Social work education in Arab universities and educators’ perceptions

Abstract

This paper concerns an under-explored dimension of international social work and social work’s relationship to religious belief. The paper reports a descriptive and analytical study that sought to assess the perceptions of social work educators relating to the standards of social work education programs across national borders in the Arab universities of the Middle East, Arab Gulf States, and North Africa (MENA). The four dimensions used to define standards were: the programs’ relationship with professional practice institutions, societal recognition of the profession, quality of social work graduates, and the interaction of profession with social issues. A survey was conducted using a non-probability purposive sample of faculty members (n = 178), who were geographically distributed among faculties and departments of social work at 22 universities in eight Arab countries: These are Palestine, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Yemen, Egypt, Libya, and Morocco and are collectively referred to as MENA countries.