Social Work (M.A.)

Social Work (M.A.)

Faculty of Health Sciences (University of Applied Sciences)

The Master’s program in Social Work prepares students for responsible leadership roles in social and healthcare settings. Social work promotes individual well-being, inclusion in society, self-determination, and social justice, while supporting disadvantaged groups and strengthening community cohesion.

Graduates acquire professional skills to plan and implement sustainable social work strategies and take on leadership responsibility. The program emphasizes practical competence, critical thinking, and effective management in diverse social and health-related contexts.

Due to the international orientation of the program and professional integration into the German-speaking social sector, students must demonstrate German language proficiency at C1 level (CEFR) before the final semester. Optional language courses (A1–C1) are offered via the Career Center at Medical School Berlin to support gradual language development.

Career

The Master’s program in Social Work at MSB prepares students for leadership and specialist roles in social and healthcare sectors. The two-year, accredited program combines scientific knowledge with practical, interdisciplinary training.

Students benefit from flexible blended learning, balancing classroom sessions and virtual teaching, along with a clear timetable that allows study alongside work or personal commitments. Studying at the Berlin campus provides an inspiring environment in one of Europe’s most dynamic cities.

Graduates are well-prepared for managerial positions, sustainable social work projects, and high-level responsibilities. The program also opens pathways to research and academic careers, including the option to pursue a doctorate. Students receive full support from experienced professors and dedicated student services throughout their studies.

Study content

The accredited and state-recognized Master's degree program in Social Work (M.A.) offers students a modern and stimulating learning environment designed by proven academics and practitioners. In addition to the theoretical modules of the academic disciplines, the lecturers provide precise and well-founded information on how research methods are used to determine needs and what support is appropriate for the various forms of disadvantage and stress in the many areas of social work.

As a student of the Master's program in Social Work, you will be able to analyze problems, conflicts, and crises in a self-confident and self-conscious way and to develop sustainable solutions for individuals, institutions, or the social space of an urban area. You will learn to plan specific assistance and to know how this is financed, implemented, and finally evaluated. You will be able to analyze and further develop complex issues with suitable research designs. You will have a comprehensive and well-founded knowledge base, identify mental disorders in children, adolescents, and adults, and derive appropriate interventions from them.

Program content

One focus of the degree program is on providing in-depth knowledge in the areas of psychosocial counseling and developmental support as well as target group-specific intervention in the context of social psychiatric and social medical care. In particular you learn systemic and solution-oriented approaches and counseling methods, which qualify you for work in counseling centers, but are also fundamental for your communication skills as a social manager. In addition to systemic competences, students acquire explicit knowledge of psychodynamic-interactional pedagogy.

Study flexibly?

With the modern concept of blended learning, a sensible mix of face-to-face study in classrooms, virtual teaching, and self-study, you can study at Campus Berlin as well as at your personal favorite place of learning. Because our standard of quality is that a Social Work degree program must have both. Without attendance, students cannot be professionally supervised, and content cannot be taught in a methodologically diverse way. Group dialogue and self-confident exercises must be experienced and reflected on campus. This is the only way to learn to work with people for people. Social skills must be taught socially in a natural social environment.

However, according to today's standards of teaching, quality also means integrating virtual teaching formats in a didactically meaningful way into your studies. At MSB, you study according to a reliable, clearly structured timetable with flexible components of face-to-face teaching in classrooms, online teaching, and guided self-study. Each teaching format is interrelated and follows a stringent common thread with comprehensible learning objectives. At MSB, virtual learning means developing your own learning style under guidance and training it as a learning strategy in order to achieve a goal-oriented conclusion.

Reconciling work and study?

For a good theory-practice transfer, we encourage you to work in a social organization during your studies. Although you are a full-time student, you only have to study three days a week. In addition, during the so-called attendance week, you only visit campus once a month. For the remaining three weeks of the month, you study virtually at your favorite learning location. In short: you have the best opportunities to work alongside your studies and to choose your learning locations individually.

Authorization

Admission requirements at a glance:

• Authorization to study in Master's degree programs according to § 10 BerlHG
  
• First professionally qualifying university degree (diploma, bachelor) in Social Work, Social Pedagogy, Special Education, Transdisciplinary Early Intervention, or a comparable degree program.
  

The degree program at MSB is NC-free (Numerus Clausus free). Following your application, we will assess your personal motivation in an individual admissions interview.

Career opportunities

The number of vacancies in social work is enormous. Many vacancies remain unfilled because the number of university graduates does not match the needs of the labor market. Both public, independent, and church organizations and institutions are constantly looking for well-trained professionals for basic work and management positions.

On the basis of current developments, this already high demand is expected to increase further. This applies in particular to social workers with a master's degree, as they fulfill the specific practical fields of social work with empirical knowledge, methodological expertise, competences in quality management, and knowledge of the health care system and social systems.

The Master's degree program qualifies graduates for activities in the following areas:

• Counseling Centers
  
• Youth services and social services
  
• Inpatient child and youth welfare facilities
  
• Penal system
  
• Public health service
  
• Social-medical rehabilitation
  
• Hospitals
  
• Schools and daycare centers
  
• Family Centers
  
• Coordination and planning centers (e.g., social planning)
  
• Political posts
  
• Administrative bodies at the federal, state, and municipal levels
  
• Training and further education
  
• Research projects
  
• Universities

Further Information.