News and Events
BSW students participate in Erasmus+ programme about service user involvement in social work.
Twelve Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) students together with two social work academics from the School of Applied Social Studies (Dr Lydia Sapouna and Ms Lyn Dorney) participated in an Erasmus+ Blended Intensive Programme (BIP) on service user involvement in social work education in Valance, France 4-8 March.
The programme was hosted by Ocellia University France and involved partners from: Artevelde Hogeschool, Belgium; Jönköping University, Sweden; and University College Cork, Ireland. All partner institutions, educate/train future social workers and have significant experience in service user participation in social work education.
Students and staff engaged in a series of seminars and collaborative group approaches to learn about and from families with first-hand experience of migration. The BIP was a very moving and positive learning experience for both students and staff, with students particularly commenting on the impact of the programme on their values and professional development.
It was rewarding to see that our long-standing commitment to service user involvement in social work education was reflected in the student participation in the programme. This was a wonderful opportunity to showcase the innovative work done in the BSW programme, and the School of Applied Social Studies, through working with students and staff from the partner institutions in promoting meaningful service user involvement in social work.
We hope that UCC will host the next BIP on this topic in the 2024-2025 academic year.