Director's Message
“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world”
Dr. Mahesh Thakur
Director
Ph. D. in Social Work
Karve Institute of Social Service, Pune
Karve Institute of Social Service is a premier Institute of social work education in India, founded in 1963, in commemoration of the memory of Bharat Ratna Maharshi Dhondo Keshav Karve, one of the social reformers in Maharashtra. The institution which was founded to professionally train a dedicated cadre of voluntary social workers, now conducts Maters in Social Work, M.Phil. and Ph.D. in Social Work programmes of Savitribai Phule Pune University, formerly known as Pune University. It is a single faculty Institute. At Master’s level, the Institute offers four specializations and elective optional subjects- Family and Child Welfare, Medical & Psychiatric Social Work, Urban and Rural Community Development and Human Resource Management.
The vision and mission statements of the Institute focus on realizing the vision of a just and harmonious society by striving for excellence in social work education, research and training while upholding the core values of the profession. The spirit of the Institute’s vision and mission are sought to be conveyed to students continuously through the training programme, right from the induction stage and reinforced throughout the two year programme. It goes beyond the boundaries of the Institute through the alumni of the Institute. The collaborations with International Universities such as Takahashi Educational Institute of KIBI International University in Japan and University of Jaume I in Spain has helped us to gain visibility at international level.
The very name of the Institute reflects its mission of social service. The various field action projects such as the Family Counselling Centre, Balwadi and Karvenagar Community Centre, C-DATS, CHILDLINE cater to the needs of the vulnerable sections of society through the involvement of faculty, project staff and students. The B. D. Karve award has been instituted to give recognition to a social work educator in Maharashtra, who has displayed a combination of practice based innovativeness and excellence through research, writing or consultation.
Students come from diverse backgrounds in terms of class, caste, region, language, religion, academic disciplines and ideological perspectives. Conscious efforts are made by the Institute to facilitate their overall growth through the mechanisms such as continuous linkages between theory and practice, individual guidance, involvement in extension activities and disaster relief work, exposure to the contemporary social issues and emerging trends through exposure visits, lectures by practitioners and extracurricular activities.
The entire curriculum and the programme in the Institute is designed to equip the students to face the emerging challenges in social work practice and also to meet the human resource needs of the field which itself is very vast and diverse.
Social work is a very dynamic field and social work education needs to address itself to the emerging demands. The gaps between the educational needs of the students and curricula are bridged by organizing input sessions by experts in social work and allied fields. Equipping oneself to the emerging needs of the field is a lifelong education and institute organizes various workshops for the alumni of the institute in partnership with three alumni associations of the Institute. Alumni and alumni associations of the Institute have contributed immensely to curriculum development, class room teaching, field work supervision, core competencies development initiatives and students placement.
The Institute has launched a Post Graduate Diploma (autonomous) in Governance and Management of NGOs, Post Graduate Diploma in CSR- Corporate Social Responsibility and in recent past Post Graduate Diploma in Mental Health and Counselling. This course is open to both professionals and the current students of the Institute, which enhances their skills and employability.
The approaches in teaching, learning and evaluation reflect the philosophy of the Institute and its commitment to the needs of its student population and the field of practice they will eventually enter into.
Karve institute is continuously striving hard, to create a committed cadre of Professional Social Workers and to envisage a society which ensures peace, harmony, dignity, justice and equal opportunities for development of individuals and communities through planned social work interventions.