New social work & development school at SUSS to address S'pore's need in social service sector

The Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS) will launch a new school in the third quarter of 2025: the School of Social Work & Social Development.

Speaking to the media on Mar. 21, SUSS Provost Robbie Goh shared that there is a high attrition rate in the social work sector, citing burnout and public perception, among other reasons.

In 2024, Minister Masagos Zulkifi said in 2024 that the social service sector needs 2,000 more professionals over the next five years to meet society's evolving needs.

As such, SUSS's new school will be its flagship school, serving as a link between academia, social work professionals, and the larger social service sector.

The school aims to develop more qualified social work professionals, especially with the increasing population and the growing complexity of social issues.

While SUSS already has an existing social work programme, Goh said the programme will be taken out of its current school to form the new one.

Besides SUSS, the National University of Singapore (NUS) is the only university that provides undergraduate and graduate social work degree programmes.

Goh added:

"Our hope is that the School of Social Work becomes a thought leader, [and] an advocacy leader as well, to influence policy and be a kind of beacon for people who are interested in the social work service field to come alongside, to network with us, and to really address an issue which I think we all know is very, very pressing, very, very important to society."

Intake and curriculum

The new School of Social Work & Social Development will continue to offer the existing social work programmes:

• Bachelor of Social Work (part-time programme)
• Graduate Diploma in Social Work (part-time programme)
• Master in Social Work (part-time programme)
• Bachelor of Social Work (full-time programme)

The part-time programmes have two admission intakes a year in January and July, while the full-time Bachelor of Social Work only has one intake in August.

The new undergraduate social work curriculum will focus on various areas of social work practice, allowing students to translate what they learn in the classroom into practice.

The areas of concentration are:

Graduate programmes will remain stackable, keeping with SUSS's model that facilitates adult learning.

Vincent Ng Chee Keong will be appointed the Dean of the School of Social Work & Social Development.

All 10 existing full-time faculty members will also be transferred to the new school, and more full-time faculty members will be recruited progressively.

"We hope that the establishment of a new School of Social Work & Social Development will ramp up abilities, allowing a lot more help to this very, very important sector," Goh said.

Top photo via Google Maps