I was able to reawaken a long slumbering dream of graduating from a UK university

What attracted you to the Speech Difficulties course at the University of Sheffield?

“Ever since I graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Speech and Language Therapy from the University of Fribourg, I’ve been interested in doing a masters, but I loved my work and did not want to leave to go back to university.

During the pandemic, working from home and remote learning gained a new significance, so I felt encouraged to re-enter university to study without having to leave my workplace. After some research I found that the University of Sheffield was the perfect place for this, offering a part-time and distance-learning master’s course in the field of human communication sciences.

Kathrin Hohl

MSc Speech Difficulties

"As I studied English Linguistics and Literature before becoming a Speech and Language Therapist, I was able to reawaken a long slumbering dream of graduating from a university in the UK.”

What did you enjoy most about the course?

“Besides the technical and methodological updates in Speech and Language Therapy, I gained a deeper understanding of how scientific work is structured and how research is conducted. The dissertation was not only the all-important final spurt towards the master's degree, but was an opportunity to apply my newly-acquired knowledge about scientific work. Now, this degree opens new doors for me with regard to participating in scientific projects and presenting the results of my dissertation at a conference. 

How did studying by distance learning enable you to work and study?

“As I chose the part-time and distance learning course, I was able to continue working as usual, albeit with a slightly smaller workload.

“During the semester there was a good balance between studying and working. Towards deadlines work sometimes had to wait, while studying was more urgent. At the end of a course we often had to hand in written assignments, which made it easier to plan my workload. There were not that many peaks of intensity as there would have been with studying for exams.

“Attending study blocks gave me the opportunity to get in touch with peers and to attend some live lectures, as most other learning materials were provided in written form. Unfortunately, all our study blocks were held online due to the pandemic, so getting in touch was not as easy as it would have been in person. It was very well organised though, and studying from home definitely became more sociable.

“Luckily, I was able to attend my graduation ceremony in person, which was an unforgettable event and made the accomplishment of the master’s degree more real.”

What would you say to a student thinking about studying this course with the University of Sheffield?

“I can recommend this course to everyone who wants to delve into scientific work in the field of Speech and Language Therapy, and is interested in broadening the knowledge in the field of speech difficulties or communication impairments.

“It is definitely possible to accomplish the workload from home alongside a career, as the online resources are well established and make remote studying achievable without disadvantages.”