The Faculty was founded on April 1, 2008, with the first academic year beginning on September 1, 2008. The new faculty is based on the Department of Social Work, previously part of the Medical-Social Faculty of the University of Ostrava. The Department of Social Work of the Faculty of Social Studies will provide teaching for the remainder of the (currently ongoing) Master’s degree programme Social Work for Health Care and the doctoral programmes Social Policy and Social Work. The Department of Social Work Methodology provides teaching for the Social Work programme on site and in combined (part-distance) form, as well as for the Master's graduate degree programmes Management of Social Work Service Organizations and Social Work.

The goal of the Social Work programme is to prepare trained social work professionals. Social work is a profession which demands a high degree of ethical and professional behaviour. Graduates find employment mostly as:

• social workers in all public service and municipal organizations
• social workers in the health care system, in education, in the Ministry of Justice or the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs
• social workers in private and church-run charities
• managers in all organizations providing social services
• teachers in schools providing higher social work education
• research and analytical workers in institutions focusing on social problems on the local, regional or central level.