Increasing challenges in health care services are growing more complex and society increasingly needs competent and solution-oriented occupational therapists.

Learning outcome for the Occupational Therapy Programme

If you decide to study Occupational Therapy, you will learn to understand the connection between health and the activities of everyday life. The work of an occupational therapist is based on knowing how motivation and functional capacity hinder or promote activity in environmental interplay.

Among the main subjects are: Functional assessment, activity analysis, therapeutic activity and modification of the physical and social environment. The programme includes courses on psychology, social science and pedagogy, anatomy, physiology and pathology, ethics, scientific theory and research methods.

Why choose Occupational Therapy?

• Each annual intake group is restricted to 40 students.
• You will not disappear in a crowd and you will receive close attention from your teachers.
• Teaching methods are varied and focus on skills training.
• Several courses feature a combination of theory and practice.
• An opportunity to carry out fieldwork or parts of the programme abroad.
• The campus is located in the center of Sandnes, only a five-minute walk from Sandnes train station.

Fieldwork

During periods of fieldwork, the students attend the location of the fieldwork placement. The occupational therapy programme provides placement locations all over Rogaland in addition to Aust- and Vest Agder and Telemark. Fieldwork can also be carried out abroad, for example in countries such as Denmark, Spain, Malta, Madagascar and USA.

Career opportunities

A Bachelor’s degree in Occupational Therapy qualifies for a wide range of positions in public and private sectors. Many occupational therapists work with individuals who are prevented from engaging in everyday, purposeful activities due to injury, illness, functional disability or other conditions. The tasks may include planning and supervision of activities, exercising, counselling, administration, regional planning and development and modification of welfare- and assistive technology.

By law, from 2020, occupational therapy will become a mandatory profession in the primary health services. This is because our politicians believe that occupational therapy will be an essential element in future health- and care services.

With a Bachelor’s degree in Occupational Therapy, you will be an authorized healthcare personnel and receive the professional title Occupational Therapist. The Occupational Therapy Programme is approved by the World Federation of Occupational Therapy (WFOT) and provides you with the opportunity to apply for positions as Occupational Therapist in several European countries and across the world.

Further academic opportunities

After receiving your Bachelor’s degree, you may specialize further in the discipline of occupational therapy. There are several advanced training programmes in addition to Master’s – and PhD programmes.

A specialist approval as occupational therapist can be achieved in the following areas; general health, work health, children’s health, elderly people’s health, public health, mental health and physical health.

Did you know that …

• Occupational Therapy is an international profession. Occupational therapists are educated in 60-70 countries across the world.
• The profession originated in the USA around 1900. Occupational Therapy started out in mental healthcare institutions and later in tuberculosis sanatoria. The two world wars left the western world with numerous people in need of rehabilitation due to war injuries. This speeded up the education of occupational therapists.
• A specialist approval as occupational therapist can be achieved in the following seven areas; general health, work health, children’s health, elderly people’s health, public health, mental health and physical health.
• «The Norwegian Standing Committee on Health and Care Services states that occupational therapy is an essential profession in future health- and care services. The white paper emphasizes that clients should live a good life and remain in their homes for as long as possible. To achieve this, it is essential to customize services that enable the user/client to take care of themselves, regardless of illness and functional disabilities. Research and project evaluations show that everyday rehabilitation, combined with welfare technology, public health initiatives and focus on learning and coping, lead to individual and socio-economic results.»