New Master’s programme: Social Work and Social Justice
The University of Humanistic Studies will offer a new master’s degree programme, focusing on social problems, professional practices of social work and the development of the profession. The Accreditation Organisation of the Netherlands and Flanders (NVAO) has definitively approved the new master. The programme will start in September 2027 and is the first university master’s programme in social work in the Netherlands.
Social work is a profession and an academic discipline that promotes social change, cohesion and empowerment. Programme director and professor of Social Work Thomas Kampen: “Social work requires deepening because of the great diversity of complex problems. Social workers have to deal with polarization, radicalization, loneliness and poverty, among other things. They work on solutions to these complex problems based on the guiding principle of social justice. This raises fundamental questions about methods and ethics of social work. In the master’s programme, we investigate these questions from an interdisciplinary perspective.”
The one-year master’s programme addresses issues relating to social problems and moral tensions in social work. The programme also pays attention to the historical development of the field, and to the relationship between these issues, the development of the field and social justice.
Director of Education Doret de Ruyter: “I am very happy with the Master’s programme in Social Work and Social Justice, because it fits seamlessly with and shapes the university’s educational vision in a unique way: educating students to become academically trained professionals and socially engaged citizens who have a reasoned and lived vision of a dignified existence and a society that makes that possible.”
For whom?
The Master’s in Social Work and Social Justice is intended for students with a degree of prior education in the social sciences or humanities, who wish to specialise in social work as an academic discipline. The training will start in September 2027. In the 2026-2027 academic year, it is already possible to follow the pre-master’s programme, a bridging programme for students who do not meet all the admission requirements.