Health Education England chief visits Coventry University

The chair of one of the country's leading health organisations visited Coventry University yesterday to meet students and see first-hand the work being done to train the future generation of health professionals.

Sir Keith Pearson, chair of Health Education England (HEE) – which was set up by the Department of Health to coordinate healthcare education – was given a tour of the University's clinical simulation suites and skills labs.

Students from courses including nursing, midwifery, occupational therapy, physiotherapy and paramedic sciences met Sir Keith to showcase the knowledge and skills they are acquiring through the University's NHS degrees.

Sir Keith – who was joined on the visit by Jenni Ord, chair of Health Education West Midlands – was also brought up to speed with the University's forthcoming plans for a £60m Science and Health Building which in 2017 will become the home of the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences and its NHS programmes.

The visit comes just weeks after the government's Research Excellence Framework (REF) – which assesses the quality of research across UK universities – rated 94% of Coventry University's work in the allied health professions and nursing field as either 4-star (world leading) or 3-star (internationally excellent).

Professor Guy Daly, executive dean of the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, said:

This is an exciting time for health education at Coventry University, so it was a pleasure to welcome Sir Keith and Jenni to our faculty to chat to students, learn about how we're educating them and to get an insight into our plans for a state-of-the-art science and health building.

Our existing and future teaching and simulation facilities will be crucial not only in educating the next generation of healthcare professionals, but also in pursuing our aspirations to become a world-leading research institution in this field.

For further information, please contact Alex Roache, external press and media relations officer, Coventry University, on +44 (0)24 7765 5050 or email alex.roache@coventry.ac.uk.