Our social work graduates are in demand in Australia and overseas for rewarding and challenging careers. Choose the direction you want to take, with strong projected future growth in the field.

With its emphasis on skill development and continuing lifelong education, a social work degree from UNE can open doorways to careers in counseling, case management, management, research, policy development, politics, and community planning.   

Social workers are employed in a diverse range of government, non-government, and community agencies such as:  

• hospitals and community health centres 
• early intervention, child protection programs, and family support services 
• schools 
• justice systems 
• housing services 
• mental health 
• disability and aged care services. 

International students studying at regional universities will be eligible to access an additional  2 years in Australia on a post-study work visa  (Which means a Bachelors or Masters graduate can get up to 4 years of PSW visa)

A candidate shall:

• (a) hold an AQF Level 5 Diploma or an AQF Level 6 Advanced Diploma qualification from a Vocational Education Training (VET) Community Services Package; or from a Vocational Education Training (VET) Health Training Package in one of the following areas: Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Health Care; Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Primary Health Care Practice; Nursing. For more information go to http://training.gov.au; or
• (b) be qualified for admission (see Admission Undergraduate and Postgraduate (Coursework) Rule and the Admission Undergraduate and Postgraduate (Coursework) Procedures).

For direct admission into undergraduate courses offered by UNE, you must have completed an educational qualification considered to be at least equivalent to completion of Year 12 in Australia.

India

Qualifications 

• Applicants holding relevant Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) or Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) Year 12 examination results
• Applicants holding relevant Indian State Board of Education Board Year 12 examination results, other than PSEB and HSEB
• Applicants holding relevant Punjab State Education Board (PSEB) and Haryana State Education Board (HSEB) Year 12 Examination 
• Applications holding relevant National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) year 12 examination results
• Applicants holding a relevant Indian post-Year 10, Year 12 equivalent 3-Year VET level Diploma results in a relevant stream

Standard Entry

• Must have achieved a minimum average of 60% in their Best of 4 academic subjects in a relevant stream, including English if necessary (but not a local language), with an overall First Division (60%+).
• Must have achieved a minimum average of 65% in their Best of 4 academic subjects in a relevant start, including English if necessary (but not a local language), with an overall First Division (60%+)
• Must have achieved a minimum average of 70% in their Best of 4 academic subjects in a relevant stream, including English if necessary (but not local language), with an overall First Division (60%+)
• Must have achieved a minimum average of 70% in their Best of 4 academic subjects in a relevant stream, including English if necessary (but not a local language), with an overall First Division (60%+),
• Must have achieved an overall minimum average of 60% or First Division results

Students must meet UNE requirements by week 9 of the first trimester of study. These include:

A Working with Children Check for the state or territory in which the student will undertake a placement. NSW Working with Children Checks is valid for 5 years from the date of issue.

NSW Ministry of Health Requirements

To be eligible to attend field placement experience all Bachelor of Social Work students must meet the NSW Ministry of Health verification requirements within NSW Health's ClinConnect system by week 9 of the first trimester of study. These include:

Adult Vaccination** as per NSW Ministry of Health requirements for Category A Health Care Workers (Any interim compliance issued by NSW Ministry of Health has individual dates of issue and expiry)
National Criminal History Check**:

Students must have a current (expires 3 years from the date of issue) National Criminal History check and International students must also have an International Police Check or statutory declaration. A valid National Criminal history check must comply with the following requirements:

• It must be from a CrimTrac Accredited Broker Agency (as listed on the CrimTrac website) or an Australian State NSW Police or Territory Police Force or the Australian Federal Police, and
• It must state that it is a National or Australia wide check, and
• It must include the student's full name and their date of birth, and
• It must not have any offenses listed (students with a criminal history must provide a Clinical Placement Authority Card (CPAC) or conditional letter from the Employment Screening and Review Unit, NSW HealthShare), AND
• The name on the Police Certificate must be the same name as on the Student's ID card.

Completion of mandatory NSW Ministry of Health forms.

Practical, Clinical or Work Experience

UNE field education units are compliant with the AASW requirements for practical experience. UNE will require that students undertake 1000 hours of fieldwork. In the Bachelor of Social Work, this will be taken as two placements over two units. Students may be required to travel some distance to undertake the placement.

The first fieldwork placement is HSSW310 (18 credit points). There is a compulsory three-day intensive school to prepare students for their placement experience. The number of days per week will be negotiated with individual students and placement agencies (with a minimum of 3 days per week), including a full-time block of at least 2 weeks during the placement, and a compulsory intensive held.

The second placement is HSSW411 (18 credit points) and is commonly undertaken alongside the capstone unit HSSW412 which entails a research/evaluation project. Honors students do not do HSSW412 and instead have a capstone experience in their research project unit HSSW402H. This second placement totals 500 hours + 2 days on campus for a preparatory intensive school. The number of days per week will be negotiated with individual students and placement agencies (with a minimum of 3 days per week required) including a full-time block of at least 2 weeks during the placement. Due to the nature of fieldwork and the range of agencies involved, this unit will only be offered full-time trimesters 1 and 2 of any year, with part-time students needing to increase their study load for their placement trimester.