SPECIALIST courses training social workers could be scrapped by a Hampshire university.

The University of Southampton’s move to consult on axing two postgraduate programmes has been criticised for coming at a time when the profession is already under severe strain.

Masters’ degree courses in social work and professional studies could both be scrapped once the current students have completed their studies, despite the university boasting of their “long-standing reputation for quality in terms of teaching and employer engagement”.

Bosses say the courses do not lead to “internationally excellent”

research, as the Highfield-based institution attempts to improve its global name for cutting- edge study.

They say it is too early to know if any jobs could go in the department.

Opponents have already labelled the move as “a blow to the profession”.

But Professor Judith Petts, Southampton’s Dean of the Faculty of Social and Human Sciences, said the university has not been able to produce sufficiently prestigious research in social work.