Issues and strategies to enhance the growth of undergraduate social work education programs are described. The six issues discussed apply to either undergraduate programs that are autonomous social work programs (such as departments of social work) or to programs located in sociology departments, combined with sociology, or combined with other social sciences. The paper recommends that in order to survive, administrators of social education programs need to: (1) legitimize social work as a social science, based on the premise that social work is derived from theoretical and applied research; (2) recognize social work as a profession that operates from both an interdisciplinary base and from its own theoretical and conceptual base in attempting planned social change; (3) offer social work courses to undergraduate majors from other departments as well as to related professional and allied health disciplines to encourage more students to enroll in social work courses; (4) develop a limited number of graduate social work courses to support closely related graduate programs in social science; (5) develop and implement both continuing education and off-campus programs to recruit students from other social service agencies; and (6) establish the autonomy of undergraduate social work programs. These recommendations, which are currently implemented by North Texas State University, offer pragmatic suggestions for improving undergraduate social work education and ensuring its future survival. (LH)