Immigrants and refugees interested in social work have been given the chance to earn a master’s degree from Boston University’s School of Social Work through the program Building Refugee and Immigrant Degrees for Graduate Education.
BRIDGE, now in its third year, offers a unique opportunity for foreigners hoping for an education to be guided before, after and during their studies at BU.
Program Director Lee Staples said the program is designed to face two critical needs: to meet the growing demand for social workers who can work effectively with immigrants and to place immigrants and refugees with histories in social work in qualified jobs.
While many of these immigrant social workers already have graduate and even master’s degrees, Staples said they are often forced to work jobs where they are overqualified.
“There’s really a huge gap in the health and human resources work force, so a primary goal is educating and training members of these communities themselves, so they’ll be able to work more effectively with immigrants who have to face a host of challenges,” Staples said.
The first part of the program, orientation, “is a set of classes designed to introduce the participants to the expectations and culture of grad school,” Staples said.
The 10 session course is free and supports refugees and immigrants who decide to apply to any graduate program in social work.
“We hope they’ll apply to BU and come to BU, but the primary goal is to get these individuals into social work education,” he said. “Probably 60 to 70 percent apply to BU and a high percentage of students are accepted.”
Admitted students attend preparation, which teaches students skills necessary to study at the graduate level, including writing skills, expectations of plagiarism, financial literacy and how to search the library.
After preparation, students begin working on their master’s degree while BRIDGE continues to offer academic, personal and financial support. Staples said financial support is the most challenging aspect of the BRIDGE program.
“We’re a relatively small program at BU, so we don’t have all that much scholarship money available,” he said. “We have tried to raise earmark scholarships from individual donors, but we’ve had less success from foundations,” which expect the university to offer the funding.
“A high percentage of BRIDGE students are enrolled part time so they can continue work, and many are sending money back home.”
Ali Abdullahi, an immigrant from Somalia and one of nine BRIDGE students working on his masters, said the program was an immense help.
“When you are new to a country, culture and even language is overwhelming,” Abdullahi said. “It’s imperative that you get guidance in every aspect of your life.”
“I can say with no reservation that if it wasn’t for the BRIDGE program, not only me but many refugees and immigrants would’ve [never] entertained the idea of going back to school,” Abdullahi added.
Angela Nalubowa, an immigrant from Uganda and one of 18 students enrolled in the program, said BRIDGE has given her the confidence to apply to graduate schools of social work.
“Having been educated in my country and having gone through studies there, I was able to earn my degree in special needs education,” Nalubowa said. “Here, I’m trying to further my education.”
Nalubowa said she hopes that with a master’s in social work she will be able to help people from her own immigrant community.
“When I look at my community and the way they come here, lingering around and not knowing how to face the issues of the country, I feel that if I got the skills and knowledge offered by BU, I would be able to help my community,” she said.
Nalubowa acknowledges that the costs of the degree can be intimidating.
“I’m not very worried about the costs because the knowledge will suit me very well,” she said. “You will be able to get a job which will help you pay those bills.”
Staples said that job placement after graduation is not a problem because these specialized social workers are in high demand, but that offering additional scholarship money would greatly bolster student enrollment.
“If we had more scholarship money, we would have people beating down the doors,” he said. “If we were able to offer limited financial assistance for everyone, for example, we’d be able to double the amount of students.”
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