Accreditation of the Podiatry BSc (Hons) course

Mon, 02 Apr 2012 09:58:00 BST

The University’s Podiatry’s BSc(Hons) course was accredited by the College of Podiatry when they visited in February 2012 to review the course.  The College of Podiatry was formed when the Society of Chiropodists and Podiatrists, which is the professional body for all podiatry degrees in the UK, separated its education function from its other business. The College of Podiatry is now responsible for the accreditation of all courses every 5 years, to ensure their currency and validity for their graduates to be eligible to apply for membership of the Society of Chiropodists and Podiatrists.

The review was conducted over two days, which included visits to two of our partner placement sites in York and Huddersfield, to appreciate the range of students’ learning experiences in practice. A series of meetings were also held with senior staff, the teaching team, service user representatives and student representatives.

From left to right: Dr Wilfred Foxe (Director of Undergraduate Education ), Ms Beverley Durrant (University of Brighton), Michael Concannon (Podiatry BSc(Hons) Course Leader), Alison Hart (Undergraduate Education Officer), Chris Hunt (Honorary Vice President of the Society of Chiropodists and Podiatrists) and Veronica Newton (Part-time Podiatry Route Leader)

The course was successfully accredited and received four commendations on:

1. The strength of the staff team.
2. The staff teams commitment to advancing the course and Podiatry as a Profession.
3. The high levels of student satisfaction with the course and the University.
4. The innovation created in International placements by collaboration with the Universidad Europea de Madrid.

The panel provided the following recommendations:

1. To publicise the work being undertaken with the research groups.
2. To keep the College informed of your progress with the Register of Accredited Clinical Educators (RACE).
3. To continue to review the learning outcomes mapped to the Spanish overseas experience.

Dr Chris Davies, Head of the Division of Podiatry and Clinical Sciences commented "It is a great pleasure to receive such a positive outcome and to assure accreditation for a further 5 years. The staff team work hard to be innovative in curriculum design and delivery that continues to challenge students and progress their learning experiences. Such supportive feedback from our professional body and peers in support of our work and developing research capacity is recognition of our progression”.

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