Dozens of students from Laurentian University's School of Social Work rallied by Science North on Wednesday afternoon in support of the program, which is under accreditation review by the Canadian Association of Social Work Educators.
Stephanie Sindori President, the Students’ Association of the School of Social Work, said in a letter that Wednesday's event was the first part of a campaign to raise awareness.
“These events ... will educate the public about the social work profession and gather support for the field along with gathering support to ensure that Laurentian keeps its promise to maintain our accreditation, maintain the reputation of our school, and to ensure that students can focus on their studies during this time,” Sindori wrote.
The accreditation process is needed to renew the school’s accreditation for the Bachelor of Social Work Degrees in English (Sudbury and Barrie campuses) and French (Sudbury campus and distance education).
“Laurentian University is the only bilingual accredited social work program in Canada and is one of the only accredited universities to offer an undergraduate French social work degree through distance education,” she writes. “Offering this program in both official languages celebrates the diversity of our region and has been a priority since the end of the 1970s.
“The campus visit with the CASWE accreditation team revealed a need for greater faculty resources for all streams of the program. Students are confident that Laurentian University will continue to work to maintain the accreditation and reputation of its program as they have already committed to fulfilling the conditions that CASWE has yet to finalize for the Anglophone and Francophone streams.”
