Name: Rianne van Domburg ([email protected])
from The Netherlands
PT educational system:
Bachelor (university of applied sciences) & Master (university, one level up).
How many schools/ universities do you have?
In the Netherlands there are 11 cities where you can study Physiotherapy.
Name of your students organization(s):
National: KNGF (students workgroup policy)
Describe your students’ organization in 3 sentences:
Every university has send one representative to participate in this workgroup so they have a connection and a perspective/view from a student in every university in The Netherlands in our meetings. As students workgroup, we are sort of a soundboard of KNGF, who is controlled by working PT’s.
What are the goals of your students’ organization?
The most important goal is to connect students with the KNGF and the working PT’s (networking to get a job more easily after graduation). As a student member of KNGF you have a lot of student-benefits, like low contribution and the opportunity to join student programmes for less on the annual Physio Congress.
How many PT students are there within the organization?
KNGF has around 1700 members (what changes every year, by students passing their last exams or internships and have to change student-membership to normal membership what is much more expensive what gives a lot of them the reason to quit being a member).
Communication about ECPTS within your country:
On this moment, KNGF doesn’t want to be very active on international level.
I am delegate by personal capacity (but also involved in the students workgroup of KNGF), so when something happens what is important to know for the Dutch PT students we or I will communicate it to them.
What is the entry level for working as a physiotherapist in your country?
On this moment a Bachelor of Science for Physiotherapy is enough to work as a PT in The Netherlands, but it depends on from which country you are if your Bachelor degree will be equal to the Dutch Bachelor degree (according to our DTF, Direct Access Physiotherapy rule) you need, to be allowed to work in The Netherlands. In the upcoming years you will need a master degree too, because the first master-study of Physiotherapy is already there. If you’re planning to do that, don’t hesitate to contact me for more information;-)
Do you offer English-speaking courses or summerschools for PTs/ PT-students?
There are options to attend courses in English.
- Amsterdam European School of Physiotherapy (4 year or 3 year speed-track)
- Fontys University of applied science Eindhoven
- Groeningen
- Heerlen
There is even a german program in Enschede if people are interested in that option :-)
For International PT GUIDELINES take a look at:
http://www.fysionet-evidencebased.nl/index.php/kngf-guidelines-in-english