Names:
William Glossop and Roisin Houghton
from UK, England
PT educational system:
Physiotherapy in the UK is taught in universities. It differs in time scales between the different countries. In England and Wales it takes 3 years however in Scotland and N.Ireland it takes 4 years. The bachelor level is sometimes funded by the NHS in England and Wales and in Scotland its is funded by SAAS or the NHS. However sometimes it depends on which country you are coming from as the funding that you receive. At masters level it takes 2 years (pre-registration) and is normally privately funded.
How many schools/ universities do you have? 35 universities.
Name of your students organization(s):
Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (CSP)
Website: www.csp.org.uk
Twitter: @thecspstudents
Describe your students’ organization in 3 sentences:
The CSP is the professional, educational and trade union body for the UK’s 51,500 chartered physiotherapists, physiotherapy students and support workers. It sets out the standards for education and professional practice
How many PT students are there within the organization?
There are roughly 5000 students signed up to the CSP.
Communication about ECPTS within your country:
Within the Scottish CSP network communication with ECPTS is via the facebook feeds and posts. UK wide announcements are also made on the interactive CSP student page. This is a page accessible to all students who are members of the CSP. The ECPTS rep within the CSP is also responsible for delivering information to the other CS reps who disperse the information amongst the students in their university. In addition there is now a CSP Student Rep page where we can send all the information to every CSP student rep in every university in the UK.
What is the entry level for working as a physiotherapist in your country?
Entry level is working as a band 5 physiotherapist you gain this after you complete and pass the degree. Once you have done the bachelors you can go into working. However you have to be HCPC registered. This is the Health and Care Professions Council. Some employers also prefer you to be a member of the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy.
Do you offer English-speaking courses or summer schools for PTs/ PT-students?
To my knowledge international students with non-English first language require a qualification in English to study physiotherapy in UK. I don't think we operate summer schools in the UK but that seems like a good idea!