Social Work BA graduates from Highlands College, Jersey

11 undergraduate social work students from *Highlands College, Jersey, graduated on 7 October at a ceremony in St Helier marking a successful end to their qualifying training. The ceremony was a fitting testament to not only the hard work of the students, but that of Highlands and Sussex staff who designed and delivered the course which strengthens social work in the Channel Islands.

Although Covid-19 presented unforeseen challenges, the group successfully became the first cohort to graduate from this new partnership arrangement between Highlands College, Jersey, and the University of Sussex.

Professor Simon Thompson, Head of the School of Education & Social Work, who delivered the degrees in person, said:

“The Jersey cohort were so happy to receive their degrees, celebrating with each other and for each other like a real community. I am very proud of the team in the Department of Social Work and Social Care who made such a success of delivering this course entirely remotely. They did great work.”

Jersey scholar, Aaron White, had the additional honour of winning the Vice Chancellor’s award for exceptional performance – for achieving the highest grade of the cohort for his research minded project and being “an exceptional student and a true champion of people's rights”.

Laura Simpson, Lecturer and Deputy Head of Higher Education at University College, Jersey, said:

“Aaron embodies the ethics and values of the social work profession, and always seeking ways to improve the quality of his work. It has been a pleasure to watch him grow through this course. The College is looking forward to seeing everything he’ll accomplish in his career.”

Dr David Orr, Head of the Department of Social Work and Social Care at the University of Sussex, said:

“Congratulations to all the Jersey students! And a resounding 'well done' to all the colleagues who taught and learned with them. Special acknowledgements go to Dr Russell Whiting who was instrumental in setting up the partnership, and Karen Okuefuna-Budd, who did so much work on practice education there.”

The Jersey course was set up in response to a safeguarding review which highlighted that over-reliance on staff trained off-island left vulnerabilities in the system. It meant that qualifying training did not take into account the local context and contributed to staff turnover. Jersey and Guernsey's legal and government system, and therefore policy framework, is different from that of England. The Department of Social Work and Social Care at the University of Sussex was delighted to partner with Highlands College Jersey to provide a qualifying Social Work BA course to produce a workforce familiar with the Jersey and Guernsey context from the start of their professional training.  

*Highlands College is a further and higher college in Jersey in the Channel Islands. It has 860 full-time and over 4,000 part-time and adult students. Highlands is a Partner College of the University of Plymouth, London South Bank University, and the University of Sussex.