Launching of an international census of social work, social development and social services education

In the past 30 years, and even more so in the last ten, since the changes i n Eastern Europe and China, there has been an explosion in the establishmen t of new schools of social work and social development. The International A ssociation of Schools of Social Work has launched a World Census to assess the commonality or comparability among the schools of social work of the wo rld. The paper records the process and the difficulties faced in census con struction, distribution and response rate for such a mammoth exercise.