St. Mary’s College and Liverpool Hope University are to widen Higher Education and Continuing Professional Development provision in Blackburn by launching a new University Centre.
The Liverpool Hope University Centre will open at St Mary’s on Friday 1st September 2017, giving Liverpool Hope a more permanent presence at the Shear Brow site.
It will extend provision for students studying full and part time undergraduate and postgraduate degrees at St Mary’s - accredited and delivered by Liverpool Hope University - in subjects including Business Management and Education.
The Centre will also offer a new range of accredited and non-accredited professional development courses for Education professionals, including leadership training, a National Award in SEN Coordination, and Continuing Professional Development (CPD) courses.
A Level and BTEC students considering a degree will also be able to drop in to the centre for advice.
In June 2017, Liverpool Hope University was awarded Gold in the government’s Teaching Excellence Framework, ranking it alongside Oxford and Cambridge for its teaching quality. Only 27% of Higher Education providers received Gold status.
Professor Gerald Pillay, Vice Chancellor of Liverpool Hope University said: “We are proud to work closely with St Mary’s to ensure that people in Blackburn and the surrounding areas can access Higher Education and professional development in a way that fits in with their life. We have had an excellent calibre of students via St Mary’s, taking degrees in Business Management, Education, Disability Studies and more.
“Making ourselves more visible at St Mary’s is the next step in opening up degree-level, Gold standard university-level teaching to even more people in the area. Our new Professional Development courses also show that we are committed to supporting educational professionals and education providers across the region.”
Jenny Singleton, Interim Principal at St Mary’s said: “We are delighted that Liverpool Hope has chosen St Mary's College to offer Gold standard university-level teaching to our College community. We look forward to working closely with such valued professionals in supporting our aspiration to deliver outstanding teaching and learning to all students, regardless of age and background.”
Image: Artist impression of the new University Centre