Annual Survey of Social Work Programs

2021 Annual Survey

The Annual Survey of Social Work Programs collects information about social work programs, students, graduates, and faculty members. This information is used by the social work education community in research, program planning, and advocacy work. 

CSWE is undergoing a process of reviewing and revising the Annual Survey to streamline data collection and reporting. One result of that process is the modification of data collection procedures – the existing survey, which collects data using a long questionnaire, will be split into multiple components and administered at various times throughout the year to each social work program’s primary contact. Read more about this change.

The data collection instrument for the 2021 Annual Survey will be sent to the primary contacts of all CSWE accredited programs and contacts for practice doctorate and research doctorate programs between March and May 2022. The data submitted will be based on the 2021–2022 academic year except for graduation data, which should be based on students who graduated between July 1, 2020 and June 30, 2021. Data will be reported in late summer 2022.

A reference copy of the 2021 survey with instructions and definitions is available for download.

Please direct any questions to the Research team at research@cswe.org.

2020 Annual Survey

The 2020 Annual Statistics on Social Work Education in the United States report is now available. It includes the most comprehensive and current information on the state of social work education and is used to inform policy decisions, identify issues and trends, and assist in social work education research. The summary report provides a broad picture of social work programs and their offerings, including

• students and graduates at all levels,
• enrollment numbers,
• degree conferral rates, and
• graduate loan debt information.

The report also includes an in-depth analysis of online education and the numerous ways that online education was being administered.
 
Data collection for the 2020 Annual Survey began on December 16, 2020, and closed in March 2021. If your program did not submit data during this time period and you would still like to submit data, please contact us.

A reference copy of the 2020 survey instrument is provided. 

Thank you to the 838 programs that submitted data for the 2020 Annual Survey. Your efforts help inform policy decisions, identify issues and trends, and assist in social work education research.

Past Annual Survey data can be found on the Research Briefs and Publications page.