Royal Holloway to close social work degree programme

The undergraduate social work programme at Royal Holloway will close next year, the university has announced.

The decision follows a series of poor inspection reports from the General Social Care Council, which identified widespread problems in securing practice placements.

The university suspended its intake to the BSc social work course in 2008-9 and 2009-10. The programme will close from 2011 onwards to allow the remaining students to finish their studies.

While the MSc social work course and post-qualifying courses will continue, a spokesperson for Royal Holloway said the academic board had taken the decision following a strategic review of its undergraduate portfolio.

The spokesperson added: “Royal Holloway regrets having to close the BSc Social Work but at a time when university budgets are under considerable pressure, has decided to focus the Department of Health and Social Care’s efforts for the time being on its’ outstanding post-qualifying Graduate Diploma in Work with Children and Families and Masters Programmes in Social Work.”

Earlier this year we revealed that Royal Holloway was one of two English universities judged “not satisfactory” by the GSCC.

The regulator withheld the names of the institutions from its annual report on social work education for 2008-9, published in March this year, but they were identified thanks to a Freedom of Information request from Community Care.

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