The ADVANCES programme is open to students who meet the following minimum conditions
- Bachelor degree in social work (or closely related subject – especially if social work does not exist as a university subject in your country)
- Professional license as social worker (if required by law in your country)
- One year of full-time work or two years of part time/voluntary work experience in the social sector
- English competence equivalent to 6.5 Academic IELTS (including a minimum of 5.5 in Speaking and Writing and minimum of 5.5 in Listening and Reading
All transcripts or academic records must be official documents provided in the original language. If these documents are not in English, they must be accompanied by translations into English. Diplomas/certificates and transcripts must always be translated into English and certified by either your home institution or a certified translator.
Eligible degree subjects
If social work is not offered in your country as a university degree programme, then a related subject can be considered, including:
Social pedagogy, sociology, social administration, social policy, community development, humanitarian aid, children’s studies, special education, development studies, human rights
The following subjects are not eligible because they do not focus on knowledge and skills for tackling the social causes of marginalisation and direct work with vulnerable people:
Medicine, health, psychology, nursing, sports, law, science, geography, teaching, economics, humanities, arts, politics, business administration, human resources
Professional experience
Your professional full time/part time/voluntary experience must have included direct work with clients and users of social services. This is because the course focuses on applied practice skills and contains a high element of reflection on past experience. Applicants who have worked in other areas (e.g. project management, policy) will not be considered eligible.
English language requirements
All students who enroll on ADVANCES must hold an IELTS (Academic) qualification that is valid until at least October 2022. You can apply to ADVANCES without proof of your English proficiency, but obtaining the required certificate will be a condition of any offer and would need to be completed by May 2022.
You can prove your language proficiency by uploading the test result in the application portal, please note we don’t accept tests delivered by post.
An English taught qualifying upper secondary school diploma, Bachelor’s degree or Master’s degree from USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, UK or Ireland will exempt you from the language requirement. (Minimum two years of the upper secondary school, bachelor or master must have taken place in one of the mentioned countries)
SPECIAL COVID-19 MEASURES
Due to COVID-19, the ADVANCES programme will for the autum 2022 intake accept the following language tests:
- IELTS Academic
- TOEFL IBT
- Duolingo (Online)
- Pearson
- LanguageCert (Online)
The requirements for the IELTS Academic test is: minimum IELTS 6.5 overall, 5.5 in Writing and Speaking, 5.5 in Listening and Reading.
The requirements for the TOEFL IBT test will be: minimum overall 90 points, Reading: minimum 18, Listening: minimum 17, Speaking: minimum 20, Writing: minimum 21.
The requirements for the Duolingo test is: IELTS 6.5 overall = 110 Duolingo and IELTS 5.5 = 90 Duolingo
The requirements for the Pearson test is: IELTS 6.5 overall = 61 overall PTE and IELTS 5.5 = 51 PTE
The requirements for the LanguageCert: B2 (High Pass in each component)
DEADLINE for completing the language test for the autum 2022 intake is: May 2022.
Please note that the ADVANCES programme reserves the rights to make successful completion of IELTS or TOEFL a condition of any offer.
