Course details

Summary

Social workers help people to overcome personal and institutional barriers to well-being and achieve their full potential. They work with individuals, families, groups and organisations in a wide range of contexts.

Students develop a strong academic foundation by studying a variety of courses from the social sciences and Maori studies, as well as specialist Social Work topics. Later on in the degree, a large amount of fieldwork practice takes place in the community. Combined, this academic and practical foundation equips students with the values, knowledge and skills for employment in the social work profession, as well as in people-related, social policy and research occupations.

The UC Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) is a research-only degree carried out under expert supervision and using world-class facilities.

A PhD involves extensive, sustained and original research and study in your chosen subject, with the results being presented in a thesis that will contribute to intellectual knowledge of the field. It is a mark of intellectual ability, self-discipline and commitment. A PhD prepares you for a number of careers, including as an academic.

The minimum period of enrolment for a full-time candidate is two years and the maximum period four years; most PhD students take between three and three-and-a-half years.

Career opportunities

In New Zealand, social workers are employed in both the public and private sectors, providing direct and indirect services. Direct services include those for children, families, older people, those who have committed offences and people with disabilities. Indirect services encompass social sector planning, administration, policy and research.

Direct services may include the protection of children who have been abused, providing group or family therapy, educational programmes for at-risk adolescents, supporting adolescent parents, working with groups aiming to achieve community development, providing interventions for people who are experiencing mental health issues, providing assistance with housing needs, mediation and resolution of family conflict, facilitating access to benefits and other financial resources, and assessment of home and family support for older people.

Social Work graduates can work as community development workers, therapists, counsellors, case managers, field workers, youth workers, care and protection workers, probation officers, iwi social workers, school social workers, hospital social workers, service coordinators, educators, policy analysts and researchers.

Social Work graduates are highly employable overseas, especially in the UK and Australia.

Entry criteria

Enrolment in a PhD requires completion of a research-focused honours or master's degree at first-class or second-class division 1 level (or equivalent qualifications). Applicants with qualifications from outside New Zealand must have been granted admission to the University.

Other English language requirements: TOEFL PBT with a minimum score of 575 and TWE with a minimum score of 4.5; CCEL EAP Level 2 with a minimum B+ grade; CAE or CPE score of 176 with a minimum of 169 in reading, writing, listening and speaking; Pearson Test of English (Academic) - PTE with an overall score of 64 and no PTE communicative skills score below 58.