 social work master programme social work master programme andydindial thu 8262021 938 ug with key stakeholders begin strategic discussions on reviewing and enhancing master of social work programme social work standards legislation licensure and accreditation  the university of guyana s department of sociology social work unit along with key national and international stakeholders on tuesday august 24 2021 began strategic discussions aimed at reviewing and enhancing the institution s master of social work programme in keeping with the university s 2040 blueprint which essentially aligns ug as a key national development partner the virtual retreat which will run for the next two days was declared open under the theme professional social work in guyana reimagining education and practice to achieve planned change and promote social economic and environmental justice and human rights it is also being held in celebration of fifty years of social work education in guyana students social workers educators and various key stakeholders locally regionally and internationally will engage on ways to further enhance the master in social work programme offered by ug discussions will also ensue to establish the role the university of guyana through the department of sociology social work unit will play in ensuring the enactment of social work legislation licensure and establishment of an accreditation council delivering the feature address minister of human services and social security honourable dr vindhya persaud expressed fifty years ago the university of guyana responded to a need that existed and launched the diploma in social work this programme has produced generations of social workers who currently form the body of our social workforce with great wisdom from the university of guyana the programme morphed into a bachelor s degree and in 2017 the master of social work was launched under a servicing arrangement with york university and support from the united nations children fund unicef the minister noted that the ministry of human services and social security and many other institutions in both the private and public sectors have benefitted from the hundreds of students who graduated from this programme she highlighted that the profession of social work is multidimensional and requires an intersectoral approach to reimagine the education and practice of social work in guyana and urged the participants to seriously explore ways in which the programme at ug could be improved university of guyana s vicechancellor xi prof paloma mohamed martin in her remarks recognised the contributions of the many stakeholders locally and internationally that have contributed and continue to contribute to the social work programme at the university in particular unicef and early pioneers like sybil patterson patrice lafleur jospehine whitehead dr janice jackson barbara thomas holder and christine king to name a few along with those being specially honored this week she also noted in particular the unwavering support from the ministry of human services and social security prof barbara heron and her team from york university unicef and the team from the department of sociology from ug the vc explained our second aspirational goal in the 2040 blueprint is ug being a centre for excellence for some very specific areas one of the exciting emerging areas that we are developing is human resiliency systems it has become very important for us as human beings to not only be physically resilient but to be mentally and emotionally resilient in every way this is why the university of guyana has framed its resiliency programme as human resiliency systems because we want to look at all of the systems she also said that this review is programmed at a time when the university had launched its centre for behavioral sciences and research cebres which will teach and research psychology criminology social work and psychiatry and whose dedicated counselling center will roll out ug s new inclusion policy which emphasizes strongly students with mental health and physical vulnerabilities head of the department of sociology mr andrew hicks in his remarks said we are deeply appreciative for the work of our local partners and other members of our local academic community who have remained steadfast in their support for our academic activities as a department i am particularly delighted for the enthusiasm and interest of our partners in the ministry of human services and social security under the leadership of the distinguished minister who is also a former member of the faculty of the university of guyana minister vindhya persaud mr hicks also acknowledged the support of prof barbara heron and her team from york university in canada whom he said demonstrated consistent passion and commitment to the efforts of the university of guyana in providing graduate social work education to local practitioners in her brief remarks prof heron pointed out that in spite of the challenges brought on by covid19 which affected her team s ability to travel to guyana to teach the new cohort of students in facetoface mode there is an opportunity now to really give some thought to how the programme continues and i really look forward to participating with everyone the master of social work programme was implemented in august 2017 the university s department of sociology currently collaborates with york university as a strategic partner to deliver the teaching aspect of the msw programme the programme was developed in response to the prevailing demands from the government the international community and nongovernment agencies stakeholders saw the need for higher levels of skills amongst practitioners in order to effectively respond to the needs of persons key partners include the ministry of human services and social security the child care protection agency childlink and unicef according to the coordinator of the programme mrs debbie hopkinson the intent of this virtual retreat is twofold firstly it seeks to reevaluate the department of sociology social work unit s propgramme relevance in the changing landscape of the employment industry with the aim of introducing additional modules that are fit for purpose and secondly it is a critical juncture to undertake a review of the social work standards and commence preliminary discussions on social work legislation licensure and accreditation in guyana mrs hopkinson noted having trained an estimated 70 students it is now an opportune time to review this program to ascertain how it is meeting the needs of our stakeholders it is also critical at this juncture to determine how the curricula in its present construct are relevant to the new and emerging needs of guyana dr paulette henry dean faculty of social sciences thanked all the stakeholders for their support and their commitment to ensuring that the master of social work programme continues to improve director of children services ministry of human services and social security ms ann greene and retired educator ms sylvia conway were honoured for their years of selfless service in the area of social work ms greene a driving force and advocate for the protection of children s welfare in guyana has been in the social work field for over fifty years for me it is a privilege to have served as a social worker people ask me i say i never see what i did as a job it was never a job i have never worked one day in my life what i have done all the years it was a mission i was on to me it is a mission and i m still on it today ms greene related ms sylvia conway has served as a teacher lecturer and strong advocate for human rights for several years she currently sits on guyana s adoption board the parole board ddl foundation and the st anne s orphanage board ms conway was unable to join the ceremony but recognition was given to her for her contributions in the area of social work in guyana persons interested in applying for any of the university s degrees in social work psychology or psychiatry are kindly asked to click on the following link for more details associate of social science social work  https uogedugy srms departments 65 programmes 778 details bachelor of social science social work  https uogedugy srms departments 65 programmes 781 details bachelor of social science sociology  https uogedugy srms departments 65 programmes 94 details master in social work  https uogedugy srms departments 65 programmes 856 details choose from over 140 programmes including those at the phd masters postgraduate undergraduate associate degree and diploma and certificate levels college of medical sciences  https fhsuogedugy srms departments faculty of agriculture and forestry  https fafuogedugy srms departments faculty of education and humanities  https fehuogedugy srms departments faculty of earth and environmental sciences https  feesuogedugy srms departments faculty of engineering and technology  https fotuogedugy srms departments faculty of natural sciences  https fnsuogedugy srms departments  faculty of social sciences  https fssuogedugy srms departments institute of distance and continuing education idce  https idceuogedugy programmesoffered school of entrepreneurship and business sebi  https sebiuogedugy academicprogrammes to view the opening ceremony please click here  https wwwsurgesendcom filedownload fileaccesscheck id db57ecaa for all of the university s programmes and courses please click here  https uogedugy srms departments visit ug s official website at  https wwwuogedugy    ug in brief the university of guyana is the 58 th year state university of guyana it offers 136 programmes in over 60 disciplines online and facetoface in 8 campuses across guyana with a student population of now 10000 ug has provided education learning and research for over 50000 alumni the mission of the university is to discover generate disseminate and apply knowledge of the highest standard for the service of the community the nation and of all mankind within an atmosphere of academic freedom that allows for free and critical inquiry ug s forwardthinking blueprint 2040 is currently setting the course for the university s future design and institutional response to the changing needs of guyana  contact   ms krest cummings public relations officer department of events conferences and communications decc 5926235104 social work master programme  