Motives and career choices among Ugandan social work students

Despite the fact that social work has quite a long history in countries such as Uganda, there are few studies available about social work students’ motives and career wishes. The intention of this article is to start to fill this gap by using some of the motives explored in studies of European social work students and to compare them with those of Ugandan social work students. The data used draws on 149 students at the department of Social Work and Social Administration, Makerere University. It is based on a mix methods study using a survey and focus group discussions. The majority of social work students come from urban or semi-urban areas. Some students choose a programme where they are certain to get a scholarship. There was generally a positive relationship between interest and perceived status of the social work area. Those areas that scored high on interest were also rated highly in terms of status. Therapy and counselling, education and research, and health social work were ranked high, while social work with the elderly, abused and with poor people and social assistance ranked low. Social work students in Uganda do not expect to get a social work job after their graduation.