This fall, the NYU Silver School of Social Work welcomed its first cohort of global MSW students at NYU Shanghai, the first NYU master’s-level program to launch in China. The program's eight students hail from the United States, Canada, and China.
Silver School Dean Lynn Videka explained that the MSW program is launching at a pivotal moment in Chinese society, as the Chinese Government estimates a need for 2 million social workers by 2020. This is a very exciting moment. We are very early in the development of the social work profession in China.”
During the program’s first year, offered at NYU Shanghai, students will take courses in English while completing field instruction, in either Mandarin or English, in Shanghai’s social service agencies and health settings. Dean Videka described the philosophy of this immersive program, "In my class (in Shanghai), we make sure to read articles that are written by Chinese scholars to provide bi–cultural perspectives on global social work." The second year will take place at NYU in New York City, where instruction and field learning will be in English.
Because they will possess a comparative understanding of social work practice in China and the United States, graduates from this program will be prepared to work with populations in China as well as with Chinese communities in the United States and around the globe where there is a growing need for culturally competent social workers.