LJMU's continued commitment to care leavers
11 November 2011
LJMU’s commitment to Care Leavers has been further recognised with the news that the University's application for renewal of the Buttle UK Quality Mark has been accepted for the next three years. In their letter confirming the renewal, Buttle UK commended the university for its 'exemplary work for care leavers'. The Quality Mark for Care Leavers was launched in 2006 to address the specific challenges that this group of people face in higher education. It represents a statement of commitment for Higher Education institutions to sign up to which requires them to meet certain criteria demonstrating their commitment to support this group of students.
The University demonstrated its commitment to supporting Care Leavers recently through a range of internal and external events during National Care Leavers Week, organised by the Student Advice and Wellbeing team.
Recently, a group of current students at the University who are care leavers, met with honorary fellow Paul Barber and his brother Ben, to share their experiences of growing up in the care system and listen to words of encouragement regarding their future careers. For full story see http://www.ljmu.ac.uk/NewsUpdate/index_121186.htm
At the beginning of the month, LJMU's Care Leavers Project Coordinator, Phil Bakstad led a seminar at the National Leaving Care Services Conference in Westminster on discussing how LJMU and the wider HE sector were working to support the progression of care leavers into university.
Yvonne Turnbull, Head of Student Advice and Wellbeing commented:
"The Buttle UK Quality Mark is awarded to HEIs who can demonstrate a commitment to supporting care leavers throughout their time at university and it has been instrumental in the development of our support for care leavers, both at a strategic and individual level. To be described as 'exemplary' is fantastic and reinforces other feedback we have received during National Care Leavers Week which has firmly placed us at the cutting edge of support for this particular group of students. We are committed to maintaining this position and further developing our work in this area throughout the next three years of the Buttle UK Quality Mark."
For further information about the support available for care leavers email Phil Bakstad P.Bakstad@ljmu.ac.uk
