A COLLEGE has seen a surge in applications for its care degree courses as applicants refocus their priorities following the pandemic.
WCG – formerly Warwickshire College Group – has seen applications rise across the board for courses which involve the mental and physical health of people and animals.
This includes courses such as counselling, canine therapy and rehabilitation, veterinary nursing and veterinary physiotherapy.
Steve Taylor, Dean of Higher Education at WCG, believes the increase in interest of these type of care courses reflects the changing priorities of the public over the last year.
“The pandemic has brought the idea of the key worker to the forefront of people’s minds and I think more generally the last 18 months have made people want to follow careers that can make a real impact.
“We have seen application for our Counselling numbers rise significantly, particularly in Worcestershire and we will be expanding that provision at Pershore College.
“Lockdown has also seen prospective students spending a lot more time with their pets and this could link to the increase in interest in our veterinary courses.
“Veterinary nursing in particular is proving hugely popular, with really strong application numbers for our BSc at Moreton Morrell and Foundation Degree at Pershore College.”
The college group has seen a 4.5 per cent increase in applications for its full-time applications across the board – with canine therapy applications already more than double the number they were in 2020.
Another area to see strong growth is Agri-Tech Foundation Degree at Pershore College
It comes after the college group was granted permission to design and award full three-year honours degree courses.
WCG is now running three-year honours degree courses in counselling and psychotherapy, games art, digital film production, performing arts, business and management, and computer networks and cybersecurity.
Mr Taylor added: “We’ve seen a good increase this year in application numbers and we are continuing to expand our Higher Education offering across the college group.
“The degree awarding powers give us the chance to mould our own degree programmes and give them a strong technical or professional focus.”
