Bachelor of Social Work
Applications open Oct. 1, 2025
Which pathway is right for you?
Two-Year program
If you have two years of university education or a degree in another field this program recognizes your prior learning and accelerates your path to a professional social work credential.
Our Blended BSW* is a full-time program completed in 20 months. Courses are scheduled in three-hour blocks and delivered on campus and online. Choose one of our three locations for face-to-face classes: Calgary, Edmonton or Lethbridge.
*University Transfer only
If you have an Alberta Social Work Diploma, a degree in another field, or have completed the first two years of university, this program recognizes your prior learning and accelerates your path to a professional social work credential.
Our fully Online BSW is a full-time program completed in 24 months. The courses are delivered online, allowing you to study remotely throughout your studies. Online courses are scheduled in three-hour blocks and delivered in real time.
Four-Year program
Our Four-Year BSW is a full-time blended program for high school entry students available at our Calgary campus only. For the first two years of study, you will be completing both social work and non-social work courses. The final two years you will take primarily social work courses both online and on campus. You’ll also complete a practicum in each of your final two years.
"It's just amazing how we came together online."
Our cohort system is one of the quality differences that sets our BSW program apart.
I feel like I'm so much closer with my online cohort compared to my previous degree at McGill which was in person, every day. It's strange, but it's such an amazing feeling. It's on a different level. I don't even know how to explain why I feel like we built such relationships with each other. Relationships that I think we'll carry on forever.
Ayana Woodward
BSW '20
The UCalgary Social Work quality difference
A big quality difference between UCalgary Two-Year Online BSW and many other online social work programs is our commitment to "live" instead of "canned" learning. Rather than watching a series of recorded generic lectures, you're required to log-in to participate in a live classes on Monday & Wednesday evenings, and Saturday mornings. Our highly interactive approach requires your thoughtful contributions to class and group discussions. You'll also have some asynchronous learning that you do on your own time (participating in discussion boards, etc.) with no live video component required.
The "Portable" BSW
David Hohol