Barry University’s School of Social Work is getting ready to add some Caribbean flavor to its Master’s in Social Work (MSW) Program. The school is teaming up with The College of The Bahamas (COB) to offer its 60-credit master’s program and 32-credit Advanced Standing program at COB’s campus in Nassau, Bahamas.
Expected to launch in the spring semester of 2012, the 60-credit weekend program will be offered on Fridays and Saturdays and will be taught by social work professors from both Barry University and COB. Barry professors will travel to the island of New Providence to co-teach classes and ensure that the program remains culturally relevant to students who will practice in the Bahamas.
“There’s always been this ongoing connection to the COB,” said Dr. Sharron Singleton, Barry School of Social Work associate professor, who is co-chairing the project with Gala Brown Munnings, Director of Field Education for Barry’s School of Social Work.
The idea for the collaboration has been in the works for about 10 years, said Singleton, who credits Munnings with bringing Barry and COB together. Munnings, an alumna of Barry’s MSW program, worked as the coordinator for COB’s Social Work Programme for 14 years prior to working at Barry. She has remained in touch with COB faculty and students and, upon her arrival at Barry, began fostering the idea of an international collaboration with the university’s Caribbean neighbor.
“COB has long expressed an interest in this collaboration due to the reputation of Barry University, the quality education of the School of Social Work, Barry’s geographical location and my ongoing relationship with faculty and administration at COB," Munnings said. "Several graduates of the Barry MSW and PhD programs returned to practice with their degrees in the Bahamas, some at COB in faculty and administrative positions. The timing now seems most feasible because persons employed in the Bahamas Ministry of Social Services are in need of the MSW degree to qualify for promotion. It would be the fulfillment of a long journey to provide this educational experience to Bahamian students to become competent social work practitioners.”
In June, Munnings and Singleton traveled to Nassau to meet with COB representatives, discuss program specifics and begin a partnership that will produce Barry’s first international social work master’s program. The program will feature the same classes and academic content as the MSW program offered at Barry’s Miami Shores Campus, but will be packaged to follow a weekend schedule to accommodate working professionals. During the fall and spring semesters, students will take part in classes at the COB’s Nassau campus, and during the summers, they will have the chance to experience Barry first hand when they travel to Miami Shores to fulfill their field education requirements and complete their practice courses.
Singleton and Munnings also met with Barry School of Social Work alumni to engage in a conversation about the relevancy of the Barry program to the world of work in the Bahamas.
During the next upcoming months Barry and COB will move forward in working on the details specific to each site in preparation of formalizing the collaboration with an Agreement for Delivery of the Master’s Degree Programme between Barry University and COB.
To view photos of Dr. Sharron Singleton and Gala Munnings visit to The College of the Bahamas in Nassau, click here.
For more information about Barry's School of Social Work and its MSW Program, visit http://barry.edu/socialwork/.