With only a few months left to go before a new cohort of optometry students start, course leaders have been busy creating a high standard of content for budding eye care professionals.
Earlier this year the GOC published findings from its Educational Strategic Review, highlighting that 97% of respondents agreed with the development of new education standards for optometrists and dispensing opticians, and 82% agreed with embedding clinical experience from the start of education programmes.
Continued high demand for a career in optometry has resulted in two new optometry courses while others, including at the University of Central Lancashire, are also in the pipeline.
Bristol will become the latest in a raft of new optometry destinations when The University of West England launches its first three-year BSc Optometry degree this September.
The intake for this year will be a maximum of 30 students – doubling the year after. Rebekah Stevens, programme leader, said that already they ‘have had a large amount of interest in the programme and a good number of applications.’
The reason for the university deciding to offer the course was due to an optometric workforce shortage in the south west of England, explained Stevens. There was great appetite from local and multiple businesses for Bristol to offer the course and the programme would focus on clinical experiences for students.
Stevens said: ‘Students will go out on placements in all three years to a variety of settings: hospitals, specialist clinics, high street community practices, and lens and contact lens laboratories.’ Optometry students will also study a business module so that they can learn about how to open their own practice.
Clinical experience
The GOC recently found that as many as 60% of new optical professionals in the UK felt that the clinical experience on their course was limited and did not reflect real life practice or typical patients. Stevens said: ‘Students can often lack the practical experience to go into their pre-registration period confidently.
‘As the profession evolves, we felt it was important that students were ready and able to take on extra roles and to be prepared and confident to tackle higher qualifications.’ The university is employing a spiral model within its programme, so that ‘clinical skills are continually revisited and students cannot allow skills to be forgotten.’
The University of the Highlands and Islands in Scotland is also in the process of developing a BSc Optometry degree to address the growing demand for eye care services in remote and rural communities.
Its initial proposal has been submitted to the GOC and the Federation of (Ophthalmic and Dispensing) Opticians Educational Trust is providing its knowledge and funding to help develop the degree. The university is waiting to see what feedback it receives before deciding whether the course will go ahead. The decision to teach this degree at the university is part of wider plans to develop a School of Health, Social Care and Life Sciences, which aims to meet the optical needs of the north of Scotland.
Looking at other universities with already well-established optometry courses, applications overall are on the rise.
The University of Hertfordshire offers a four-year MOptom course, which includes the pre-registration year. A relatively new course that started in 2015, the university expected 100% of graduates to be in employment after finishing the programme.
Admissions tutor Lynn Weddell explained that application numbers for the course remain similar to previous years but have dipped. She said: ‘To date we have received 416 applications for the Masters of Optometry course, which is slightly below last year’s figure of 436 at the time. We are aiming for a cohort of 50 this year.’
The university has joined forces with City and Islington College in London to offer a foundation year for students who don’t meet the requirements.
Entry requirements
City, University of London offers a three-year course in optometry, with the chance to continue for a fourth year to achieve an MOptom. Richard Broom, of the university’s admissions department, reported that a total of 749 students applied this year compared to 698 applicants in 2017, for a maximum of just 112 places due to the limited space in the university’s optometry facilities.
‘The entry requirements for the optometry course are that students achieve AAB grades in their A-levels,’ Broom said. ‘It used to be three As but the university made the decision to lower the requirements due to the increase in courses.’
The University of Bradford is seeing a sharp increase in students applying for its three-year BSc Optometry course this year, rising from 247 to 672, a figure that continued to increase as applications were still open.
Rising student interest in an optometry career has seen applications to the University of Bradford more than double
David Newman, optometry admissions officer, said: ‘I think this large increase is because it’s a popular, competitive course and there seems to be more of an interest in the subject now. Not too many universities in the UK offer this course.’
The course’s entry requirements are AAB at A-levels and in 2016, 100% of graduates entered employment after graduating.
Ulster University is the only place in Northern Ireland where students can study optometry. Course director Arnold Cochrane explained that the university offered both a three-year BSc and a four-year MOptom degree. ‘Applications for this year’s course are in keeping with what we’ve seen in previous years but are decreasing slightly, maybe because there are more optometry courses available across the UK. We accept a broad range of qualifications.
The University of Plymouth also offers a three-year BSc course. Dr Stephanie Mroczkowska, programme lead, said: ‘Our overall number of applications for this course have increased this year and we have more applicants selecting us as either their firm or insurance choice.’ Dr Mroczkowska explained that this could be due to the department’s established Centre of Eyecare Excellence.
Anglia Ruskin University, meanwhile, hosts a three-year BOptom course. Entry requirements for the course are AAB at A-level.
The director of clinics and course leader, Dr Rupal Lovell-Patel, said: ‘100% of graduates are employed after graduating. Students spend about a third of the teaching time in lectures. The rest of their learning is hands-on, divided between practical demonstrations, clinical and lab sessions, and our University Eye Clinic.’
Aston University offers both a three-year BSc programme and an MOptom degree. Students move into the pre-registration period after completing the BSc or enrol on distance learning modules during the pre-reg period to obtain the masters level qualification. Jodie Mansell, marketing manager at the university, said: ‘Applications for our MOptom course have been consistent with previous years, however applications for the BSc programme have increased by 10% compared with the same time last year.’
Aston’s optometry courses have 100% of graduates employed within six months of graduating. At A-level, the university asks for ‘ABB-BBB from three A-levels’, a lower minimum than other courses.
Graduate employment
Cardiff University is the only place in Wales that offers optometry degrees. ‘We have seen an increase in the number of applications, with a 14% increase on the total number of applicants compared to the previous year,’ Dr Jennifer Acton, senior admissions tutor, said. The university offers both three-year and four-year courses, the latter of which include a preliminary year. It regularly sees 100% of its graduates in employment after the course.
The University of Plymouth boasts an established Centre of Eyecare Excellence
Acton added: ‘The July pass rates from the last five years show that the Cardiff graduates consistently perform around 15-20% better compared to other universities.’
The University of Portsmouth’s Masters in Optometry course is relatively new, with the first cohort having just completed its second year of training. Malcolm Maciver, course leader, said: ‘Applications to the optometry course have remained buoyant, with only a slight reduction from last year's recruitment.’
The entry requirements for Portsmouth’s only optometry course are ABB grades. Maciver said the university’s new eye clinic ‘will include state of the art diagnostic equipment and will provide a facility that will enable the university to support the provision of accessible eye care services to some of the most vulnerable people in the Portsmouth community.’
The University of Manchester, meanwhile, has seen an increase in applications to its optometry courses this year of 5% more than in 2017.
Suzanne Eden, admissions manager for the department, believed the increase is due to the ‘guaranteed week work placement that our students undertake at Manchester Royal Eye Hospital’.
Both three-year and four-year courses are offered at the university. Eden explained that ‘the majority of students do the three-year BSc course, and a small number progress to our directly registrable MSci Optometry course.’ The two courses have an employment rate of 100% six months after students graduate and the university requires AAB at A-level for entry.
Glasgow Caledonian University did not respond to Optician’s request for comment about its optometry course.