Occupational Therapy at Brunel is one of the largest, longest established and most highly regarded programmes in the world. In fact, we're the original ‘London School of Occupational Therapy’ which was founded in 1934. So if you’re positive, a motivator, good at coming up with solutions to problems and looking for a career that’s rewarding and really makes a difference to people’s lives then this could be the course for you
The Occupational Therapy (Pre-registration) MSc provides a master’s level route for you to become an occupational therapist. The course integrates theory with practice. It will allow you to register with the HCPC in the UK following graduation.
It is one of the only programmes outside of the USA to be accredited by the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) Accreditation Council for OT Education (ACOTE). This means that if you graduate from our MSc Occupational Therapy Programme you will be eligible to sit the National Board for the Certification in Occupational Therapy (NBCOT) exam in the United States of America.
Our Mary Seacole Building is purpose-built for occupational therapy and physiotherapy. It has excellent facilities for occupational therapy including a therapeutic kitchen, gymnasium, 6 bedded hospital ward, a simulation suite and a room for exploring assistive devices. The rooms reflect the type of clinical environment that you will work in as an occupational therapist. You’ll learn your practical skills here so that you’ll be confident and experienced in time for your first placement.
Our lecturers are research and scholarship active. We are a team of educators from around the world and we have expertise in many areas of practice. We have close links with colleagues in the NHS, social services and voluntary organisations around London. This means that you’ll have the opportunity to do your 1,000 hours of practice placement at a variety of settings including some of the top hospitals in the world.
Our admissions and selection process embeds the NHS Values. These values are shaped by patients, the public and NHS staff who have helped develop the values that inspire passion in the NHS and that should underpin everything it does.
Individual organisations will develop and build upon these values, tailoring them to their local needs. The NHS values provide common ground for co-operation to achieve shared aspirations, at all levels of the NHS.
Our MSc Occupational Therapy Programme Specification
To download please click here
Our MSc Occupational Therapy Mission Statement:
To educate outstanding occupational therapists who are experts in occupation, person-centred, inclusive and evidence informed approaches with high standards of professionalism
Our MSc Occupational Therapy Programme Philosophy:
What we believe about occupation:
We believe that engagement in meaningful occupations is integral to health, well-being and quality of life across the lifespan. Participation in meaningful occupations is a key determinant of health for people, groups and populations. Each person’s occupational profile is unique and influenced by the dynamic interaction of performance patterns and skills, client factors and the context within which the occupation occurs.
What we believe about our students and how they learn:
Learners are considered partners within a democratic framework based on respect with an expectation that all engage and contribute. Student-centred learning is a foundation of the programme. This approach facilitates ownership of learning, making the process meaningful and thereby developing a commitment in each student to the educational process and to lifelong learning.
The value of the diversity and life experience that individuals, as adult learners, bring to the programme is recognized. Student centred learning facilitates the development of confident client-centred practitioners who are able to respond to and create change within practice.
As reflective practice will be central to the curriculum, it is expected that learners will use their study skills (informed by previous academic experience), personal skills and personal maturity to support these learning objectives.
The occupational therapy student will use their learning experiences to develop competence in professional skills and mastery of theoretical knowledge and the broader professional practice of the discipline.
Learners will be expected to take opportunities to reflect on their own experience of occupation. They will also be required to consider the ways in which occupational functioning can be disrupted (physically, socially, psychologically and environmentally) for/in the people with whom they come into contact during the programme and in their later professional life.
Learners will be grounded in evidence-informed practice which is fundamental to ensure service users receive the most up to date and effective care and that professional advances are incorporated as they emerge.
Learners will approach development of their professional reasoning in a considered way that draws on critical thinking and an evaluative academic approach throughout to apply knowledge, skills, expertise whilst considering service users’ values and goals to deliver optimal intervention.
They will learn to be effective consumers of research and develop a critical understanding of the research process together with how evidence both guides and augments contemporary practice.
Learners will learn about promoting public health and preventing ill health by delivering occupational therapy to groups and communities as well as individuals to bring benefit to society. This can be achieved through a tiered approach to delivering interventions at universal, targeted and specialist levels.
As newly qualified occupational therapists they will be equipped with knowledge, skills and professional behaviours and dispositions required to work and develop as competent practitioners within the changing health and social care environment.
Financial Support
Studying at University can be financially challenging so here at Brunel, we want to draw your attention to the UK Government support scheme – NHS Learning Support Fund (LSF) aimed to reduce this cost burden.
This scheme is aimed primarily at British Nationals and British residents. There are some eligibility criteria to be met but basically UK students are eligible for a non-means tested grant of £5,000 for each academic year of study. More info can be found here.
This grant does not need to be paid back. Neither are you committed to working in the NHS on graduating and registering.
Please note that the application process and awarding of this grant is totally independent of the University. We are unable to advise or intervene on your behalf.
Further information including a short video can be found here.
It’s likely that all students going on clinical placements will incur some travel expenses in excess of their normal travel to and from the University. Very occasionally students may have a travel journey in excess of 2 hours each way to and from placement in which case they would be eligible to stay local to their placement during the working week which would naturally incur extra expenditure for accommodation too.
So, it’s great that UK students are eligible for reimbursement of excess travel or accommodation costs incurred due to undertaking practical training on a clinical placement. This money does not need to be paid back. Further information can be found here.
In addition to the basic Training Grant - UK students who have parental responsibility for a child may be eligible for an additional grant of £2000 for each academic year. This grant does not need to be paid back. Further information can be found here.
UK students may apply for an additional exceptional support grant of up to £3000 for each academic year. This grant does not need to be paid back. Further information can be found here.
To register for an NHS Training Grant you will need to set up a Learning Support Fund Account – which takes around 5 minutes. Click here to start the process.
And remember too that you can still apply for a re-payable student loan in addition to the NHS Training Grant.
The programme is accredited by the Royal College of Occupational Therapists (RCOT), the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) and the US Accreditation Council for Occupational Therapy Education (ACOTE)*. It is recognised by the World Federation of Occupational Therapy.
Dean’s International Scholarship: This course is eligible for a £2,000 fee waiver, per academic year, subject to availability. This Scholarship is for full-time international students only. Find out more
We're proud that across a 3-year period (2021 - 2023), an average of 94% of our students (174/186) who started our Occupational Therapy (Pre-registration) MSc have graduated;
2021: 58/62 (93%)
2022: 56/60 (93%)
2023: 60/64 (94%)
When you graduate from this programme you’ll be eligible to:
- Apply for registration with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC)
- Sit for the US national certification examination administered by the National Board for Certification in Occupational Therapy (NBCOT**)
- Apply for membership of the British Association of Occupational Therapists/Royal College of Occupational Therapists
*This occupational therapy masters programme was accredited by ACOTE in 2018. ACOTE Address: 6116 Executive Boulevard, Suite 200, North Bethesda, MD 20852-4929. Telephone Number: (301) 652-6611.
** The results for the programme graduates who undertake the NBCOT certification examination by state (Middlesex) and program (OT Masters-Level Programmes) are available here. Please note that a felony conviction may affect a graduate’s ability to sit for the NBCOT Certification Examination or attain HCPC registration or state licensure.