The CSWE is the Council on Social Work Education, the primary program accrediting board for the area of Social Work. The CSWE’s Commission on Accreditation (COA) is responsible for developing accreditation standards that define competent preparation and ensuring that social work programs meet them.
In accordance with the requirements of CSWE’s recognition body, the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA), the CSWE Office of Social Work Accreditation (OSWA) administers a multistep accreditation process that involves program self-studies, site visits, and COA reviews.
There are currently over 700 different Social Work Programs accredited at the Bachelors and Masters levels, while other programs are considered candidates and are under review. As of the October 2016 COA meeting, there are:
- 511 accredited baccalaureate social work programs
- 249 accredited master’s social work programs
- 17 baccalaureate social work programs in candidacy
- 16 master’s social work programs in candidacy
Throughout Social Work Degrees.org, you will see the list of degrees we have at all levels. In our database we have over 1300 programs, all of which are accredited. Keep an eye out for CSWE accredited programs – we have used the CSWE as one of our data points and if a Bachelors or Masters in Social Work Program is CSWE accredited, we have noted it as such.
