Why Study Social Work at the University of Salford

Tessa's Story

'She came, She saw, She conquered.



She came to the university in 2014 at 33 years of age, left in 2016, two years older and unquantifiable knowledge richer. And she graduated in 2017 (the university's 50th anniversary!).

Why did you choose the University of Salford?

My time at Salford (a university in which one meets a diverse range of students, lecturers, tutors, educators) helped me realise there are many parts of me and all of them join together make me whole - A black, female, creative, active human being who has self-belief and self-doubt.

Throughout my time at Salford, my self-belief and self-doubt continued playing tug-of war, but I was fortunate enough to fall into the hands of a great team of MA Social Work programme lecturers, then led by Suryia Nayak and a great team of classmates too who all worked together and supported each other in all ways possible.

What was studying Social Work like?

The MA Social Work programme helped me grow as an individual. It helped me embrace all parts of me with flair. I learnt not to seek perfection and not to accept imperfection but to have the ability to be perfectly imperfect.

I learnt to recognise my strengths and my weaknesses, what I do well and what I do not do well at any one time, and to realise that both contribute to reflection, growth and development in the ongoing and never-ending process of learning.

Having that ability to identify my own strengths and weaknesses has helped me in having the ability to help citizens identify their own strengths and weaknesses too - which is a crucial aspect in social work - because to achieve as much independence, control of one's life and well-being as possible, one needs to have the ability to identify their strengths and their weaknesses.

I have learnt that the diverse range of courses at the University of Salford are all there for a very good reason as I have experienced the importance of multi-disciplinary team working in my practice as a Social Worker. I have met nurses, physiotherapists, occupational therapists... who have said, 'I also studied at Salford!' and we have all helped, supported, cared for the same individuals as a team while also helping one another to further grow and develop in our respective professions.

Why is Social Work important?

The MA Social Work course did not only empower me to stand up for vulnerable citizens, but to stand up for myself too. In other words, I learnt to face my personal challenges and to tackle them which then gives me the ability to face the challenges that citizens in need face and to help them tackle their challenges.

The course taught me to have the ability to identify the various sources of problems and injustices, as the beginning of finding solutions to a problem is finding the causes of the problem. I learnt that there is no one size fits all solution to life problems and injustices, hence I learnt to seek appropriate solutions for each individual and each individual situation.