A brand new qualification has arrived at Solihull College’s University Centre thanks to a new partnership with Birmingham’s Newman University. Starting in September 2015, college leavers and adult learners looking to work in the care profession can now apply for the Foundation Degree in Special Education Needs, Disability and Inclusive Practice.
This new programme joins a range of other university-level qualifications being offered in partnership with other institutions including Oxford Brookes University, Birmingham City University and University of Warwick.
This foundation degree maintains the familiar structure of existing ones; however, this programme has been designed to have a sharper specialist, vocational emphasis, and genuinely innovative focus on Special Educational Needs and Disability.
Helen Perkins, Head of School for Early Years and Childhood Studies at the College comments: “There is a wealth of support staff working in health, education and social care, in the maintained and voluntary sectors, who are seeking continuing professional development without necessarily wanting to progress to a full Degree or QTS; this specialist Foundation Degree can fill this niche. Working in partnership with Newman University, gives students the opportunity to progress to the BA Hons in Work with Children and Families”.
This new foundation degree will sit within the Early Years and Childhood Studies faculty; which also offers the Foundation and Top-Up degree in partnership with Oxford Brookes University. The University Centre is the only university provision in the Solihull area offering a wide range of higher education qualifications at a fraction of the total cost of student life.
Along with Early Years, learners can choose from a wide variety of subjects including Fine Art, Veterinary Nursing, Photography, Computing and IT, Engineering and Construction.
Now in its third year, the College currently has 800 of learners studying at the University Centre, and numbers are expected to increase at the start of this year’s new academic year in September.
To find out more about the new Solihull College Foundation Degree in Special Education Needs, Disability and Inclusive Practice (subject to validation), please visit www.solihull.ac.uk/early years and childhood studies or call 0121 678 7000.
