The School of Social Work at Lund University has not previously sent students to Nepal, due to the complex processing of student visas. To simplify the visa procedure and improve the support structure around students who want to base their dissertations on fieldwork in Nepal requires the support of an official partner in the country. A collaboration with Tribhuvan University seems to be difficult due to scant resources and that there is no department of social work at the university. But there are other possibilities. Most social work (in the broadest sense) in Nepal is carried out by international and local aid organizations, and Jan Magnusson also had the opportunity to meet with representatives from the NGO sector during his visit to the country.

“We discussed the possibility that the organization could list possible research assignments related to their work which our students could base their dissertations on. The student’s work would of course be conducted independently and without any demands from the organization. This is an idea that could also strengthen our internationalization efforts at the School of Social Work, while at the same time providing students with the opportunity to write their dissertations in an applied research context. As for the development of collaborations with NGOs in Nepal, I also believe that they could result in opportunities for work placements for our students on the bachelor’s programme.”

“I think fieldwork and work placements in Nepal would be an exciting and interesting experience for our students. In Sweden, the field of social work is often confined to government jobs where the social worker is a city official, focused on social services casework. In Nepal, social work is more about community work, mobilization and social entrepreneurship where the social worker – usually on behalf of an aid organization – acts as an advocate, representing the vulnerable and marginalized in society and working to empower these groups and make them aware of their rights in society.”