College hosts international conference (From Falmouth Packet)

College hosts international conference

9:00am Sunday 30th September 2012 in News

Cornwall College Camborne has played host to an International Disability Conference, with professors visiting from Kenya and Norway to present their papers to students.

Professors Kwesi Kassah and Bente Kassah, from University College Harstad in Norway, presented their paper around the experiences of inmates with disabilities in Norway and how they experienced life after being released. The visiting professors have travelled all around the world to talk to various groups of people and have previously visited Cornwall College.

Last year they presented their conference in St Austell but this year have chosen the Camborne campus and also conducted conferences for students at Lancaster University and Plymouth University based on the same paper.

The conference was attended by 80 students from the Health & Social Work provision at the college as part of their initial induction process.

Lisa Beresford, who completed her Social Work degree with Cornwall College this year, said: “The conference gives a flavour of how social work is used around the world, and compares it to here in the UK.

“It’s great because it gives the students a global perspective and helps them in their studies as it allows more in depth knowledge of social work around the world.”

Lisa now works for Cornwall Council ’s Adult Directorate of Adult Care & Support and also showed the visiting professors the local facilities used by the Council for people with disabilities in Truro, Redruth and Helston.

Professor Kwesi Kassah said: “I expected it to be a useful day for the students and the staff and we have been able to reach out to them and provide a little information and insight into our work and the research we have been involved in.”

Don McKenzie, Head of Cornwall College Camborne, said: “This is an excellent opportunity for our existing and new Social Work students to learn a little bit more about their field within a larger scale and ask questions of professionals that have worked in the industry for a long time and experienced a lot of things that our students may eventually be faced with.”