Improving Lives at
Global Practice
The Global Practice program—one of six academic pathways at BCSSW that include specialized coursework and field placements—trains future practitioners to make a lasting impact in global social work, humanitarian aid, and international development, giving them the skills to design programs for refugees, counsel survivors of gender-based violence, conduct research on migration policies, and more.
We work closely with community-based organizations to build, implement, and evaluate programs that identify and meet local needs. Instead of prescriptive solutions, we focus on systems strengthening, capacity building, and accompaniment.
Global Practice broadens professional pathways by equipping students with skills relevant both globally and domestically. From technological disruption to AI and economic volatility, the BCSSW curriculum prepares students to navigate uncertainty and address emerging global issues.
By the numbers:
- 2006: Global Practice at BCSSW founded
- 283: Global Practice alumni
- 55: Total number of countries where BCSSW students have completed their Global Practice placements
- 98: Total number of field agencies where Global Practice students have completed their field placements
At a Glance
Program format:
In person
How many courses?
12 required courses
5 electives
Are scholarships available?
When you submit your application for admission, you are automatically considered for BCSSW scholarships, fellowships, graduate assistantships, and research assistantships.
Overview
Our curriculum and field practicum leverage and bring a person-centered approach to social work, focusing on the well-being of people in the context of their environment.
This approach is well-suited for conditions of crisis, where the urgent need is to care for the person in front of us while addressing the systemic factors affecting their well-being. Importantly, we integrate clinical and macro skills in our curriculum to prepare our global practice students to meet the complex challenges that await them in their work in refugee settlements, post-war contexts, migration routes, borderlands, and many other settings.
Required courses for the Global Practice program:
- Frameworks and Tools for Global Practice
- Global Policy Issues and Implications
Travel courses:
- Migration, Politics, and Social Work in Washington, D.C.
- Interdisciplinary Approaches to Borderlands and Human Mobility at the San Diego/Tijuana Border
Global Practice students have made an impact and gained valuable experience through placements in 54 countries worldwide.
North America
Mexico........................4
United States ...........54
Central America
Belize..........................1
El Salvador................. 5
Guatemala .................8
Honduras...................2
Nicaragua ..................4
CaribbeanDominica ...................1
Dominican Republic..1
South America
Chile...........................7
Colombia....................1
Ecuador......................4
Peru............................4
Europe
Albania.......................1
Belgium......................7
England......................1
Greece........................3
Ireland........................1
Italy............................ 9
Kosovo .......................1
Malta..........................2
Romania.....................1
Spain ..........................4
Switzerland ................3
Africa
Cameroon ................. 2
Egypt..........................3
Ethiopia......................3
Ghana.........................3
Kenya..........................8
Liberia ........................1
Madagascar ...............1
Malawi........................1
Niger ..........................1
Rwanda ..................... 6
Senegal.......................3
Sierra Leone...............7
South Africa .............22
Tanzania .....................1
Uganda.......................6
Zambia.......................6
Middle East
Jordan......................... 5
Lebanon .....................1
Asia
Bangladesh ................2
Cambodia.................23
India .........................10
Indonesia ...................2
Kyrgyzstan..................1
Mongolia....................1
Philippines .................4
Singapore...................1
South Korea ...............1
Thailand .....................8
Vietnam......................8
Australia
Australia.....................2
Students in the Global Practice program gain real-world experience through field practicums at international organizations, where their responsibilities may include drafting immigration policies, developing programs to prevent gender-based violence, or evaluating programs that protect children.
The Field Education team works with each student to ensure that they find an agency that aligns with their career goals.
Agencies where students have completed placements since 2007:
ARSIS
ALBOAN
Asia Pacific Refugee Rights Network
Bay Cove Boston Emergency Services Team
Bethany Christian Services
Bohol Local Development Foundation Inc
Boston Center for Refugee Health & Human
Rights at Boston Medical Center
Boston College Research Program on Children
& Adversity (RPCA)
Boston Public Health Commission—
Ryan White Division
Boston Public Schools—Edward M. Kennedy
Academy for Health Careers
Buckner International
BWAFWANO
Cambridge Health Alliance Outpatient
Psychiatry
CARE International
Caritas Freetown
Caritas Rome
CASA—University of Santa Clara in El Salvador
Catalyst Foundation
Cathedral Church of Saint Paul
Catholic Charities Archdiocese of Boston
Refugee and Immigration Services (RIS)
Catholic Relief Services
Center for Environmental Concerns
Center for Victims of Torture
Center to Support Immigrant Organizing
Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies
ChildFund
Children’s Charter
City of Ealing Social Services
Creamos
Dimock Center—Adult Medicine Clinic (LLI)
Diya Seva Sansthan
English for New Bostonians
Entreculturas
EVE
Fe y Alegria
Foster Care India
Freetown City Council
FXB India Suraksha
FXB Rwanda
Geisel School of Medicine—Dartmouth College
Global Women’s Empowerment Fund
Gongneung
Habitat for Humanity
Hagar International
Hand in Hand-Belize
HAVEN at MGH
Healey International Relief Fund
HelpAge Cambodia
Ibero University
ICMC
International Institute of New England
International Justice Mission
International Medical Corps
International Rescue Committee
Jesuit Refugee Service
Jesuit Social Center
Jesuit Social Services—Australia
Jewish Family Service of Metrowest
John Snow International—Liberia
Kino Border Initiative
Lighthouse Relief
Magis Americas
Martha Eliot Health Community Health
Center—Boston Children’s Hospital
Massachusetts Mentor, IHT
Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics—
City of Boston
Mil Milagros
Practice Specialty
You will choose between clinical and macro. The clinical program teaches students how to integrate evidence-based interventions. Macro social work aims to effect change within large systems at the community, organizational, and policy levels.
Certificates
Certificates, which are embedded within the MSW degree, enhance the Global Practice curriculum by placing special emphasis on person-centered approaches to human mobility, awareness of protection issues, engaging with diverse communities in crisis, and cross-sectoral collaboration.
Certificate in Refugees and Immigrants
This certificate provides in-depth knowledge on migration and refugee issues as well as the foundational skills to conduct interventions and accompany immigrant and refugee populations in diverse settings domestically and abroad. Students must complete the following courses during the M.S.W.program:
- Re-thinking Diversity: Systems of Oppression & Privilege
- Immigration & Refugee issues
- Migration, Politics, and Social Work: The Challenge of Justice and Care or Services to Migrants
Certificate in Global Humanitarian Practice
This certificate enables students to build knowledge around various humanitarian issues, systems, and practices both domestically and internationally. Students must complete the following courses during the M.S.W. program:
- Human Behavior and the Social Environment
- Global Humanitarian Practice
- Global Migration and Forced Displacement: Debates and Responses
Interdisciplinary Certificate in Humanitarian Assistance
BCSSW launched an Interdisciplinary Certificate in Humanitarian Assistance (ICHA) program, the first online offering within the school’s history, to ensure that its graduates and humanitarian partners have access to up-to-date knowledge on how best to respond to rapidly changing needs around the globe. The ICHA curriculum, developed in partnership with international non-governmental organizations, consists of eight modules that give students a grounding in the core, interdisciplinary competencies of global humanitarian assistance.
Electives
Our MSW program consists of 12 required courses and 5 electives.
Each semester there are 50+ electives to choose from. With electives, students can customize their curriculum plan, deepen their knowledge, or venture into an area of practice that is new and fascinating.
5 tips for completing. your application:
Personal Statement: Put time into your personal statement and tell us about yourself. What drives you to want to be a social worker? Who do you want to help and why?
References: Be sure to reach out to your contacts early so we can review your complete application. References should know you well enough to evaluate your potential in the field of social work.
Apply Early: The earlier you apply, the better chance you’ll have of getting more scholarships, tuition, and aid. Submit your application as soon as it’s ready.
Transcripts: Transcripts from all undergraduate and (if applicable) graduate schools attended are required for application review. Official transcripts may be sent electronically or in hard copy.
No GRE Required: We value your lived experience and look forward to seeing your potential as a future social worker. Think about ways you can stand out from the crowd in your personal statement.
Career Outcomes
Our Global Practice graduates work in the U.S. and overseas in a range of positions that involve direct practice, program development, management, evaluation, research, training, capacity building, and policy. From policy development in Washington, D.C., to program development in Cambodia, our graduates contribute to policy, practice, and research that improve the lives and well-being of individuals, families, and communities worldwide.
Select Job Titles for Alumni:
Caseworkers (Asylum-Seeking Families)
Child Protection and MHPSS Lead
Gender-Based Violence Response Specialist
Project Coordinator, Practice Improvement & Consulting
Researcher/Writer
Senior Associate
Senior Consultant
Senior MHPSS & Protection Program
Manager, Ukraine Response
Select Agencies our Alumni Work for:
Americares
Creamos Guatemala
Global Refuge
International Institute of New England
International Rescue Committee
Jesuit Refugee Service
Maestral
UNICEF
United Nations Headquarters
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
United States Peace Corps
World Vision
Hear from Our Students and Alumni
Global Practice Faculty
Our Global Practice faculty are conducting research, implementing novel interventions, and partnering with global leaders to improve the health and well-being of some of the most vulnerable people around the world.
Contact: Thomas Crea, Ph.D, MSW, Professor, Chair of Global Practice, and Assistant Dean of Global Programs
Tackling Complex Global Challenges: Our Collective Response
“No matter the condition, we leverage the person-in-the-environment approach at the heart of social work to train our students to strengthen, mobilize, and support such communities, families, and individuals.” -Dean Gautam N. Yadama
BCSSW faculty have forged strong relationships with government officials and policymakers worldwide to help scale and sustain interventions to address the impact of some of the most severe global crises—among them violent conflict, forced migration, and climate change. This report presents a thorough look at what BCSSW is doing to address global challenges.
Featured News
Join BCSSW to tackle complex social issues that transcend national boundaries
We asked Thomas Crea, professor and chair of the program, to discuss the biggest challenges facing the global community, how BCSSW is preparing students to solve these issues, and what career pathways are available to graduates who specialize in international social work.
One in six children must navigate war as part of their lives.
“Urban warfare affects children in all ways imaginable and requires a totalizing response,” said Timothy Williams, who has been teaching Global Child Protection at BCSSW for eight years. “That entails the coordination of everyone from weapons bearers to humanitarian agencies and to governments as well.”
Praveen Kumar named to inaugural cohort of NIH Climate and Health Scholars
“I argue that all scholars should study climate change because it threatens the entire existence of humanity,” said Kumar, who examines how the sustained uptake of clean energy interventions affects the health and well-being of low-income communities in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa.
A wide world for BC School of Social Work Global Practice students
Working in locations as far away as the Philippines, Uganda, Cambodia, and Lebanon as well as in the United States, the BCSSW students are involved in a range of tasks, some providing counseling and case management support to survivors of gender-based violence, or developing and implementing programming for newly arrived refugees.
More than 100 million people have been displaced around the world. Here’s how BCSSW has responded to the crisis
Faculty are working in more than 30 countries on all seven continents, pushing the boundaries of social intervention research through inventive collaborations that span communities in sub-Saharan Africa, the U.S., and Latin America.
BC School of Social Work certificate program prepares students to work in humanitarian aid
The ICHA curriculum, developed in partnership with INGOs and building on BC’s academic strengths, consists of eight modules that give students a grounding in core, interdisciplinary competencies of global humanitarian assistance.
How parents in Ukraine can help their children cope with the trauma of war
“During times of unpredictability, what matters most is the support from loving attachment figures and extending routines and predictability as much as possible,” says Theresa Betancourt, the Salem Professor in Global Practice and director of the Research Program on Children and Adversity.
2,000 Afghans are staying at Fort McCoy in Wisconsin. A BC social worker is there to support them.
“They’re relieved to be sleeping in a bed. They’re relieved to have good food. But they also have lots of questions about what to do now, and they’re clearly starting to process what they’ve left behind,” said Loughry, a mental health expert in the School of Social Work who doubles as a consultant for the Jesuit Refugee Service, a Catholic nonprofit that advocates for displaced people in more than 50 countries.
Support to Help You Succeed
Advising Center
Receive tailored academic guidance with a global perspective, including course selection, certificate options, and strategies for maintaining work/life balance while engaging in global work.
Field Education Team
The BCSSW field education team will help you find your field placement. The team facilitates connections with agencies around the world, so you don’t need to find practicum experiences on your own.
Career Services
Through individual appointments, global career programming, and networking events, BCSSW Career Services helps students pursue internationally oriented career paths by connecting them with alumni and employers engaged in global and humanitarian work.
Social Work Library
Enjoy a dedicated space to study and access hundreds of research databases. The Social Work Library is located right in McGuinn Hall.
Advisors
A team of dedicated advisors guide you throughout the program and include faculty and practitioners with experience and expertise in global social work, international development, global health, human rights, migration, and more.
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Global Practice students at the annual send-off celebration
Start Your Social Work Journey
The BCSSW Admissions team is available to support students throughout the application process. Join us for a virtual information session or connect with a member of the Admissions team for a one-on-one chat.