Birmingham City University (BCU) has confirmed that its rehabilitation studies programme has been given the green light for this year.
Last year, NB reported that the rehab course was suspended at Birmingham City University. The suspension was for the first year foundation degree course and third year top-up course for September 2012 intake.
Degree course now running
There were fears that the courses could have been scrapped due to cutbacks with local authority funding and the secondment of students. Students were also hit with a rise in tuition fees for self-funding students.
However, the foundation degree - Rehabilitation Work (Visual Impairment) and the BSc (Hons) 'top up' degree will be running from September 2013. There will also be options to take single BSc modules for continuing professional development.
The suspension of the course allowed BCU to review future provision of the course. David Bignell, Programme Director at BCU, said: "The situation generated concerns with many rehabilitation workers who believed that the profession would really struggle without the main training provider of qualified rehabilitation workers."
Media support
He praised the media, social media and letters of interest for highlighting the plight of the course. "The BCU rehabilitation courses have received huge support following articles in NB and through social network sites such as Rehab Workers United on Facebook," said Bignell.
The news has been welcomed by the sector. Chair of the Rehabilitation Workers Professional Network, Simon Labbett said: "Major thanks are due to the team at BCU for fighting for the course to run. The loss of this course would have put the viability of the profession in grave doubt, but the way the workforce was galvanised to respond to the crisis also goes to show what can be done when we speak with a collective voice."
Places on the course are limited. Anyone interested in applying for a place and for further information should email: rehabadmissionsquery@bcu.ac.uk
Full information and application forms are available on the BCU website.
Article published in NB magazine March 2013.