[28
NOV 00] UNIVERSITY OF WARWICK NEWS
Warwick Lays Foundation For More Degrees
People
who have never had access to higher education are set to benefit from
a new scheme that will open up universities to them.
The
University of Warwick has been selected as one of the first 20
institutions to take part in a national initiative which begins today.
Foundation
degrees will equip students with technical skills, academic knowledge
and transferable skills increasingly demanded by employers.
Employers
are to be involved in recruiting sixty students for two new degree
courses designed specifically for people working as teaching
assistants, and as local community or voluntary workers.
Warwick's
Vice-Chancellor Sir Brian Follett welcomed the new degrees. He said:
"Foundation
degrees are a new idea aimed at students who have previously felt
excluded from our universities.
“Two
important features of the new degrees are that they involve
employers in delivering parts of the programmes and offer employees
the chance to improve their skills and careers."
Foundation
degrees can be completed in two years, or an equivalent period
part-time, and also can form the first step to a full honours degree.
They
are designed to address the shortage of people with intermediate-level
skills by supplying highly-qualified graduates in a wide variety of
professional areas.
Warwick’s
first foundation degree is in Community Enterprise and Development.
This
will be run in partnership with Coventry's Tile Hill College of
Further Education, North Warwickshire and Hinckley College and a
number of local authorities and community organisations, and will be
aimed at those working in the community and voluntary sector.
The
second course on offer is a foundation degree in Learning Support,
aimed at teaching assistants. It will be delivered by the university's
Institute of Education, one of the largest providers of teacher
training in the country.
This
will support the conclusions of the recent DfEE Green paper on
Teachers Meeting the Challenge of Change which called for "more
effective use of, and better training for teaching assistants and
other support staff."
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