About the Program: MSW Admissions 2020

The Amrita MSW is a Two-year/ Five year Integrated full-time residential program that offers the combination of dynamic, innovative, and pioneering practical experiences with academic excellence. We address local and global real-world issues that correspond to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. In line with Social Work principles and ideology, our aim is to influence positive change where it is most needed with an attitude of compassion and selflessness. In this light, our students have responded with immediacy to disasters and crises, such as the Kerala floods and COVID-19.They have volunteered on Helplines, with collection and distribution of supplies for relief camps, and with conducting surveys after the Kerala floods, comparing the psychological wellbeing of those in more damaged versus less damaged areas and making referral for treatment when needed. We also have a strong commitment to working with the most impoverished, marginalized communities who experience immense ongoing life challenges, and our MSW students actively participate in this work. For example, our diverse and exciting fieldwork and research activities have afforded students unique opportunities to work with marginalized groups on such topics as:

• Working with rural villagers to address serious water issues such as contamination and its impact on health
• The impact of legal literacy on coping methods of rural women who are subjected to domestic violence
• How lifetime illiteracy has shaped the attitudes and quality of life or impoverished women
• Understanding alcohol use among youth and young adults and its impact on mental wellbeing
• Helping to conduct and participate in medical camps in both hospitals and rural areas
• How natural disasters have influenced stress and agitation among children in child care institutions versus those living in families
• Helping impoverished village communities establish Self-Help Groups
• Community organizing and PRA activities (Participatory Rural Appraisal) in rural village communities to learn about their life challenges and strengths
• Engaging with communities in performing arts activities to explore unique capacities and challenging needs
• Playing sports (football) with rural youth who excel in many skills but avoid academic education because of discrimination
• The influence of pro-social and spiritual values on rates of depression and anxiety among older adults living in care homes vs living in isolation
• The impact of early trauma on the psychological status of vulnerable children in childcare homes, and whether the practice and belief in higher values mitigate depression and anxiety
• Helping forest-dwelling tribal adolescents of school-going age become aware of and using government educational supports available to them

The Amrita social work Program is a credit-based system that allows for flexibility in matters of course design, curricula, time frame, teaching and learning methodologies, and evaluation procedures. The program focuses on improving the higher-order thinking skills of students, such as abstract thinking and problem-solving abilities. These abilities then guide and help students to excel in field work and academic activities. In the Amrita social work Program students will become equipped with enhanced confidence, knowledge, and the skills to address real-world social problems and to think critically about what is going on around them. The aim of this program is to transform dependent learners into independent, life-long learners and compassion-oriented givers. Our students are prepared to embrace the important and dynamic role of social work in the field of global development. Students are required to be skilled and proficient in spoken and written English.

Specializations offered at Amritapuri Campus and Ettimadai (Coimbatore)

Specializations and Collaborations:

1. Physical & mental health
2. Community development
3. Child rights and child protection
4. Global health and development *
5. Gender based violence *
6. Environmental health *

* These specialisations are offered in collaboration with the University of Arizona, leading to a Masters in Social Work and a Graduate Online Certificate from the University of Arizona. (A highly subsidised, exclusive opportunity at Amrita)