The University of Connecticut is coming up with an on-hand way to get a degree by offering an online social work Masters program, this fall.
According to the Dean of the School of Social Work, Laura Curran, this program will be online and part-time. You can take while working or taking care of your family. It will take three years to complete and will have a mix of live classes and ones you can do whenever it’s convenient for you. Even though you won’t be going to campus every day, you’ll learn the same things and have the same teachers as an in-person master’s program with only a difference of pace as it is a part-time program.
Curran added that they are launching an online part-time program only but if the demand increases, they will move to full-time. Moreover, the idea for this program came partly from the COVID-19 pandemic, which showed that online learning can work well. The popularity of online masters’ programs and the desire of students for the classes that they could do on their own schedule was also a reason to push forward this program.
At the start, there will only be a few students in each class so that everyone can get to know each other and get help when they need it. But if more people want to join, they might make the classes bigger.
Curran hopes that by offering this online program, they can help more people across the state get a Master’s degree in Social Work. She believes that University of Connecticut graded 36th as it offers the top social work masters program in the state Hartford. But she believes there are still students in other parts of the state who aren’t being served by the current master’s program.
She thinks this online program will help the university reach more students and have a bigger impact. The shortage of social workers is creating mental health crises, child welfare issues, aging, and health equity problems. The easy way out is a strong social work labor force that can develop by expanding the MSW programs to more students.
The online program will begin in the fall of 2024, and the online social work masters program is welcoming applications until the spring.
