Social work education in the Middle East and North Africa: Students’ perspectives at 13 universities in 10 countries

Ibrahim, Qusai A; Hreish, Khalid M; Hantoosh, Khalid S; Benson, Odessa Gonzalez; Galalh, Ayman A; AL-Halalat, Khalil I; Aladayleh, Lubna  Aladayleh M; Shalaby, Emadeldeen A; Matter, Hazem M; Al-Kandari, Yagoub Y.; Hashim, Sokina A.; Eltaef, Mansour A; Sofy, Samar S; Abdel Meguid, Mona B; Daqaq, Nabila N; Elardi, Mohammed B; Sharaia, Ramadan K; Al Madhani, Hassan A; Braz, Talaat H; Sorur, Magda F

doi:10.21608/ejsw.2020.68765

Social work education in the Middle East and North Africa: Students’ perspectives at 13 universities in 10 countries

Document Type : Empirical Articles

Authors

10.21608/ejsw.2020.68765

Abstract

Efforts for improving social work education (SWE) in the Middle East and North Africa aim to address complex development issues. Using quantitative and qualitative approaches, this paper examines students’ perceptions of SWE, surveying 810 students in 13 universities in 10 countries: Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen. Results indicate that primary obstacles pertained to externally-oriented real-world application of SWE, while secondary were internally-oriented university factors (ie. libraries, assessments). Findings suggest that advances in SWE should occur not only within universities, but also substantively and holistically across welfare institutions and systems in the MENA region.

Keywords