MSc Occupational Therapy (Pre-Registration)

at University of Essex

Please note that our MSc Occupational Therapy (pre-registration) programme is an intensive two year course based at our Colchester campus.

Postgraduate study is the chance to take your education to the next level. These carefully selected modules will give you the chance to explore, question, and create powerful ideas. Picked to give you an extensive and in-depth education, they’ll equip you with the specialist knowledge, vital transferrable skills, and the confidence to make a genuine difference to the world around you.

We’re reactive, we’re pioneering, we never stand still, so modules might change from year to year in response to new developments and innovation. 

Year 1

• Interprofessional Collaboration and Development
• Using Evidence in Health Care Practice
• Practice Placement One: EXPLORE
• Foundations for occupational therapy
• Occupational performance and process
• Practice Placement Two: INITIATE
• Advancing Professional Practice in Occupational Therapy

Final Year

• Research Activity
• Mastering occupation
• The thinking therapist
• Practice Placement Four: MANAGE
• Advancing Professional Practice in Occupational Therapy
• Practice Placement Three: LEAD

International & EU entry requirements

You should have:

• A degree with an overall grade of of between 50 to 55% OR 5.3 to 5.8/10 OR 2.12 to 2.32/4 depending on the degree institution.
• Successful performance at interview
• Evidence of recent academic study (By this we mean a course or module with an assessable component taken in the last 5 years)

You must also have: two satisfactory references (including an academic reference and a work-based reference). Don't worry if you cannot provide your references when you make your application, as if we make you an offer you will be able to provide these at a later stage. References should be recent and verifiable, on official institution paper, signed and dated by the referee.

If a referee wishes to provide an email reference, it must be sent from the referee’s email account.

You must also have a satisfactory enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) Check (including child and adult barred list check) and a Occupational Health Check - both of these are organised by the University.

A satisfactory Overseas Criminal Record Check/Local Police Certificate is also required, in addition to a DBS check, where you have lived outside of the UK in the last 5 years for 6 months or more. Where it is not possible to obtain an Overseas Check a relevant professional reference may be accepted

English language requirements

English language requirements for applicants whose first language is not English: IELTS 7.0 overall, with a minimum of 6.5 in each component.

Other English language qualifications may be acceptable so please contact us for further details. If we accept the English component of an international qualification then it will be included in the information given about the academic levels listed above. Please note that date restrictions may apply to some English language qualifications.

If you do not meet our IELTS requirements then you may be able to complete a pre-sessional English pathway that enables you to start your course without retaking IELTS.

Home/UK fee
£9,250 per year

International fee
£20,350 per year

Fees will increase for each academic year of study.

Successful completion of our MSc (Hons) Occupational Therapy programme leads to eligibility to apply for registration as an occupational therapist with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC), which then allows you to practise as an occupational therapist in the UK, and become a professional member of the Royal College of Occupational Therapists.

If you are an international student interested in working outside of the UK we would advise that you check registration procedures with the relevant professional body in that country.

If you are an international student and you have already qualified in your home country as an Occupational Therapist, you may not need to complete this course to work as an Occupational Therapist in the UK. We recommend you contact the HCPC to explore your eligibility to work as a qualified Occupational Therapist in the UK.