoughtful and studied approach, the knowledge we gain will benefit social work education and, by extension, social work practice," said Suzanne England, Professor at the Silver School.
Among the beneficial outcomes anticipated from implementing the Integrated Practice/Field Curriculum are faculty collaboration; better collaboration among students and between students and faculty; and a training manual highlighting the NYU reaccreditation effort and best practice outcomes.
