Accreditation

About CSWE Accreditation  

CSWE’s vision is “To ensure a well-educated social work profession equipped to promote health, well-being, and justice for all people in a diverse society”.  Accreditation is a systematic and rigorous process of operationalizing this vision and ensuring consumer protection and the public good through quality social work education programs.  

CSWE accreditation is a rigorous peer-review process that balances requirements of comparable outcomes across programs with a level of flexibility that encourages programs to differentiate based on the program’s context. This accreditation assures recipients of social work services and students, faculty, and staff of social work education programs that the program has a clearly defined mission and objective that are achievable and consistent with expectations of social work practice.   

CSWE-accredited programs are held to higher standards of responsibility for educating students to be respectful and responsible social workers for diverse cultures and communities. A value of social work as the degree of choice is in the fact that graduates from undergraduate and graduate social work education programs can critically think, problem solve, and advocate for justice, equity, inclusion, and diversity.  

Learn more about the value and benefits of CSWE accreditation here.

Goal of CSWE Accreditation  

At the core of social work education is the responsibility to create and sustain healthy communities and contribute positively to the public good. Thus, the goal of CSWE accreditation at the most fundamental level is to ensure quality education and preparation of social workers to carry out that responsibility. Social work is a public service field founded on core values of justice, dignity and worth of a person, human relations, integrity, and competence. CSWE accreditation standards are grounded in these core values and engages competent and qualified educators and community partners to ensure student competency in research, policy, theory, and practice of social work. 
 

Accreditation and Degree Mills  

Accreditation and degree mills can mislead students and the public about the quality of a program or institution. Such degrees and accreditation may not be recognized by other institution, employers, or licensing boards. Learn more about the problem and how to combat it at the  CHEA website.  

CHEA Recognition  

CSWE’s Board of Accreditation is recognized by the Council on Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA). CHEA recognition assures the public that CSWE’s Board of Accreditation is competent to engage in quality reviews of social work programs based on the CHEA recognition standards.