The Minister for Health, David Anderson MHK has expressed his delight at the news that staff studying for the Department’s BSc (Hons) Health Studies degree have once again achieved such high standards in their results.
 
Six of the sixteen candidates achieved First Class (Hons) degrees, five achieved Upper Second Class and five Lower Second Class.
 
The Minister said: “This outstanding set of results is a tribute to the dedication and enthusiasm of the staff completing the programme.  The students hold down challenging full-time professional roles in addition to studying for their degrees so their commitment is all the greater.  Their high marks are a real tribute to the educational standards and support provided by the Department’s Learning Team.”
 
Chief External Examiner for the programme, Les Gelling said: “There is clearly a good relationship between students and tutors and it would appear that students are well supported.  There is a luxury in having such small numbers of students which enables this relationship to develop.”
 
Representatives from Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU), the awarding body for the degree, commended the Island’s Health and Social Care Learning Team for their efforts, and expressed their confidence in them going forward.  MMU works closely with the Department to validate the programmes and ensure comparable academic standards are applied in the Isle of Man.  Future plans include the validation of new awards at both Under-graduate and Masters level as the Department of Health’s Learning Team plan to introduce a BSc (Hons) Health and Social Care and an MSc Professional Practice, both of which should be available in Spring 2013.
 
The learning of the students was especially enhanced by the multi-professional nature of their experience. There are currently 62 students on the programme and their backgrounds include adult and mental health nurses, social workers, paramedics and outreach workers.  Students report that they enjoy learning from people with a wide variety of backgrounds and perspectives whilst knowing that all work in the public services with the same service users. They learn about each others’ professions and the different approaches adopted in different areas.
 
Furthermore, the projects and assignments they complete on their courses are directly applied to their work, resulting in enhanced services for patients and service users and safer practice.
 
Head of Learning at the Department of Health, Dr Jacqueline Yates said: “The students who have achieved such excellent results should be justly proud of their academic standards.  I would very much like to thank all the academic and practice-based staff who contributed to the education and supported our students to reach produce such excellent and valuable work.”