The purpose of this study is to analyze private universities with social work curricula in Japan and to identify the challenges in training social workers. The study included 63 courses of universities in western Japan, excluding national and prefectural universities. The results showed that social work universities had a low student capacity filling rate（ maximum 118.8%, median 91.4% and minimum 42.0%）. When the factors affecting student capacity fill rates were examined, the “multidisciplinary complex” with licensure in social work, psychology, and education was a significant predictor of student capacity fill rates （p<.05）. Therefore, the direction of social work education in private universities should be to maintain and develop the content of the curriculum while social work and other disciplines coexist.