The Faculty of Social Welfare and Health Sciences was established during academic year 1996 by the University of Haifa's authorizing bodies and the Council for Higher Education. Until 2006, the Faculty operated under the name of Faculty of Social Welfare and Health Studies. At this point the name was changed to Sciences in order to reflect the high disciplinary development undergone by all the departments and schools comprising the Faculty.
Initially, the Faculty of Social Welfare and Health Sciences comprised the School of Social Work, the Department of Human Resources, and the Department of Occupational Therapy. The Department of Nursing was established in 1995, the Department of Gerontology in 1999, the Department of Physical Therapy in 2000, the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders in 2001, the School of Public Health in 2003, the Department of Community Mental Health in 2005, and the School of Creative Art Therapies in 2008. The Departments of Nursing and Occupational Therapy are joint programs with the Technion and the School of Creative Art Therapies is a joint program with the Faculty of Education at the University of Haifa.
Today, the Faculty of Social Welfare and Health Sciences confers bachelor‘s degrees in six of its academic units (Social Work, Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy, Nursing, Human Resources and Communication Sciences and Disorders); master‘s degrees in ten academic programs (Public Health: MPH, MHA and MAN degrees; and MAs in: Gerontology, Social Work, Community Mental Health, Creative Art Therapies, Nursing, Human Resources, Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy and Communication Sciences and Disorders) and doctoral degrees in Social Work, Gerontology, Occupational Therapy and Public Health.
In addition to these academic units, the Faculty of Social Welfare and Health Sciences includes two administrative units aimed at providing services and training to professionals and the lay public. These units are the Interdisciplinary Clinical Center and the Continuing Education Unit.
Established in 2003, the mission of the Interdisciplinary Clinical Center is to provide an interdisciplinary framework for the development of applied knowledge and the establishment of model services for the community in order to improve the quality of life and social climate in the surrounding environment. The Center‘s rationale is to provide academically-based clinical work and student training in conjunction with basic and applied research efforts. The Center embraces five Institutes: the Institute for Communication, Language, and Speech Disorders; the Institute of Occupational Therapy; the Institute for Consultation and Treatment of Emotions; the Audiology and Neurophysiology Institute for Hearing Diagnosis and Rehabilitation, and the Karten Institute for Computer and Technology Applications.
Established in 1979, the aim of the Unit for Continuing Education of the Faculty of Social Welfare and Health Sciences is to develop and run programs aimed at expanding and enriching the knowledge and capabilities of professionals in the areas of health and social welfare.