**3.4 The challenges for professional social work in university curricula**

Though many attempts have taken by the universities around the world to promote Social Work study programs through its curricula, still there are so many challenges the discipline, Social Work has to face. The most pressing issue is that many countries do not have a well-established national association to govern and monitor its Social Work processes [6, 12]. Licensing and the accreditation are two other critical concerns [6, 8, 12]. Each and every course or academic program should be accredited by a reputed local institution, and then the practitioners should have the facility to get the licensing for immediate practice after the completion of the full program. In many countries, especially in the global South, these facilities are unavailable [12]. So, the relevant authorities should systematize the profession of social work with due regard. As mentioned earlier in this article, most of the learners prefer the urban areas for learning and research rather than the rural areas. This situation grossly violates the basic principles propagated by the NASW or the IFSW. The fundamental elements such as equity, equality, justice are overlooked by the very profession that is there to safeguard those.

Baikady et al. suggest the importance of a common field work manual for the practitioners [6]. Many authors have expressed their concerns for not having enough and proper field work practice and the necessary feedback from the senior supervisors [12, 24]. The number of hours for bachelors and master's programs should be decided at the international level and a proper code of conduct for the students, supervisors, and the managers. There should be regular training and evaluation programs for the supervisors in all the fields of practice as well to upgrade the quality of supervision through a higher degree of dedication and commitment [6].

The lack of competent social work educators has been a serious concern in the global South. Most of these either migrate to the Western hemisphere or the better

countries within the region [12]. As the Third World countries have financial constraints, the state-sponsored education system is funded with minimum requirements; therefore, the funds for research cannot be found out [6, 12]. As the disciplines register a demand in the job market the Third World countries, these subjects become vulnerable to commercial aspirations [6]. Social Work also affected by that syndrome. This may be one of the reasons why Social Work does not display its actual development within the global South. Even though most freshers spend a lot of money to get a qualification, lack of accreditation, licensing, and inability to find an exact job in the job market have impacted negatively on the propagation of Social Work.

Social work at present is mainly geared toward nothing but social development [13]. The social work curriculum has been designed to make that all the stakeholders who involve in Social Work profession should take all the academic and practical initiatives to achieve the SDGs. "Development" and "sustainability" may differ from country to country, and each country may perceive development differently. According to the dire need at present, one country may presume development to be in economic terms while another country may want to achieve political development. Under any circumstance, the sustainable development would definitely bring similar sentiments to all the countries alike. As for the UN's 17 SDGs, all the countries in the world would attempt to reach all the goals with due respects.

Social Work and social workers in all the countries in all the regions have a greater role to play. How SWE could supplement the SDGs is different from country to country. Finally, all the countries would achieve the similar conditions but how each country gets there is a different strategy. After going through the empirical literature in an in-depth manner, it is noted that many writers have discussed the positives and negatives of the different ways and means the different countries are using to reach and sustain the SDGs [2–5, 11, 12, 14, 24, 25]. In summary, all these different methods are used to get the best out of the social workers to improve the situation of each society. The following examples are a testimony to understand that there is no one specific method and each country has to learn from all till it finds out what is most suitable for it.

In supplementing the SDGs, the social work students are made to get in to creative methods in and out of the classroom to perceive social and personal issues in a novel way [4], but the teacher/lecturer should have an immense capacity to set these creative opportunities in class and society. The Southern and Eastern African experience described by Mel et al. [5] provides a better picture even though there are many limitations. According to them, the developmental social work approach has provided ample opportunities for lecturers and the students who have utilized to a greater extent. Dziro examines how Zimbabwean social work has moved from a remedial approach to a development-oriented social work training even though it loses its much valued human resources to neighboring countries and the West [11]. Onyiko et al. are in the opinion that there are professional gaps that should be filled by the authorities and a more systematic approach by the professionals with well-compiled curricula can draw toward its research-based practices to the ultimate target [12].

Minzhanov et al. discuss how role plays could be utilized to empower the young social workers in the country. They have seen the curricula and the practical contexts rely on professional training through student-centered approach [14]. According to the article, a multitude of skills can be developed using role plays. Simulation-based learning [24, 25] has been another result-oriented strategy. The lecturer can create many opportunities and contexts to the learners so that they get trained to work out successfully through these imaginary situations. The unending issues for social work

*Perspective Chapter: Social Work Education in University Curricula for Sustainable Development DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.106246*

profession have been discussed by Faruque and Ahmmed in a detailed manner [2]. According to them the world is unable to have a unique social development model because of the cultural differences that exist in the world. On the other hand, Papouli is optimistic about the field learning. For him the practitioners can integrate both formal and informal learning in respective field work settings [3].
