University of Essex: Annual Review, 2001-2002
Contents - The University - Vice-Chancellor's Introduction - Painting a New Picture - The Third Strand - A Healthier Essex - Paving the Way for a Brave New World - Talking Heads - Review of the Year - People and Honorary Graduates - Financial Summary and Statistics

A Healthier Essex

Collaborative initiatives between the University and the National Health Service took a significant step forward during 2001-2002 with the launch of a new department committed to educating health and social care professionals.

The Department of Health and Human Sciences (HHS) is a clear signal that, alongside existing areas of growth, a new field of development is now firmly established. However, while the name of the Department is new, education at Essex for health and social care professionals was built up throughout the 1990s.

From 1994 a Nursing and Health Studies Unit quickly demonstrated its own success and the potential for growth. The Unit was succeeded in 1996 by the Health and Social Services Institute (HSSI). HSSI proved that a combination of innovative teaching and tailor-made research training, aimed at students who are already qualified but who require access to the 'escalator' of continuing professional development (CPD), could thrive within the distinctive high-quality teaching and research culture of Essex.

Today, programmes within the Department are aimed at a wide range of professionals, including nurses, GPs, psychiatrists, physiotherapists, clinical psychologists, counsellors, dieticians and many others. In the year 2001-2002 postgraduate students in the Department included 64 studying for MScs, 11 pursuing PhD projects and 37 on pioneering Professional Doctorate programmes. A partnership with the Centre for Psychoanalytic Studies and the Tavistock Clinic has made a strong contribution here. Undergraduate CPD schemes last year attracted around 175 students to on-campus provision - but, significantly that figure does not count an increasingly large number of NHS staff requesting specifically designed programmes delivered in the workplace.

This year saw the launch of the Department's first 'traditional' full-time undergraduate degree, designed to meet the needs of those intending to work within health, social care and community service sectors. The new BSc Social Psychology and Sociology focuses on the understanding of people in society by bridging the more scientific approach usually taken by psychologists and the more social science approach taken by sociologists. The first cohort of students undertaking the new BSc Health Sciences and Health Psychology will follow next year. This second degree scheme will suit those interested in an academic understanding of how people 'work' by covering a range of approaches to the person, from the psychological to the biological to the sociological.

With new MScs for public health professionals, for psychiatrists in training and for primary care doctors, the Department is currently extending its role in postgraduate medical education. An exciting partnership between the University, Essex Rivers NHS Trust and Queen Mary Medical School in London is under development. On the international front, relationships with the Centre for Research in Public Health, University of Paris, and with the Department of Social Policy, University of Jaen, Spain, look promising for research collaboration and PhD exchanges. In early October 2002 twelve teaching and research staff from the Department travelled to Paris for a successful joint seminar.

The Department's approach to partnership with the NHS and other service providers has been absolutely central to its development. On the one hand, the involvement of their specialist staff in teaching on HHS courses means that students receive the dual benefit of working with established university lecturers but also the lessons of experience brought by those at the cutting-edge of everyday practice. In turn, partnership also means that the Department's staff work with services to try to provide solutions to the problems they face.

The Government has set high targets for the improvement of health services but policy alone cannot solve recurrent problems of under-recruitment of nurses, doctors and therapists, address low staff morale and burnout, or help organisations to 'modernise' overnight. The NHS is always changing but to achieve targets and meet expectations it will have to change even further and work in partnership with higher education institutions like Essex. Flexible, innovative and developmental education - always meeting the rigorous quality assurance standards of the University and professional bodies - is the key to achieving success for these changes.

A Degree in Biomedical Sciences

The University's partnership with the NHS is developing beyond the new Department of Health and Human Sciences.

This year also saw the launch of a new undergraduate degree in Biomedical Sciences, to be delivered by the Department of Biological Sciences. Spearheaded by Professor Chris Cooper, this scheme combines a strong academic programme with a vocational degree. Modules will be taught by NHS staff, and the degree includes a year working as a trainee biomedical scientist in a hospital laboratory.

With accreditation from the Institute of Biomedical Scientists and approval from the Council for Professions Supplementary to Medicine, the four-year degree admitted its first students in October 2002. Up to 20 of those students have received £1,000 grants offered by the NHS. Students will learn the theories underpinning modern biomedical research, the biology of disease, and the skills and techniques associated with being a biomedical scientist.

All in all, the future for health and medical education at the University looks positive, exciting and - dare we say it - healthy!

University of Essex: Annual Review, 2001-2002
Contents - The University - Vice-Chancellor's Introduction - Painting a New Picture - The Third Strand - A Healthier Essex - Paving the Way for a Brave New World - Talking Heads - Review of the Year - People and Honorary Graduates - Financial Summary and Statistics