Fifty-two universities in England have been ‘licensed’ to offer the new degree-level professional qualification in social work, the General Social Care Council announced today.
The 52 institutions have undergone rigorous checks by the GSCC – the social work education regulator – to make sure they are suitable to offer the new degree.
To win accreditation, universities have made a range of commitments designed to promote the highest possible educational standards, including:
- keeping up to date with modern best practice;
- using rigorous recruitment policies;
- checking candidates’ criminal records;
- providing enough teaching resources;
- monitoring the quality of teaching;
- involving service users and carers in course design, student recruitment, course delivery and assessment; and
- making sure all graduates are fit for social work practice.
Having won their ‘licence’ from the GSCC, the accredited universities will now decide whether to start taking students on degree courses from September 2003. In some instances, teaching will be carried out by a related teaching institution. The courses which are run will be subject to final approval by the GSCC.
Rodney Brooke, Chair of the General Social Care Council, praised the achievement of the accredited universities, and said the new degree would build on the best of social work education. It includes a strengthened practical element and a strong emphasis on views of the people who use social care services.
He said: “The new degree will put social work on an equal footing with similar professions, and the enhanced learning and status will help improve its image and attractiveness. It will bring a new generation of people into social work and help ease some of the recruitment difficulties some employers are encountering.
“This announcement means that these 52 universities have cleared an important hurdle in turning qualifying social work training from a diploma to a degree-level qualification. We are on target for the first admissions to courses in the autumn of 2003.”
Universities which have been accredited by the GSCC to grant degrees in social work (teaching institutions in brackets):
Anglia Polytechnic University (City College Norwich)
Brunel University
Buckinghamshire Chilterns University College
Canterbury Christ Church University College
Coventry University
De Montfort University
Goldsmith's College, University of London
Keele University
Kingston University
Leeds Metropolitan University
Liverpool John Moores University
London Metropolitan University
Manchester Metropolitan University
Middlesex University
Northumbria University
Nottingham Trent University
Oxford Brookes University
Sheffield Hallam University
South Bank University
Staffordshire University
Teesside University
University College Chichester
University College Worcester (North East Worcestershire College)
University of Bath (Wiltshire College, Trowbridge)
University of Birmingham
University of Bradford
University of Brighton
University of Central England
University of Central Lancashire
University of Derby
University of East Anglia
University of Gloucestershire
University of Greenwich (Bromley College of F&HE)
University of Hertfordshire
University of Huddersfield
University of Hull
University of Kent at Medway
University of Lancaster
University of Leeds
University of Lincoln
University of Liverpool
University of Manchester
University of Plymouth (Cornwall College)
University of Portsmouth
University of Reading
University of Salford
University of Sheffield
University of Southampton
University of Sunderland (New College Durham)
University of Sussex
University of the West England, Bristol
University of Wolverhampton