As one of the modern helping disciplines, social work fulfills a strategic function in the field of social services.  The social work profession is concerned with the wide range of human and environmental factors, and processes that influence social functioning in contemporary life.  It seeks to alleviate and prevent personal and social problems experienced by individuals, families, groups and communities, and to contribute to constructive institutional change and development.

The education program of the faculty is designed to prepare specially qualified personnel for the many forms of direct clinical and community practice, and for the related professional functions of policy development, planning, administration and research.  In all of these areas there is a growing demand, in both governmental and voluntary sectors, for social workers who possess advanced, theoretical knowledge and specialized practice competence.

Inaugurated in 1966, the MSW program was first accredited in 1974 by the Canadian Association of Schools of Social Work and was most recently reaccredited in 2005.