Protests at University of Reading over plans to axe Social Care department

Staff and students will join forces for a special lobby outside the university's Agriculture Building on the Earley Gate campus from 1.30pm. UCU is leading the protests as it believes the planned closure has been announced without any consultation. It has also warned that closing the department flies in the face of new government initiatives to help the beleaguered social work profession. The protestors will lobby members of the university's senate as they arrive to discuss the fate of the department at the 2.30pm meeting.

'There is no logic whatsoever in closing this school. It provides invaluable training and is completely self-sustaining... Reading should be at the forefront of provision not scaling things back'
Ann Quinn
Reading UCU

The threatened department runs hugely successful social work courses at both undergraduate and postgraduate level and, at a time when the government estimates that one in ten social work positions in the UK are currently unfilled, UCU says it fails to comprehend why the institution is considering axing a department that is not losing money. The British Association of Social Workers has warned that this one closure will lead to a shortage of industry professionals in the country, with Berkshire particularly affected. Reading University controversially axed its award-winning physics department in November 2006. A move heavily criticised by experts in the field at the time.

Ann Quinn, who teaches at the School of Health and Social Care and is a UCU member, said: 'There is no logic whatsoever in closing this school. It provides invaluable training and is completely self-sustaining. It is really important that senate members realise that axing the department will damage Reading's reputation. The UK is desperately short of social workers at the moment, and Reading should be at the forefront of provision not scaling things back. The government has made it quite clear that we need more, not less, support for social work in this country and Reading University is doing its best to undermine those plans'.

UCU general secretary, Sally Hunt who will address the crowd of protestors, said: 'Reading University needs to explain exactly why it believes axing a vital department, that provides the region and the country with social workers, is the right thing to do when there is a desperate shortage. This move would stop many local students from being able to study social care. After the shambolic closure of the physics department in 2006 we hoped we had seen the last of plans from the vice-chancellor that fly in the face of local and national priorities. It would appear we were mistaken, but rest assured that we will be fighting these plans all the way.'

• Directions to lobby -  (The Lobby is happening off Earley Gate road)
• See the DCSF website for more on the government's new plans for social care

Background
 
The department's RAE result was average within the university and second best in the faculty (2.5*). Its research funding is the best in the faculty - £1,700,000 over the past six years, with 20 funded projects, 100 publications and seven current contract researchers.
 
The department runs hugely successful, consistently oversubscribed courses at both undergraduate and postgraduate level, which enjoy the leading to the best staff/student ratio (1:27) in the university. These courses never run at a loss. Social Work became a graduate profession in 2003 with expanding student numbers and the entry of school leavers. Students all receive a bursary of £4,000+ or are employer-sponsored.
 
Overheads from self–funded activity (£59,000) are greater than for the majority of schools, and increasing with the development of CPD programmes. The department provides consultancy and evaluation for local employers such as Slough and Reading Borough Councils and West Berkshire Neurological Alliance.
 
The department's public sector partnerships with local employers include 10 Local Authorities and 50 private, voluntary and independent organisations, delivering 180 placements funded by government worth £200,000 a year. 95% of the department's students find employment on graduation; the majority within the local region, where there is a shortage of qualified social workers. The newly established Continuing Professional Development programme has been developed with active involvement and funding of local employers.
 
The department has links with 20 different agencies and each year new links are forged and developed; 11 of the 20 are voluntary agencies to whom the department helps provide counselling services.