The Institute

Professional Social Work Education in Sri Lanka commenced in 1952 with the inception of the Ceylon Institute of Social Work. It was a combined effort of some leading citizens, a few non-governmental organizations and representative of some government departments. Initially the institute conducted short term training programs for the welfare sector personnel and later developed a one-year certificate course in Social Work.

The Institute subsequently encountered problems with its continuity and realizing the urgent need for manpower in Social Work, the government intervened and took over the Ceylon Institute of Social Work and brought it under the Department of Social Services. This institute was subsequently re-named as the Sri Lanka School of Social Work. In 1965 the School launched a two-year full-time Diploma program in Social Work to prepare professional Social Workers. Besides the Diploma in Social Work program, the school launched pre-service and in-service training programs for the welfare sector personnel in the public and the voluntary sector. In 1992 the Sri Lanka School of Social Work was upgraded and re-named as the National Institute of Social Development by an Act of Parliament namely; the National Institute of Social Development Act no. 41 of 1992.

In 2005, the Government the Democratic, Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, on the recommendation of the University Grants Commission, declared the National Institute of Social Development as a degree awarding institution for the purpose of developing higher education leading to the conferment of the Bachelor’s degree in Social Work, by order under Section 25A of the Universities Act no. 16 of 1978 published in the Gazette Extraordinary No. 1395/15 of June 01 2005. The Bachelor of Social Work degree programme commenced in December 2005. Subsequently to include the Master’s Degree programme in Social Work as recommended by the University Grants Commission, the Government of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka rescinded the pervious order of 2005 and declared the National Institute of Social Development as a degree awarding Institution for the purpose of developing higher education leading to the conferment of the Bachelor of Social Work degree and the Master of Social Work degree by order under section 25A of the Universities Act no. 16 of 1978 and published in the Gazette Extraordinary No. 1557/7 of July 07 2008.

On the 15th of March 2008 the Master’s programme in Social Work, the first ever in Sri Lanka, was inaugurated under the sponsorship of the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and implemented by the Queen’s University, Kingston, Canada in collaboration with Ministry of Social Services and Social Welfare. In September 2008, following this benchmark event, the NISD held the preliminary meeting to discuss the proposal submitted by the Queens University of Kingston, Canada to commence a PhD programme in Social Work. Several academics from various Universities in Sri Lanka participated in this endeavor. As planned at the preliminary meeting, a follow-up Workshop was held in – February 2009 wherein senior academics from the Queens University in Kingston Canada and many senior scholars from several universities in Sri Lanka participated and decided on the follow-up activities to be undertaken thereafter to bring this academic plan to fruition at the earliest.

The Governing Council is the apex body in the organizational structure of the National Institute of Social Development. The administration, management, and control of the affairs of the Institute are vested in the Council. The Academic affairs Board functions under the Council as an advisory body on all academic matters.

The regular operational functions of the institute are carried out by four integrated divisions. They are.