Social work education: The case of Cyprus over the last 30 years

Social work education in Cyprus has been relatively new as a concept. Until very recently (2001) most social work graduates and professionals were coming from educational establishments mainly from Greece, UK and USA. Therefore there was not any involvement so far in policy makers' decision with regard to contemporary social issues. At the same time social work graduates were not trained to work with local social phenomena. Due to this gap in social work education there was a lack of specialised staff or even social work professionals who would design social policy and programmes targeting certain groups of individuals. However since the beginning of the 21st century (2004) things have gradually changed as new programmes were established. As a result graduates were trained to work with contemporary social issues. In particular they have the opportunity to learn skills, methods and strategies adapted to local needs. Evidence based practice is part of social work education thus social work graduates become more familiar with problems, and solutions to these social issues and they are able to intervene having in mind what is really needed. This chapter describes the developmental process of social work education in Cyprus and how social work curricula gear its students towards solving local needs.