Evaluating two academic programs of social work: a comparison between the United Arab Emirates University and the Al-Quds University in Palestine

The accreditation of social work education is a vital issue, given its strong connection to the outcomes of social work education and effectiveness of social work practice as a whole. Thus, this study evaluated the documentation of bachelor’s programs in social work at the United Arab Emirates University and Al-Quds University in Palestine. Such documents are typically required in the initial stages of an accreditation process. Specifically, we evaluated the programs against nine criteria that constitute the Global Standards for Social Work Education and Training adopted by the International Association of Schools of Social Work. Based on the findings, compliance with the majority of the main standards is satisfactory but less than satisfactory for most of the subcriteria. The shortcomings at both universities are primarily related to their failure to clearly articulate the substandards in their respective descriptions of the programs. Another key finding is that both universities are still pursuing a Eurocentric approach to their social work curricula and have made limited efforts to localize them. Thus, both social work programs are in the pre-candidacy phase, with areas that must be improved if they aim to prepare for a formal third-party assessment of their courses.