Department of Social Work is a leading centre of experiential learning for Social Work in Kannur University. Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) programme was started in St. Joseph’s College in the very year of the inception of the college, 2005. Rev. Monsignor Clarence Paliath, the founder director of KAIROS, a distinguished organization for social work in Northern Malabar, was the first head of the department. The elevation of the department to PG status in 2008 with the commencement of MSW programme introduced a greater academic dimension to social work concerns. The department has a pioneering and path-breaking history of initiatives defined by a striving for academic distinction, commitment to social action, ever-readiness for extension and outreach activities, some instances of such moments would be worthy of recall in a profile like this:

1) Dept. initiated the work to present “Social Work Bill” in the Indian parliament as a private bill through Mr. Richard Hay, Hon: Member of Indian Parliament. All the work right from framing the first draft to the point of presentation in the house happened in the campus of St.Joseph’s College is a matter of pride to everyone who loves the discipline. It is a humble contribution towards the nation-building process.

2) Social Work faculty functioned in the core team meant for developing and designing ‘Samrudhi’ livelihood project in Taliparambu Constituency, a pioneering initiative of Mr. James Mathew MLA.

3) The Department has established a tradition of holding resource sharing seminars and interactions with Nationally and Internationally known scholars and activists,like Mr. S.P. Udayakumar, Mr. Sandeep Pandey, Ms. Daya bhai, Ms. Ridhima Pandey, Ms. Akkai Padmashali.

4) The department has been awarded a Certificate of Appreciation by the Resident Commissioner of Kerala House, Delhi for providing help to load some trucks with relief materials to Kerala during flood. The student team was on tour and was about to leave for a spot when they were told that some help was needed. They cancelled the day out loaded the trucks and the Resident Commissioner called a special press conference to appreciate them in the evening and awarded a certificate of honour.

5) The department conducted a survey for Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) under the banner of Centre for Management in Research and Development (CMRD). Collaborative studies with Social Security Mission, Kerala State and other agencies are also being conducted.

6) BSW and MSW students have been toppers of the university examinations from the first batch onwards.

7) Department is actively participating in the ‘Unnath Bharat Abhiyan’ (UBA) programme of MHRD, India along with other departments of the college for conducting surveys and uploading data as the preliminary work for the development of five adopted villages in Kalliasseri Constituency.