Occupational Therapy BSc (Hons)

This course is in clearing with spaces available

Overview

Course options

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Degree

UCAS code: B101 120 UCAS points
  • BSc (Hons) Occupational Therapy, home applicant, full time

    • Home Applicant
    • Full time, 3 years
    • Pound 9250 Per year

What makes this course different

  • Industry input

    Developed with educators and practitioners from across health and care.

  • Placements

    Our location puts you on the doorstep of some of the biggest NHS trusts in the country.

  • 86% satisfaction

    Our Allied Health courses received 86 per cent overall satisfaction in the 2020 National Student Survey.

Accreditation

Royal College of Occupational Therapists

This course is developed with and accredited by the Royal College of Occupational Therapists.

Course modules

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Occupational Therapy: Engagement and Well-being

Structure and Function of the Human Body

Human Health and Occupation

Describing Occupation, the assessment of occupational performance

Participation in Occupation

Professional Practice (Mental Wealth)

Working with People Occupational Therapy Practice placement 1

Achieving Best Practice in Occupational Therapy

Understanding Occupational Therapy’s Unique Contribution

Occupational Performance, Engagement and Well-being

Describing Occupation - Facilitating Occupational Change

Working in Teams and Services Occupational Therapy Practice - Placement 2

Research methods

Occupational Therapy practice placement 3

Transition to Professional Practice

Effective Collaborative Practice

Practice in Context One Occupational Therapy Practice placement

Applied Research

Enterprise and Innovation

Practice in Context two Occupational Therapy Practice Placement

NOTE: Modules are subject to change. For those studying part time courses the modules may vary.

Download course specification

Your future career

Occupational therapy is a vocational programme, with graduates moving into the NHS, local authorities, independent and voluntary or community organisations. This course has been developed with partner organisations. The programme is mapped to regulatory and professional body requirements which reflect and inform employment outcomes. You will create your own professional networks during placements in clinical settings. This will give you vital knowledge of the environment in which you are looking for jobs.

Industry links

Central to this course are placement experiences with local healthcare providers who work together with the University. Through our placement links, we have close connections with many NHS and independent providers. These include Barts Health NHS Trust, Barking Havering & Redbridge University Hospitals Trust, North East London NHS Foundation Trust, and East London NHS Foundation Trust.

Graduate employers

Close links with our healthcare partners ensure employment in the future for learners who complete their courses and are registered with the HCPC. 

Many of our graduates secure jobs within the trusts that have supported the students during their course. one of our local NHS partners across North East London. Upon completion, our graduates have an opportunity to work in acute hospitals, private hospitals and the independent sector.

Job roles

This role equips you to become an occupational therapist. Upon graduation, you will need to register with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC).

Explore the different career options you can pursue with this degree and see the median salaries of the sector on our Career Coach portal.

Patricia Smith, Senior Lecturer in Professional Health Science
I am always inspired as an educator when students have that light bulb moment and say “ Ahh, now I get it, now I understand!”. It motivates me to continue the work of helping students achieve their academic and career goals."
Dr Patricia Smith

Senior lecturer in Allied and Public Health

How we support your career ambitions

We offer dedicated careers support, and further opportunities to thrive, such as volunteering and industry networking. Our courses are created in collaboration with employers and industry to ensure they accurately reflect the real-life practices of your future career and provide you with the essential skills needed. You can focus on building interpersonal skills through group work and benefit from our investment in the latest cutting-edge technologies and facilities.

Career Zone

This digital platform provides you with careers and employability resources, including: 

  • Jobs board for internships, placements, graduate opportunities, flexible part-time work 
  • Mentoring programmes for insight with industry experts 
  • 1-2-1 career coaching services 
  • Careers workshops and employer events 
  • Learning pathways to gain new skills and industry insight

Mental Wealth programme

Our Professional Fitness and Mental Wealth programme issues you with a Careers Passport to track the skills you've mastered. Some of these are externally validated by corporations like Amazon and Microsoft.

See more details

We are careers first

Our teaching methods and geographical location put us right up top:

  • Work-based projects
  • Networking and visits to leading organisations
  • Support in starting a new business
  • London on our doorstep

 

How you'll learn

This course will challenge your problem-solving and practical skills. There will be a combination of teaching, group work and 1,000 hours of mandatory placement experience in a variety of health and care settings.

    Guided independent study

    Our innovative Technology Enhanced Active Learning (TEAL) approach enhances face-to-face learning by providing students with scheduled on-campus contact hours and additional learning opportunities. Through our Virtual Learning Environment (VLE), students can access course materials and resources beyond their scheduled hours. We offer access to industry-standard technology and specialised spaces to prepare students for their future careers. 

    Dedicated time for activities and development, along with a holistic approach to learning, fosters academic, personal, and professional growth. Students benefit from career support through on-campus and virtual Career Zones, personalised support services, and a dedicated online portal, Track My Future (TMF).

    When not attending timetabled lectures or workshops, you will be expected to continue learning independently through self-study. This will typically involve skills development through online study, reading journal articles and books, working on individual and group projects and preparing coursework assignments and presentations. Your independent learning is supported by a range of excellent facilities including online resources, and specialist facilities, such as game labs, the library, the full Microsoft Office software, including MS Teams, and Moodle: our Virtual Learning Environment.

    Academic support

    Students are supported with academic or subject-related queries by a programme director, module leaders, academic advisors (you’ll have an academic advisor from the teaching team as soon as you arrive with us), and university central support services.

    Dedicated personal tutor

    If you need a bit of extra help with certain skills such as academic writing, English, maths, or statistics, academic tutors offer workshops, drop-in sessions, and one-to-one appointments to help you achieve your potential.

    You can receive advice and guidance on all aspects of the IT systems provided by the university from our IT Service Desks located on all three campuses. Our Student Support hubs feature centralised helpdesks.

    UEL provides support and advice for disabled students and those with specific learning difficulties (SPDs).

    Workload

    Each year you will spend around 300 hours of timetabled learning and teaching activities. These may be lectures, workshops, seminars, and individual and group tutorials. Contact hours may vary depending on each module.

    The approximate hours for this course are: 

    • Year 1: scheduled teaching - 300 hours; guided independent study - 900 hours
    • Year 2: scheduled teaching - 300 hours; guided independent study - 900 hours
    • Year 3: scheduled teaching - 300 hours; guided independent study - 900 hours

    Your timetable

    Your individualised timetable is normally available to students within 48 hours of enrolment. Whilst we make every effort to ensure timetables are as student-friendly as possible, scheduled teaching can take place on any day of the week between 9.00am and 6.00pm. For undergraduate students, Wednesday afternoons are normally reserved for sports and cultural activities, but there may be occasions when this is not possible. Timetables for part-time students will depend on the modules selected.

    Class sizes

    The size of classes can vary depending on the nature of the course, module and activity. This can range from large groups in a lecture theatre setting, to smaller groups taking part in seminars and collaborative work.

How you'll be assessed

Assessment tasks are mainly spread across the year to make the workload manageable. Assessment methods include group work, exams and individual work including essays, presentations, case studies, professional development and practical activities depending on the nature of the course. All grades count towards your module mark. More details will be included in the student handbook and module guides. You will always receive detailed feedback outlining your strengths and how you can improve. We aim to provide feedback on assessments within 15 working days, although you will receive immediate feedback following many of our face-to-face assessments.

Campus and facilities

Water Lane, Stratford

Who teaches this course

This course is delivered by School of Health, Sport and Bioscience

The teaching team includes qualified academics, practitioners and industry experts as guest speakers. Full details of the academics will be provided in the student handbook and module guides.

DiscoverUni

The banner below displays some key factual data about this course (including different course combinations or delivery modes of this course where relevant).

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Statistics for BSc (Hons) Occupational Therapy Degree, Full Time

Statistics for BSc (Hons) Occupational Therapy Degree, Full Time

What our students say

Physiotherapy
Studying occupational therapy at the university of East London has been the most exciting but a challenging experience of my life. The core modules explore different Models of health, and OT process, the academic tutors are amazing, they put a lot of work into the subjects they teach making it easy to understand. I already have some exciting experiences, and as I am moving closer to the end of year 1 program and looking forward to starting my first placement soon, I feel proud of my decision to study occupational therapy at UEL!

Kehinde Akinyemi

Physiotherapy
For me joining Occupational Therapy at UEL was the beginning of a 'big change'. Changes can be scary and yes, I was unsure about my decision to start with. Now, I feel like it was probably one of the best decisions I've made. OT as a field has so far exceeded my expectations. I find it interesting, relevant, innovative; the whole philosophy behind OT really appeals to me. 
The tutors at UEL are very supportive and always ready to help. I enjoy my lectures spending time with my colleagues.

Claudia Da Cardoso Dias