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BSc (Hons)

Occupational Therapy

Work towards a rewarding career in occupational therapy and make a positive impact on the quality of life for individuals, communities, and populations. This course is no longer accepting applications for 2024.

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Key Course Details

  • Start Date

    September

  • Location

    Pontypridd

  • Campus Code

    A

Fees

As an occupational therapist you will enable and empower individuals, communities, and populations to live their best lives at home, at work and everywhere else, helping others to overcome daily challenges, whether learning at school, going to work, playing sport or simply doing the dishes.

DESIGNED FOR

This part-time Occupational Therapy course is designed to enable you to develop the skills, knowledge and experience required to practice as an occupational therapist across a diverse range of practice environments.

Accredited by

  • The Royal College of Occupational Therapists (RCOT)

Career Paths

  •  

Skills taught

  • Effective and efficient communication
  • Professional reasoning skills
  • Practical skills of assessment, planning, intervention and critical evaluation
  • Creativity and innovation
  • Interprofessional working and compassionate leadership  

Course Highlights

Placement Opportunities

There are four professional practice placements integrated throughout the course providing 1,069 hours of scheduled practice-based learning. These provide opportunities for you to develop professional competence and a professional identity in a range of health and social care settings.

Outstanding Facilities

The course benefits from extensive clinical simulation facilities and a community flat simulation area in which a range of practical skills are taught, practised and examined. The University has an extensive range of partner organisations, including and extending beyond health and social care partners, to deliver a high-quality placement programme.

Interactive Learning

Practical sessions will take place in our simulation and practical teaching areas, which are extensively equipped to replicate the facilities and situations encountered in a range of real-world practice locations.

Expert Teaching

The core teaching team are registered occupational therapists who bring a wealth of experience from across a diverse range of settings. External partners and practice-based experts will be embedded into the life of the course, to ensure real-world health and social care challenges are providing the learning opportunities.

Module Overview

The BSc (Hons) Occupational Therapy course is a 4-year part-time degree course, delivered over four years. Each academic level will be delivered over a 16-month period. 

Note: this is more condensed than the 24-month normal study duration for part-time. 

When enrolled on the course, you are eligible to become a student member of the Royal College of Occupational Therapists (subject to application and additional costs may apply).

  • Promoting Health and Wellbeing through Occupational Therapy: individuals, communities, and populations. 
  • Foundations of Contemporary Occupational Therapy Practice. 
  • Bio-psycho-social Foundations for Occupational Participation. 
  • Assessment and Planning to Promote Occupational Engagement and Participation: individuals, communities, and populations. 
  • Developing Confidence in Occupational Therapy Practice
  • There will also be a 3-week part-time placement – Experiential Placement
  • Developing Confidence in Occupational Therapy Practice 
  • Disruptors and Enhancers to Occupational Engagement and Participation in the Younger Person 
  • Disruptors and Enhancers to Occupational Engagement and Participation in Adults 
  • Professional, Legal and Ethical Issues in Occupational Therapy 
  • Informed Decision Making in Practice 
  • There will also be a 10-week part-time placement – Assessment and Planning
  • Informed Decision Making in Practice 
  • Disruptors and Enhancers to Occupational Engagement and Participation in Older Adults 
  • Evidence and Research Based Practice 1: delivering safe and effective services 
  • Addressing the Complexities of Occupational Therapy Practice. 
  • Becoming an Autonomous Occupational Therapist
  • There will also be a 10-week fulltime placement – Intervention
  • Becoming an Autonomous Occupational Therapist 
  • Emerging Occupational Therapy Practice 
  • Enhancing Employability as an Occupational Therapist 
  • Evidence and Research Based Practice 2: initiating and managing evidence-based change and compassionate leadership on occupational therapy practice
  • There will also be a 12-week full-time placement – Critical Evaluation.

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS

UCAS Points: 60 (or above)

Typical qualification requirements:

  • A Level: BBB to exclude General Studies
  • Welsh BACC: Grade B and BB at A Level to exclude General Studies
  • BTEC: BTEC Extended Diploma Distinction, Distinction, Merit
  • Access to HE: Science/Mathematics/Health Care/Nursing Diploma. Must complete 60 credits overall with at least 45 at level 3 and 15 at Level 2. Of the 45 credits at level 3, you will need a minimum of 24 Distinctions, 18 Merits and 3 passes.

Interview:

Applicants are invited to a multi mini modal interview. You will be required to demonstrate a real insight to, and enthusiasm for, the discipline. You should learn as much as you can about the profession, including where practitioners practice, and their role in modern healthcare. You must also demonstrate insight to your organisational skills and ability to effectively manage your studies. You will be required to demonstrate values in accordance with the HCPC (2016) Standards of conduct, performance and ethics.

  • Friday 28th March 2025
  • Friday 4th April 2025
  • Friday 11th April 2025

Additional requirements include:

  • The University normally requires a minimum 5 GCSEs including Mathematics/Numeracy and English at Grade C or Grade 4 or above, or their equivalent, but consideration is given to individual circumstances.
  • Equivalent qualifications considered are Essential Skills Level Two in Communication and Application of Number, or Functional Skills Level Two in English and Maths. (Must be achieved within the last 3 years).
  • One satisfactory reference to be uploaded with application.
  • A satisfactory Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service* (DBS) check on the Child & Adult Workforce and Child and Adult Barring Lists and subscription to the DBS Update Service and an Occupational Health clearance. All applicants are required to sign a declaration of Fitness to Practise at Interview and encourage students to have a flu vaccination.
    • *Please note any disclosed police record will be assessed in line with the USW Fitness to Practise process and the requirements of HCPC, to check the potential of successful professional registration with the Regulator upon graduation from the course.
  • Unfortunately as this course is funded by the NHS and students have to have placements in the local NHS Health Board we are unable to accept applications from international/EU students. 

Closed for International applicants 

Unfortunately, this course is not currently open to international applicants, please visit our course pages where you can find an alternative course choice. 

 

Contextual offers

We may make you a lower offer based on a range of factors, including your background (where you live and the school or college that you attended for example), your experiences, individual circumstances (as a care leaver, for example), and work experience.

USW prides itself on its student experience and we support our students to achieve their goals and become a successful graduate. This approach helps us to support students who have the potential to succeed and who may have faced barriers that make it more difficult to access university.

 

We're here to help

Whether you a have a question about your course, fees and funding, the application process or anything else, there are plenty of ways you can get in touch and we'd to talk to you. You can contact our friendly admissions team by phone, email or chat to us online.

 

Fees and Funding

Further Information

This is a commissioned programme by the Welsh Government commissioners, HEIW, if students choose to accept the conditions of the NHS bursary the Tuition fees are covered, and students can apply for a means tested bursary to help with other costs.

Additional Costs

As a student of USW, you’ll have access to lots of free resources to support your study and learning, such as textbooks, publications, online journals, laptops, and plenty of remote-access resources. Whilst in most cases these resources are more than sufficient in supporting you with completing your course, additional costs, both obligatory and optional, may be required or requested for the likes of travel, memberships, experience days, stationery, printing, or equipment. 

*Obligatory

The fee includes £40 for the enhanced DBS certificate, the post office administration fee and the online administration fee. 

Cost: £53.20

Subscription required for each year of the course for a yearly fee of £13. Please note the service has to be joined within 30 days of receipt of your enhanced DBS certificate

Cost: £13

Many students will use their vehicle for practice placement. Business insurance is required and the cost will vary depending on the insurance company. 

Cost: Variable 

Course Highlights

How you’ll learn

The course is designed using a blended approach to enable learning to be as flexible as possible whilst maintaining a sense of belonging within the cohort population. 

The delivery schedule will be designed to bring students face-to-face for workshops, seminars and some group and tutorial study, however where possible, students will be facilitated to adopt flexible approaches to time place and mode of study, utilising technologies to enable remote learning and in turn build the students’ digital fluency.

Teaching staff

The core teaching team are registered occupational therapists who bring a wealth of experience from across a diverse range of settings 

As part of our commitment to interprofessional learning students are also fortunate to benefit from the expertise of education staff from a range of health and social care course form across USW.

Placements

There are four professional practice placements integrated throughout the course providing 1,069 hours of scheduled practice-based learning. In the first two years these will be part-time (18.75hrs), whilst in year three and four they will be full-time (37.5hrs).  These provide opportunities for you to develop professional competence and a professional identity in a range of health and social care settings. 

Most placements will be local, within a thirty-mile radius of the University. Where placements are over 30 miles from the University, temporary accommodation will be offered. Every effort will be made to source Welsh speaking placements for students who request a bilingual learning opportunity.

Facilities

The course benefits from extensive clinical simulation facilities and a community flat simulation area in which a range of practical skills are taught, practised and examined. 

The University has an extensive range of partner organisations, including and extending beyond health and social care partners, to deliver a high-quality placement programme. 

For some elements of your course, you will be taught interprofessionally alongside Physiotherapists, Nurses, Midwives, Operating Department Practitioners and will benefit from the holistic understanding this brings.

Careers and Employability

Possible career paths

Upon successful completion of the BSc (Hons) Occupational Therapy you will have an academic qualification and will be eligible to apply for registration with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) as an Occupational Therapist to allow you to pursue a career as an occupational therapist.  

It will also allow you to apply for membership of the Royal College of Occupational Therapists, providing you with the badge of excellence within the profession.

Careers support

The University’s Career Services offers a range of advice and guidance to students, and references to the services available to all listed at southwales.ac.uk/careers will be added to the course website by default. However, if there are other important course or subject specific initiatives run at a local a level, there is an opportunity to add further details here. Whether this includes connecting with professionals, industry experts or mentors, or strategies to enhance their competitiveness and aspirations in the job market, further details will provide prospects with the confidence, encouragement, and motivation to commit to applying.