CORU accreditation for Social Care courses at TUS
Technological University of the Shannon’s Athlone campus has received CORU accreditation for its three undergraduate social care programmes: BA (Hons) in Social Care Practice, BA in Applied Social Studies in Social Care, and BA in Applied Social Care (Part Time).
From 2023 onwards, graduates from these social care programmes will be eligible to automatically register on CORU’s Social Care Register, which is due to open later this year.
Past social care graduates of TUS Athlone campus’s Level 6, 7 and 8 social care programmes will also be able to apply to CORU to enter the register, through a process called ‘grand-parenting’.
Calling it a “badge of honour” for the Athlone campus, Ollie Hegarty, head of the Department of Social Sciences at TUS, said the accreditation validates the quality of the social care programmes and the calibre of academic staff who ensure students meet “the exacting quality standards the social care profession demands”.
Mr Hegarty went on to say he is hugely proud of the “significant work” put in by staff over a five-year period to secure CORU accreditation.
“This has been a marathon rather than a sprint and the pathway to success has been very challenging,” he said, explaining his team were “unflinching in their pursuit” of CORU accreditation, going “over and above” to deliver for social care students, both current and past
“I am so proud and appreciative of the way those individual staff members collaborated, and I know the team will continue to aspire to deliver the highest quality standards in social care education in Ireland,” Mr Hegarty said.
TUS Athlone campus has a proud history of providing social care education, with graduates working with a range of service providers including the HSE, Tusla, Brothers of Charity, St Hilda’s, Simon Community, Peter McVerry Trust, Merchants Quay, and Esker House.
Dean of the Faculty of Science and Health Dr Don Faller welcomed news of the CORU approval of all three social care programmes calling it “excellent news” for students and graduates alike.
“It means graduates from all TUS Athlone’s social care programmes are now eligible to join the register of social care workers in Ireland,” Dr Faller said.
“CORU’s primary remit is to protect the public via a number of roles, one of which is to ensure educational bodies, such as TUS Athlone campus, deliver qualifications that prepare social care workers to provide safe and appropriate care to the public.”
TUS Athlone campus is now the only educational provider in the country approved by CORU to deliver three social care programmes and is only one of three providers to have approval to deliver a programme for applicants wishing to study social care part-time rather than full-time.