The Department of Social Work is one of the leading providers of social work training and education in Hong Kong. The four-year Bachelor of Social Work (Hons) Programme aims to equip students with knowledge and professional values in social work so that graduates can effectively meet the social service needs of the community in a flexible, realistic, creative and professional yet critical manner.

In the four-year curriculum, students are required to study a total of 128 units, including 4 units of Social Sciences common core, 78 units of Social Work Major courses (including Honours Project and Major electives), 31 units of General Education courses and 15 units of Elective courses. The Social Work Major courses are structured into four areas, namely (a) Human Behaviour and Social Environment, (b) Social Work Theory and Practice, (c) Social Policy, Research and Administration, and (d) Fieldwork. Graduates of our Bachelor of Social Work (Hons) Programme are recognised by most social work professional bodies at the international level. They can register as Registered Social Workers (RSW) with the Social Workers Registration Board in Hong Kong.

Unique Features

Students are required to attend another 100 hours of non-credit bearing pre-placement activities, a growth group, and four levels of integrative tutorials over four years. Following the University’s internationalisation strategy, there are growing opportunities for student exchange, overseas placements, visits from overseas scholars and other related activities to substantiate experiential and academic learning.

Transdisciplinary Second Majors / Second Majors

The University envisions the importance of transdisciplinary innovations in response to the global challenges and offers a flexible curriculum structure that is much more agile and fits the present and yet-to-known future needs. Students of designated programmes will have the opportunity to opt for a transdisciplinary second major (TSM) / second major (SM) on top of their major. TSMs are geared for particular talent needs in Hong Kong and prepare students to pool knowledge from disciplines to excel in multiple careers, whereas SMs prepare students to gain in-depth knowledge from another discipline to complement the first major. This approach equips students not only for their careers, but also the future development of their respective fields. Seven TSMs and two SMs will be launched in the 2025/26 academic year. Please click here for more details.

Student Learning Experiences

All social work students are required to undertake two fieldwork placements in their Year 3 and Year 4 study. Each supervised fieldwork placement is of 400 hours, thus adding up to 800 hours in total plus another 100 hours of pre-placement work.

All students are given an opportunity to consider applying for pursuing an exchange programme either in Year 2 or Year 3 study. Students may be able to finish the programme within 4 years if they pursue the exchange programme in semester 2 of Year 2 study and follow through the study plan provided. If it lasts for two semesters, the eligible ones will need to finish the whole Programme in five years.

Career Opportunities  

Graduates holding a Bachelor of Social Work (Hons) degree are qualified to apply as Registered Social Workers (RSW) in Hong Kong according to the Social Workers Registration Ordinance 1997. They are eligible to be employed as Assistant Social Work Officers in the Social Welfare Department or non-governmental organisations in Hong Kong.