The Department of Social Work established in 1967 has been in the forefront of academic and field innovations in the country and has been consistently upgrading its curriculum to make it more responsive to the social challenges in India. After several phases of special assistance, in 2010, the UGC recognized the Department as a Centre for Advanced Study in Social Work.

The Department of Social Work at Christ (Deemed to be University) is imparting quality professional training to aspiring social work professionals through excellence in academic as well as social service. It also aims to develop personal and professional competences through integration of knowledge and practice. The department strives to engage in service of the society through interventions at individual, family, group, institution and community levels involving various strategies such as case work, group work, community organization, campaigns, researches, educational programmes, field services, camps, skill labs, trainings and publications. Social Work curriculum provides opportunities for the holistic development of the students. The course design has a balanced blend of classroom teaching with field experience.

Accredited at A level by the NAAC with a CGPA of 3.72 on a 4-point scale in its 3rd Cycle of Re-accreditation in 2014, is an advanced institute for Social Sciences, the only one of this kind in the University of Kerala. The college offers postgraduate courses in Social Work, Sociology, Human Resource Management and Counselling, besides the doctoral programme. Social research is a priority area of the college that has a strong department of extension and outreach which functions as the live-lab of the college wherein the classroom texts are contextualized and field-tested.

Madras School of Social Work, established in 1952, located in Chennai, South India, is an Autonomous Institution, NAAC accredited and affiliated to University of Madras. Madras School of Social Work was founded by Mary Clubwala Jadhav under the auspices of Madras State Branch of the Indian Conference of Social Work (renamed the Indian Council of Social Welfare) and the Guild of Service (central). The school is run under the aegis of the Society for Social Education and Research (SSER). The School is rated 3rd Best Social Work College in India and First in South India.

Drawing inspiration from founder, St. Kuriakose Elias Chavara, a great visionary, reformer and religious leader of the 19th century, the Carmelites of Mary Immaculate (CMI) were the first indigenous religious congregation for men in India. The CMI have dedicated themselves to education at all levels. At present, their mission of education comprises a vast network of 448 institutions – including over 200 schools, 14 university affiliated colleges, 1 engineering college, 12 technical institutes, 1 university, 1 medical college, 3 B.Ed. colleges, 5 special schools, 18 non formal educational institutions and 17 cultural centres spread all over India and beyond.

Rajagiri College of Social Sciences (Rajagiri) was established as a result of the indefatigable industry and foresight of the CMI. The School of Social Work is one of the pioneering institutions in South India, establishing programmes and setting the standards for the field. The School of Management is nationally ranked and recognized. The School of Computer Science and the School of Library and Information Science maintain the axiomatic spirit of Rajagiri – ‘Relentlessly Towards Excellence’.

The Department of Social Work (earlier known as the Delhi School of Social Work) has the distinction of being the first institution in Asia to offer a Master’s Degree in Social Work and draws students from different parts of India and Universities abroad for all its courses. The strength of the Department is its unwavering focus on social development specifically on the development of the marginalised communities- be it the minority communities, women, children, vulnerable and backward caste groups, elderly, persons with disability, persons affected by HIV/ AIDS, LGBT communities or those affected by disaster. The Department has been ranked number two in the list of institution of Social Work in India by Outlook magazine. It has been ranked number one in academic excellence and in placements of its students through campus recruitment.

The Department traces its origin to the establishment of the Y.W.C.A School of Social Work in 1946 at Lucknow. It was then known as the National YWCA School of Social Work. The school was shifted to Delhi in 1947 and on its affiliation to the University of Delhi in 1948; it came to be known as Delhi School of Social Work.

The Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) was established in 1936 as the Sir Dorabji Tata Graduate School of Social Work. In 1944, it was renamed as the Tata Institute of Social Sciences. The year 1964 was an important landmark in the history of the Institute, when it was declared Deemed to be a University under Section 3 of the University Grants Commission Act (UGC), 1956.

Since its inception, the Vision of the TISS has been to be an institution of excellence in higher education that continually responds to changing social realities through the development and application of knowledge, towards creating a people-centred, ecologically sustainable and just society that promotes and protects dignity, equality, social justice and human rights for all.