Bachelor of Social Work (Informative Paragraph) | modified 01/15/2025

The Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) degree requires 120 credit hours. (Students may graduate with more credits due to transfer credit and the need to take support courses such as math and English.) This includes 52 credit hours in Social Work courses and 24 credits of Social Work/Supportive Courses. The remainder of credits are electives and General Education requirements. The School of Social Work requirements sometimes overlap with the General Education requirements for the IU South Bend campus. 

Degree Requirements

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Students receiving the Bachelor of Science in Social Work must complete 120 total credits including:

• IU South Bend Campuswide General Education Curriculum
• Major Requirements (52 cr.)
• General/Supportive Liberal Arts Courses (24 cr.) credit change added 01/15/2025 
• Free electives (balance of credits needed to equal 120 cr. requirement)

• Students in the BSW program must successfully complete all freshman, sophomore, and junior social work courses and achieve senior standing before enrolling the senior year coursework.
• The School of Social Work requirements sometimes overlap with the General Education requirements for IU South Bend.
• All courses are 3 credits, unless otherwise noted.

Major Requirements (52 cr.)

Some of the courses in the BSW Program must be taken in sequence

• SWK-S 102 Understanding Diversity in a Pluralistic Society
• SWK-S 141 Introduction to Social Work
• SWK-S 221 Human Growth and Development in the Social Environment
• SWK-S 251 History and Analysis of Social Welfare Policy
• SWK-S 322 Small Group Theory and Practice
• SWK-S 331 Generalist Social Work Practice I: Theory and Skill
• SWK-S 332 Generalist Social Work Practice II: Theory and Skill
• SWK-S 352 Social Welfare Policy and Practice
• SWK-S 371 Social Work Research
• SWK-S 423 Organizational Theory and Practice
• SWK-S 433 Community Behavior and Practice within a Generalist Perspective
• SWK-S 442 Integrated Practice–Policy Seminar in Selected Fields of Practice
• SWK-S 472 Practice Evaluation
• SWK-S 481 Social Work Practicum I (6 cr., guided field experience 15 hours per week)
• SWK-S 482 Social Work Practicum II (7 cr., guided field experience 20 hours per week)

General/Supportive Courses (24 cr.) | added 01/15/2025

• ANTH-N 190 The Natural World;
  VT: Becoming Human, Evolutionary Development
• HIST-H 106 American History II
• POLS-Y 103 Introduction to American Politics
• PSY-P 103 General Psychology
• SOC-S 161 Principles of Sociology
• SPCH-S 121 Public Speaking
• SWK-S 204 Writing in Professional Social Work
• One 300-400 level PSY course; OR
  One 300-400 level SOC course; OR
  SWK-S 305 Introduction to Child Protection; OR
  SWK-S 313 Poverty in the United States