A few months ago students in the School of Healthcare woke up to the news that their course might not be around for much longer. The University are proposing sweeping changes to Leeds healthcare courses which will see subjects such as Radiography, Audiology and Counselling removed from Leeds all together. And so, while the University’s leadership have done their best to keep these proposals under wraps, students have been shouting about why their courses should be kept on the books.
So what exactly is going on? Well, University management have been carving out plans on how they want the School of Healthcare to look in future. From what we know it looks like Nursing, Midwifery and Social Work are going to be kept, but all other healthcare courses are facing the chop. Next month will see the proposals face a vote at Leeds University’s Senate; the body on which representatives from every faculty come together to vote on policy.
With this in mind, it’s not surprising that healthcare students are getting angry. Cutting any course would have major consequences. Although current students have been reassured that they’ll be able to graduate with a Leeds degree, it’s not been made clear whether they’ll be able to finish their course on campus, whether they’ll still have the option to study abroad or if they can take part in re-sits. What’s even more grating is that the University haven’t taken the time to consult their students on these proposals. The closest they’ve come to asking healthcare students what they think about this is a couple of emails sent outside of term time and several meetings with Leeds University Union’s student exec. It’s also very clear that healthcare students really value their courses; every year final year students rate their course in the national student surveys and some healthcare courses achieve a whopping 100% satisfaction rating. The whole point of asking students what they think of their course is to let the School know whether or not it needs to make any changes. High scores should indicate that things need to stay as they are, or be improved, and certainly not that courses be stripped away altogether. Put simply, healthcare students are being dismissed in favour of meeting research targets that the University hopes will push Leeds up to the top half of the Russell Group. But it’s not just student feedback they’re ignoring. Employability is supposedly right at the top of the University’s priority list, so it makes no sense to cut courses such as Radiography, which teach students the skills they need to walk straight into a job as a healthcare professional.
Course closures won’t just affect staff and students, they’ll also cause problems for the wider community. Many students on healthcare courses are mature students who live locally. Taking away these courses will mean taking opportunities away from prospective students who aren’t able to move to another city because of their job, family or finances.
What’s more, scrapping courses will also have a detrimental effect on frontline healthcare services. Year after year many of our healthcare graduates go on to work for healthcare services here in Leeds. If they were to disappear overnight it will lead to a lack of essential healthcare professionals in our city, which someone else will have to fill. It’s no secret that the NHS is under a tremendous amount of strain, and ditching critical courses will only serve to increase the national skills shortage and pile on the pressure. So even if you don’t know anyone studying in the School of Healthcare, there’s a good chance you’ll have benefitted from the training of a healthcare professional when you’ve been to the doctors or the hospital whilst living in Leeds.
So what are we doing, and what can we do, to stop these closures? So far, we’ve passed a policy at Better University Forum mandating the Leeds University Union Student Exec to campaign against these course closures. We’ve also held two student forums where students could come along and find out what’s going on. Before Christmas over 120 students sent a Christmas card to the Vice Chancellor letting him know that all they wanted for Christmas was to save their course. And at last month’s University Senate we spoke and gave literature to everyone going into the meeting, which detailed why Leeds students want to keep healthcare courses running at this institution. On top of this we’ve also had nearly 100 students writing to their MP about their concerns.
And we have far more in the pipe line. We’re calling on students to record a 5 second video clip telling the University why they love healthcare. We’ll compile these clips into a promotional video for our campaign so we can make sure as many students as possible know about what’s being planned. But we also need to apply pressure on members of the University Senate. The LUU Exec are emailing everyone to let them know our concerns and ask them which way they’re planning on voting.
Healthcare courses provide people with the skills and knowledge to keep our social services running smoothly and save lives on a daily basis, so it’s worrying to see how easily they might be taken away from Leeds. Yet despite the doom and gloom of what could be around the corner, it’s been amazing to see students turn into activists over night and take a stand to ensure that their voices are heard. So be in no doubt at all – we will do everything we can to make sure that these courses continue right here in Leeds.
By Alice Smart