Introduction
The University of the West of England, Bristol is one of Britain's most popular Universities with more than 23,000 students and a 1,000-strong academic staff base. Our substantial student community is made up of people from a wide variety of backgrounds which is a great recipe for a lively intellectual and social mix.
The University's history goes back as far as 1595, representing a long and well established tradition of first class professional education and training. We are justifiably proud of providing our students with the knowledge and skills they need to succeed in their chosen career. Close links with industry and professions ensure that our courses are relevant and innovative, striving to be ahead of the field.
The University has four campuses in and around the city of Bristol encompassing 9 Schools and teaching some 300 degree programmes across a wide range of disciplines. In addition, we also have an Associate School in Gloucester and regional education centres in Bath, Gloucester and Swindon. Each enjoys a varied social life of its own, but students are welcome to use the facilities of all campuses.
The School Vision
We aim to be the number one School of Health and Social Care in the UK nationally and internationally recognised for its dynamic, outstanding and highly creative contributions to policy and practice.
The School Mission
- Pursue and deliver excellence in education and research.
- Work in an integrated way with a range of partners to develop a dynamic, highly skilled health and social care workforce equipped for the future.
- Develop creative, dynamic, highly competent client focused practitioners who are able to deliver high quality in practice.
- Commitment to supporting staff and students to reach their full potential within facilitative high quality learning and research environments.
The School is primarily based at the Glenside Campus in Bristol which is close to the University's main Frenchay Campus. In addition the School has regional centres in Bath, Gloucester and Swindon.
School Departments
The School has three academic Departments reflecting the diversity of the learning opportunities available. The School uses the title 'Department' to group academic staff and courses together, some other Universities use the term department or division. A Department is made up of a range of academic staff that have particular expertise and qualifications in either a single subject area or a variety of subject areas that relate to the work of the department. Each Department has a Head who along with a dedicated team of lecturers ensure that learning opportunities meet the needs of our students. The three departments are:
Our History
The School of Health and Social Care was created in 1996 when the former Avon and Gloucestershire College of Health and Bath and Swindon College of Health Studies joined with the existing Faculty of Health and Community Studies at UWE. This major development saw the creation of one of the largest and most significant educational communities specialising in health and social care education and research in the UK.
The School Today
The School is involved in a number of research projects and has developed strong links with health and social care communities.
The School already has a good record in terms of widening participation and is above the current benchmark set by the Government for higher education institutions for widening participation. However it can and will do more to encourage and enable students from under represented groups to enter and succeed in higher education.
The School continues to foster and develop new and existing links with various external organisations. One of the School’s major partnership developments relates to the creation of Academies across the Health Community. Originally conceived by the University of Bristol to support the expansion of medical student numbers it quickly developed into a unique and innovative model for delivering modern interprofessional education across organisations and disciplines.
The School continues to develop new areas of study to meet the local and regional education purchasers’ requirements for education. This also includes the development of more flexible means of programme delivery, in mode and access, in time and place.
Our Centres
The School is primarily based at the Glenside Campus in Bristol which is close to the UWE's main Frenchay Campus. In addition the School has regional centres in Bath, Gloucester and Swindon. There are also a number of Administrative and Research staff located at the Health Training and Research Centre based at the Bristol Business Park opposite the Frenchay Campus.
Support Departments
The School is supported by the following administrative departments:
- Executive Support
- Faculty Services
- Finance and Management Information
- Marketing and Recruitment
- Practice Learning Unit
- Programmes Office
- Research Office
If you need to contact any of these support departments please see Contact Us.
Setting High Standards
The School is superbly equipped with an extensive range of teaching and learning resources. This includes an excellent library, an Interprofessional Simulation Suite, a Human Analysis Laboratory, an Imaging Suite, a Virtual Environment Radiotherapy Training room and Skills Simulation Suites. These facilities support and develop the students learning experience to a high standard.
Leaders in Teaching
Strategy and Online Learning Developments
The School is committed to providing the highest quality learning experience to students. It recognises the increasing potential e-learning approaches offer to support students’ learning because of the richness and variety of ways interactive learning can be presented.
The University has its own Virtual Learning Environment, ‘UWE online’ which is used to support learning and many elements of all our programmes are run online, incorporating discussion groups, and a range of multimedia and interactive resources. The School has invested in a Learning Technologies Technical Unit (LTTU) to support staff engaging in online learning, where expertise in instructional design is offered as well as technical and design support for interactive multimedia development.
Work-based Learning
We are keen to promote work-based learning (WBL) opportunities. WBL ensures the development of practice, the development of the individual and the development of the organisation. Learning from work allows change to evolve whilst enhancing the delivery of practice and care. This approach contributes to and builds the evidence for professional development. The focus for this approach has to be driven by the needs of the organisation.
Learning through Work
The School has teamed up with University for Industry (Ufi) and Learndirect as part of a major project to provide online higher education learning opportunities. The overall aim of this national project is to ‘enhance personal employability and organisational effectiveness by stimulating the demand and extending the provision for learner managed work-based learning’.
Put simply, Learning through Work (LtW) is a new way of learning that occurs in and from the workplace. The School recognises that valuable supported learning in the workplace is part and parcel of everyday life. Therefore accredited modules are available for study online. As a result of this project, health and social care programmes are advertised nationally and internationally via the LtW website www.learndirect.co.uk
The School has also been given the opportunity to tender for contract that offers learning opportunities with various organisations such as the Army, the Home Office and Barclays University. The School actively contributes to the development of the LtW website, the design of modules and the development of distance learning materials.
Staff Development
As part of our commitment to establish the School as a national and international centre for excellence in flexible learning, we now have an e-learning suite specifically for staff development, equipped with multimedia PCs, web development software, an image scanner and a digital video editing suite. A comprehensive staff development course for facilitating e-learning has also been developed encompassing both teaching and technical issues. The suite can be booked for workshops on web page design, working with images and video on the web.
Innovations in Learning
Practice placements within local NHS Trusts and Social Care Organisations make up an integral part of undergraduate study and provide students with an excellent opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of care delivery. Placements also provide students with an opportunity to apply their knowledge and skills and as part of a team find out what it's really like working in their chosen field.
The School ensures that each student has a placement arranged for them that is appropriate to the level and stage of their course. Students on placements learn how to work with a wide range of personnel, develop user focused approaches and develop their confidence and competence. All students on placement have a member of staff who supervises and guides them to achieve the necessary 'hands on' skills to become health care professionals as well as formulating their own plan of learning.
Our Regional Role – Academies
In November 2000 the University of the West of England along with the University of Bristol, National Health Service (NHS) and The Department of Health’s Regional Office developed the concept of ‘Clinical Academies’. This concept will lead to the creation of seven academies existing to cover each local health community within Avon, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire. Each Academy will support medical, nursing and other health professions’ students and provide opportunities for lifelong learning and continuing professional development for all health and social care staff through provision of learning facilities and a network of people and resources.
The Academies Project aims to bring together all those who provide learning opportunities for current and future health service staff and is underpinned by the following principles:
- Partnership
- Integration
- Accessibility
- Lifelong Learning and Inclusion
- Shared Learning
- Flexibility
- Workbased Opportunities
Lifelong Learning
The School is committed to Lifelong Learning and offers a variety of educational opportunities for health and social care professionals to realise their personal and career ambitions. The School prides itself on its commitment to providing learning experiences and opportunities that will help you to further develop and enhance your practice and is keen to facilitate the application of theory to your work environment. The School is also known for its focus on interprofessional learning and encourages practitioners to learn together to enhance skills and knowledge.