Armed Forces Day 2021 | Leaving the Army: From service to study

Chloe Omoloju

University of South Wales (USW) is proud to support Armed Forces Day on 26 June.

Since signing the Armed Forces Covenant in 2013, USW has supported not only members of the Armed Forces (AF) as students at the University, but also supported the AF wider community.

Led by Dr Ross Hall, Director of Strategic Partnerships: AF and Veterans, USW provides AF personnel with educational support with the Enhanced Learning Credit Administration System (ELCAS). USW assists forces personnel to study in Higher Education (HE) by recognising their unique employment experience in lieu of formal qualifications.

Chloe Omoloju, 34, applied through the ELCAS scheme and is starting a degree at USW in September.

Currently serving in the Queen Alexandra’s Royal Army Nursing Corps, as a military healthcare assistant, Chloe works alongside NHS trust at Queen Elizabeth hospital Birmingham. Chloe is from Newport but she lives and works in Birmingham during the week and travels home to her family on weekends.

Chloe said: “I was single when I joined the Armed Forces. However, nearly 10 years later, my circumstances have changed. I am married with two children, aged seven and five.

“I realised that I wanted to be home more and for my children to stay in their school. My husband (also ex AF) is in his final year of a degree at USW. He spoke very highly of the university and suggested I chat to Dr Ross Hall.

“I was not due to leave the army until the end of this year. However, because I had the offer from USW, they were happy to let me leave in time to start studying in September.

“Based on my experience as a serving officer in the health sector, USW made me an unconditional offer on the BSc Childhood Development with Foundation year course.”

Dr Hall arranged an online call with Chloe to discuss her options and talk her through applying.

“This level of support gave me the confidence to apply. Dr Hall stayed in touch with me throughout the application process and acted as my point of contact at USW.

“I feel nervous but also excited to start the degree as it is the path I want to follow. In the future, I would like to specialise in social work.

“To anyone thinking of transitioning from the Armed Forces into HE, my advice would be not to panic, do lots of research and speak to an Armed Forces team if the university has one. I cannot thank Ross enough for all his help. He really went out of his way to help me.”

USW is the only university in Wales to be working in a formal partnership with the Service Children’s Progression (SCiP) Alliance. Offering various teaching degrees, USW ensures that their student teachers enter the profession aware of, and ready to support children of Service personnel in the classroom.

Service Children attend over 10,000 UK schools and they face challenges such as high mobility between schools and separation caused by parental deployment. 

After a recently delivered lecture on how to support forces children, trainee teacher, Kelly Lewis, said: “My best friend lives on an army camp away from home with her husband and their two children, which has resulted in a few moves around the UK. The moves made their children anxious about starting a new school and making new friends.

“The session really opened my eyes to how regular moves could also result in gaps in education and although children are resilient, their parents working away regularly can affect them emotionally. This session highlighted the importance of how forces children are supported to help ensure their school life, whether making friends or their learning, is accessible and as valuable as possible.” 

Dr Ross Hall said “USW have engaged with all aspects of the wider AF community and provide support to serving personnel, veterans and their families. Access onto HE courses can be difficult, but we have developed a scheme to help transfer your experiential learning into HE credits, where appropriate. I believe that a successful transition out of the military can be enhanced by gaining formal HE qualifications and USW is one of the best placed universities to assist you in realising your full potential and begin a new career.”

Armed Forces | University of South Wales