IWU National & Global is proud to announce that it has received accreditation for its master of social work program (MSW) with the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE).
Since IWU’s master of social work program started in 2016, individuals like Cindy Faulkner, Ph.D., the program director for the masters of social work program, have been hard at work making sure that IWU’s newest program would be compliant with the standards determined by the CSWE.
"Obtaining this accreditation is huge,” Faulkner said. “It means that IWU can say that our MSW program is held to a higher standard for quality assurance and students can pursue licensure in their respective states.”
To gain the accreditation, IWU had to go through a multi-step process that involved program self-studies, site visits and a certificate of authenticity review. Finally, in June 2019, after three years of working on this accreditation, IWU was able to secure this distinction.
“It’s an added challenge to seek accreditation for an online master’s in social work program,” Faulkner said. “An online program must meet the challenge of providing oversight in both curriculum and instruction, and student involvement, support and professional growth all within an online setting.”
Faulkner said that the program’s quality curriculum would not have been possible to achieve without the faculty. Each faculty is a subject matter expert in a different area of the social work field. When designing the curriculum, each member helped design elements of the courses that directly related to their expertise.
“This ensures that our students are getting the most current, most relevant, evidence-based content in their curriculum,” Faulkner said.
To further ensure students' success in the program, the faculty, instructors and advising team meet regularly to touch base on how the students are doing.
“It’s important to us that the faculty and staff are able to help us identify students that need extra help,” Faulkner said. “We’re constantly trying to preempt problems before they occur.”
This intentionality in program development and student care has created a stand-out program that is generating notable attention from both educators and students. IWU’s faculty has been approved to present at the North American Christian Social Work Conference in the fall and hopes to present at the Council on Social Work Education as well.
The program has grown exponentially in enrollment since its launch in 2016. In less than two years the number of enrolled students has doubled in size. Additionally, the retention rate is consistently above the average rates than that of other schools' programs.
To learn more about enrollment requirements and program details, visit indwes.edu/adult-graduate/programs/master-social-work/.