Important Updates

College Update: Solidarity with Black Lives Matter – 17 June 2020

In the context of all the issues highlighted since the murder of George Floyd in the USA, we have all been profoundly and very deeply affected.  Communities around the world are coming together under the Black Lives Matter cause. 

This is a clear opportunity to change that serves to highlight the imperative to act upon what we believe in, and to advance and champion two of our strategic values: respect – valuing everyone all the time and implement an infrastructure designed to uphold Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion within a supportive environment. 

We have a long history of anti-racism and tackling discrimination.  At this time, we need to champion greater change and contribute through education to create an environment that has no place for racism.  At Ruskin, we take our role as educators extremely seriously and as an institution we do not avoid difficult conversations, yet this is a moment where we need to ask ourselves very difficult questions and we are reaching out to our staff, students and our community to help us achieve this.  We will be reviewing the whole College approach to defeating racism and this process will be led by our Student Services Manager, Abid Hussain ahussain@ruskin.ac.uk, and the Clerk to the Board, Alana Jackman ajackman@ruskin.ac.uk.  They will lead this initiative to promote our values, support Black Lives Matter and tackle racism.  We are here to work with you all.  Education has the power to change people’s lives and in turn the communities that we serve.

College Update: Google Classrooms – 14 April 2020

During the Easter break, Google G-Suite has been added and made available to all.  As previously advised, all emails have now been transferred to a new account for you in Gmail. Your existing files and documents remain available from the Remote Desktop app previously provided. Your old mail at Exchange will no longer function and Gmail must be used henceforward for email.  Sign in via your browser to http://mail.google.com with your normal email address (aperson@ruskin.ac.uk) and use the ‘one-time’ password provided that you should have received via a text message. If you have problems accessing or using your mail please call the helpline in  01865 759607 between 9am and 4pm. Teachers also have access to the new Classroom app which will assist course communication in future; your teacher will let you know when this becomes available for your course.

College Update: Announcement to all HE Social Work and CDYW students – 3 April 2020

The College is working hard to find a resolution to final assessments and are in the latter stages of designing and implementing a raft of new processes necessary to deal with the unprecedented situation the COVID-19 crisis finds us all in. The key requirement for us at the moment is to ensure that we send you really clear and comprehensive information, and to acknowledge the anxieties you are feeling about your progress.

The OU, our Awarding Body, have approved the temporary change to on-line delivery so we can ensure that you are all able to complete your studies.  Clearly there may need to be amendments to some of the summative assessments in order to enable these to be completed successfully at a distance and we are currently working hard in order to revise these and then have them approved.

To summarise, the main issue is to ensure that whatever changes and procedures are proposed do not inadvertently disadvantage any of our students, but at the same time ensure that the learning outcomes have fulfilled the requirements of the Professional Statutory Regulatory Bodies. Gayle Lonergan (Academic Registrar), Steph Green (CDYW) and Stephen Cowden (Academic Lead – Social Work) are currently working with our External Examiners and Professional bodies for Social Work and CDYW in order to gain their approval for adjustments to the summative assessment.

Stephen Cowden will also send a message directly to the Social Work students explaining what his role will be and will provide a schedule for the tutorial support that will be running. The good news is that we will have access to the EBSCO list of ebooks and we will make this available to all of our dissertation students.

We are all working in unprecedented times and together we will find a solution.

Yours sincerely

Jane Franklin
Assistant Principal

College Update: BA Hons Social Work Level 5 and Level 6 – 16 August 2019

Dear Students,

Following our meeting yesterday, can I firstly thank you for taking the time during your holiday period to speak with us. I hope that you found the meeting beneficial and supportive.

For the avoidance of doubt, the College is committed to maintaining the BA Hons Social Work course; we are committed to you completing your studies (even if your class size drops) and we are committed to providing the required staffing.

As requested at the meeting, we did agree that I would send an update on the issues that we are all facing, which is below:

1. Communication: we agreed that one form of communication was the most effective way forward. That will be Vinisha Patel’s email address: vpatel@ruskin.ac.uk. Please do not use any other email address as this does lead to confusion. As per my last email, do use the official channel of communication as we cannot be responsible for any views or opinions expressed on social media or elsewhere.
2. Staffing: we confirm that the existing staff will work through their three-month period of notice as per their contracts, thereby enabling the College to recruit replacement staff. The new staff will be in place as soon as possible and will team teach with the existing team. This will enable a complete induction and preparation for new colleagues.
3. Staff Qualification: all staff will be fully qualified and have professional status with HCPC, potentially some areas of curriculum, i.e. Law, are an exception.
4. Risk Assessment: for those who are exploring the possibility of moving to another institution we are in direct talks with Oxford Brookes and Buckinghamshire Universities to determine the feasibility of this. We will keep you updated.
5. Level 4 Cohort: there is no level four programme this year, this was agreed with the OU having risk assessed the challenges that we face.
6. Future of the Social Work Programme: the College remains committed to social work as a programme area, and will do all it can to maintain it in place.
7. Commitment: the College is committed to ensuring that all students, including returning level 4 part-time students, have every opportunity to complete their studies with us.
8. Preparation for September: it was agreed that the Assistant Principal will organise all relevant course documentation and send through to you all by 23 August 2019. This will include all detail of skills days, bursary detail (which has already been communicated), placement materials. Due to staff holidays this has been delayed.
9. Placement for 2019: it was agreed that Rena will communicate with Sarah to have an update on the next steps for those of you that do not have placements. If you do not have a placement for this academic year contact vpatel@ruskin.ac.uk without delay, Vinisha will set up a meeting with Rena Rani without delay to ensure that we can move this forward.
10. Placement for 2019: it was agreed that Rena will communicate with Sarah to have an update on the next steps for those of you that do not have placements. If you do not have a placement for this academic year contact vpatel@ruskin.ac.uk without delay, Vinisha will set up a meeting with Rena Rani without delay to ensure that we can move this forward.
11. We agreed that the level 5 and 6 induction for Social Work will be on the 9 September 2019 at 9.30am, and not the previous week.

Can I assure you that we are doing all we can to address your issues, please do remain in contact with my colleagues.

Please do email vpatel@ruskin.ac.uk, do ignore all social media and do come into College if in doubt.

I look forward to seeing you all in your first week back at College from 9 September 2019.

The full staff cohort will return on the 28 August 2019, so do drop in as needed.

Student Services, Rena and Vinisha will be in College next week.

If, there are other matters that we have omitted, this is not intentional and please do let Vinisha know what they are.

Yours sincerely

Paul Di Felice
Principal

College Update: BA Hons Social Work Level 4 – 14 August 2019

NB: This message applies only to new starters in BA Hons Social Work in September 2019

Dear Student

It is with great regret that we inform you that the Level 4 BA Hons in Social Work will not be running this academic year.

This is due to a number of factors including recent adverse publicity and staffing shortages.

The College will endeavour to do all we can to support you through this difficult time.

The Student Services Manager Vinisha Patel will contact you and will offer guidance and support in your next steps. Student Services is open Monday – Friday 9am to 5pm.

You can make a personal appointment to meet with Vinisha on vpatel@ruskin.ac.uk for support.

Yours sincerely

Paul Di Felice
Principal

College Update: Higher Education at Ruskin College – 12 August 2019

Dear Student

As discussed with you previously, there continues to be a high degree of misinformation being shared through social media regarding the future of higher education at Ruskin College. This is an extremely difficult time for you all and as a College we will do all we can to support you. We cannot control messages on social media and, as such, we bear no responsibility for them, but we strongly advise that you follow all guidance that we offer in line with your contract with us.

For clarity, please do note the following as the position of the College:

• Professional Integrity: the College leadership categorically refutes the suggestion that we are running down our programmes, that we have no commitment to our students or our staff and that we are providing misinformation. As a team we are all committed individuals with a wealth of experience and expertise, and our aim is to support you all through this extremely difficult time.
• Commitment to HE: Ruskin College remains a provider of higher education and will continue to offer degrees in Social Work and Community Development and Youth Work in the immediate future.
• Redundancies: there have been a small number of redundancies affecting the degrees in Applied Social Sciences, MA Global Labour and Social Change, Foundation Degree in Health and Social Care and the Certificate in Higher Education in Law. These courses are not running in September 2019 since they all had too few applications to be sustainable. The Applied Social Sciences Degree is staffed for September and will be taught out to its conclusion in 2021. All outstanding assessment/tuition for the above and the BA ILTUS is now in place.
• Resignations: as you are aware from social media, some of the Social Work tutors have resigned, we fully expect staff to work their notice and we are currently recruiting staff to begin teaching in September 2019. We will, of course, have appropriately qualified staff in place for the start of your course. As stated, and for the avoidance of doubt, the College is fully committed to the future of this programme.
• The Community Development and Youth Work degree continues to recruit, is fully staffed and we look forward to a new cohort in September.

Communication

We aim to provide a clear and coherent process for the start of your academic year. We know this is a difficult time for you, and we are saddened that your education is being affected in this way, but we are doing all we can to support you professionally and in a proper manner. Please do not hesitate to use one of the avenues set out below if you have any queries or concerns.

1. We know there are issues with students’ receiving different messages via social media. In order to prevent any further miscommunication regarding your course of study, the College leadership will communicate directly via your email address and the College website. These are the official lines of communication that the College is accountable for in terms of the accuracy of the content. For the avoidance of doubt, the College will not be accountable for any other form of communication from other sources. If you have any doubt or receive communications that are of concern to you, please do speak to vpatel@ruskin.ac.uk
   
2. Members of the College leadership team will meet with you all on Thursday this week (15 August 2019). We will be available at College in Room 2.09 from 4.00pm- 5.00pm.
   
   Alternatively, from Tuesday 13 August 2019 members of the SLT will be available daily between 5.00-6.00pm in the Boardroom.
   
3. You can of course contact student services directly on vpatel@ruskin.ac.uk if you wish to discuss your next steps.
   
4. For Social Work student’s bursary, details are available via vpatel@ruskin.ac.uk
   
5. All timetables, course handbooks, placement guidance, and placement details will be sent via email by 23 August 2019.
   
6. There will be a College induction meeting for all returning higher education students on the 4 September 2019 at 4.00pm and this will finish at 5.00pm.
   
7. All finance queries regarding student finance England will be dealt with by Tracey Bennett, who can be contacted on tbennett@ruskin.ac.uk. All queries regarding student support requests will also be made to Tracey Bennett.

Yours sincerely

Paul Di Felice
Principal