Doctoral Social Work Education: Responding to Trends in Society and the Academy

This article is intended to forecast major environmental changes that may impact social work doctoral education and assess what should be done in anticipation of these changes. We apply an open system and future studies perspective to guide our work. We present a set of predicted societal changes that will impact social work as a profession and doctoral education in particular. We then present and discuss major expected changes in higher education and further assess some of their potential impact on social work doctoral education. We conclude with a synthesis of how these pending changes may impact social work doctoral education and what can be done in anticipation of these changes.