Admission requirements
Admission requirements for the Master of Social Work are:
- an undergraduate degree; and
- evidence of relevant paid or volunteer work experience of at least 40 hours over a 3 month duration; and
- a statement of up to 500 words by the applicant.
- Professional referee report. Please use the Referee Report Form template. Applications that do not utilise this form will not be assessed.
The Selection Committee may conduct interviews and tests and call for referee reports and employer references to elucidate any of the matters referred to above.
Note: Relevant work experience may be paid or unpaid, and may be full-time or part-time, but for part-time experience, at least 40 hours should normally have been obtained in a single three-month period.
The Australian Government provides a qualification assessment service through Australian Education International, should you wish to submit evidence of equivalency with your application.
If your qualification documents are not written in English you must provide an official translation with the original documents.
English language requirements
Applicants who need to satisfy the University’s English language requirements via the IELTS (International English Language Testing System: Academic English only) or the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) must meet one of the following standards:
- IELTS (Academic English only) 7.0 (with no band less than 7.0)
- TOEFL (paper-based test) 600 + TWE 5.0
- TOEFL (computer-based test) 250 + 5.0 essay rating
- TOEFL (internet-based test) 100 + written score of 24 and no band less than 21.
If English is not your first language there are a number of ways of demonstrating that you have met this requirement. Details are available on the Future Students' Graduate English Language Requirements web page.
Please also refer to our Admission FAQs for answers to common questions.
Enrolment requirements
Students who successfully gain a place in the Master of Social Work must meet several additional enrolment requirements upon course commencement. Further information will be provided in your enrolment pack.
Police record checks
All students must provide a Victoria Police National Name Check, issued in the year of course commencement.
Students pay the discounted student rate for the police check if the consent form is authorised by an approved University staff member. Note that application fees change every year on 1 July.
International students and students who have lived abroad for more than one year must normally provide a police check from all countries of residence. Processing times for such documents vary greatly, so students are advised to request the police checks as soon as possible after accepting a place in the course.
When requesting police checks from countries other than Australia, you must ensure that it is a national police check (eg. students from the USA must request a check through the FBI, not their local police station).
Please see the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Science's Policy and Procedures for Police Record Checks.
Working with Children Checks
All students must provide a Working with Children (WWC) Check, valid for the course duration.
Details of the WWC Check are available on the Department of Justice website.
Please also refer to the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Science's Policy and Procedures for Working With Children Checks.
Recognition of prior learning
Credit may be granted based on prior learning for tertiary subjects completed at masters level. Credit cannot be granted for more than 50% of the total course credits. Applications for credit must be submitted with your course application and are subject to approval by the Social Work Academic Programs Committee.
If your previous studies were undertaken overseas you must be able to demonstrate that your qualification is equivalent in level to an Australian masters degree.
Pathways to the Master of Social Work
Within the Melbourne Model, there are a number of pathways to the Master of Social Work. Please visit the Graduate Pathways page on the University's Future Students website for more details.
Further information
Please refer to our Frequently Asked Questions or make use of our onlne Course Enquiry form if you have any questions not covered there.