Occupational Therapy

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Course Overview
Key Facts
Course Outline
Further Education
Why Choose This Course?
Course Fees
Find Out More

What Is Occupational Therapy? Who Is It For? Course Structure Student Experience Ability Awareness For Children

Entry Points (2024)

554

Course Overview

Occupational Therapy is an interesting and rewarding career. Occupational Therapists aim to enable people to participate in the activities of everyday life. As an Occupational Therapist you will assist in enabling individuals to do things that enhance their ability to live independently in their daily ‘occupations’. ‘Occupation’ is the term used to describe those tasks and activities essential for daily life – washing, dressing , feeding and moving around, to the more complex areas of working, leisure, socialising and managing finances and home. Illness or trauma or social disadvantage can result in difficulties in these areas. Occupational Therapists design and deliver intervention programmes to address these difficulties.

Applications and Selections

Who Teaches this Course

Students will take lectures in Anatomy, Psychology, Physiology in their 1st and 2nd Year as well as taking modules in Occupational Therapy. The course is taught by various academic staff in these Disciplines.

Lecturers include:

Professor Agnes Shiel

Mr Manigandan Chockalingam

Requirements and Assessment

Key Facts

Entry Requirements

Minimum Grade H5 in two subjects and passes in four other subjects at O6/H7 Level in the Leaving Certificate, including Irish, English, another language, Mathematics, a laboratory science subject (i.e. Chemistry, Physics, Biology, Physics with Chemistry (joint) or Agricultural Science), and any other subject recognised for entry purposes.

Additional Requirements

Vaccinations The HSE, the School of Health Sciences and the College of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, require students to produce evidence that they have received the Measles, Mumps and Rubella (MMR) and the Hepatitis B (Hep B) vaccinations. In line with this requirement, University of Galway, Occupational Therapy Programme recommends that student’s evidence both the MMR and Hepatitis B before the commencement of placement. Evidence of these vaccinations must be provided in the first year of the course. Students must satisfy the Garda/police vetting and also satisfy the English Language Requirements where English is not their first language.

Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL)

Duration

4 years

Next start date

September 2025

A Level Grades (2024)

universityofgalway.ie/alevels

Average intake

QQI/FET FETAC Entry Routes

Closing Date

NFQ level

Mode of study

ECTS weighting

Award

CAO

GY502

Course code

Course Outline

This course explores how difficulties in relation to physical or mental health can affect occupation (i.e. daily activities) in all groups of people – children, adolescents, adults and older adults.

In the First Year of the programme, students will gain a basic understanding of the human body, psychology and be introduced to the concepts of enabling occupation. These concepts will be further developed in the second year of the programme, with an additional focus on neuroanatomy and neurophysiology.

In years three and four of the programme, students will develop their research skills and evidence based practice. They will learn to analyse, report and present on case studies. In addition to this, year four of the programme prepares future graduates for active engagement in occupational therapy practice. Students will review current health care strategies and policies and learn about continuing their professional development once they graduate from the programme.

Curriculum Information

Curriculum information relates to the current academic year (in most cases).
Course and module offerings and details may be subject to change.

Glossary of Terms

Credits: You must earn a defined number of credits (aka ECTS) to complete each year of your course. You do this by taking all of its required modules as well as the correct number of optional modules to obtain that year's total number of credits.
Module: An examinable portion of a subject or course, for which you attend lectures and/or tutorials and carry out assignments. E.g. Algebra and Calculus could be modules within the subject Mathematics. Each module has a unique module code eg. MA140.
Subject: Some courses allow you to choose subjects, where related modules are grouped together. Subjects have their own required number of credits, so you must take all that subject's required modules and may also need to obtain the remainder of the subject's total credits by choosing from its available optional modules.
Optional: A module you may choose to study.
Required: A module that you must study if you choose this course (or subject).
Required Core Subject: A subject you must study because it's integral to that course.
Semester: Most courses have 2 semesters (aka terms) per year, so a three-year course will have six semesters in total. For clarity, this page will refer to the first semester of year 2 as 'Semester 3'.

Year 1 (60 Credits)

Year 2 (60 Credits)

Year 3 (60 Credits)

RequiredOY312: Enabling Occupation - Older Adults - 5 Credits - Semester 5
RequiredOY3106: Enabling Occupation - Community Practice - 10 Credits - Semester 6
RequiredOY308: Standardised Testing - 5 Credits - Semester 5
RequiredOY306: Evidence Based Practice - 5 Credits - Semester 5
RequiredOY3115: Community Engagement - 10 Credits - Semester 5
RequiredOY3105: Cognitive Neuropsychology - 5 Credits - Semester 5
RequiredOY3108: Practice Education 2 - 0 Credits - Semester 6
RequiredOY3107: Practice Education - Case Study 2 - 10 Credits - Semester 6
RequiredOY309: Neurology - 5 Credits - Semester 6
RequiredOY307: Research Methods - 5 Credits - Semester 6

Year 4 (60 Credits)

RequiredOY4106: Practice Education 4 - 0 Credits - Semester 7
RequiredOY4105: Practice Education 3 - 0 Credits - Semester 7
RequiredOY4104: Practice Education - Case Study 4 - 15 Credits - Semester 7
RequiredOY4103: Practice Education - Case Study 3 - 10 Credits - Semester 7
RequiredOY409: Preparation for Practice - 5 Credits - Semester 8
RequiredOY403: Research Project - 20 Credits - Semester 8
RequiredOY404: Management - 10 Credits - Semester 8

In the first Year of the programme, students will gain a basic understanding of the human body, psychology and be introduced to the concepts of enabling occupation. These concepts will be developed further in the second year of the programme, with an additional focus on neuroanatomy and neurophysiology.

Further Education

Students may continue further study from the following:

Why Choose This Course?

Career Opportunities

Occupational Therapy graduates will be in a position to work in a variety of settings and with a variety of patients/clients including:

Hospitals
Community Rehabilitation Services
Mental Health Services
Child and Adolescent Services
Voluntary Organisations
Physical and Sensory Disability Services
Private Practice
Primary Care teams

Who’s Suited to This Course

Learning Outcomes

Transferable Skills Employers Value

Work Placement

All students are required to complete 1,000 hours of Practice Education successfully under the supervision of a qualified occupational therapist. Practice Education is a process of work based learning which involves a partnership between the practice educator and the student in the practice setting. Practice Education takes place at the end of Semester 2 in first year (one week), Semester 2 of second year (8 weeks), Semester 2 of third year (8 weeks) and Semester 1 of fourth year (2 x 8 weeks). Students may be required to undertake practice education anywhere in Ireland and can

Study Abroad

Related Student Organisations

Course Fees

Fees: EU

€7,868 p.a.(€8,208 p.a. including levy & occupational heath service fee) 2025/26

Fees: Tuition

€4,868 p.a. 2025/26

Fees: Student Contribution

€3,000 p.a. 2025/26

Fees: Student levy

€140 p.a. 2025/26

Fees: Non EU

€27,500 p.a.(€27,840 p.a. including levy & occupational heath service fee) 2025/2

Occupational Health Service
In year one students are required to pay a €200 fee towards a subsidised Occupational Health Service provided to students of the College of Medicine, Nursing & Health Sciences in compliance with all relevant legislation and standards.

EU Fees are comprised of Tuition + Student Contribution Charge + Student Levy* €140. *Payable by all students and is not covered by SUSI. Further detail here.

For 25/26 entrants, where the course duration is greater than 1 year, there is an inflationary increase approved of 3.4% per annum for continuing years fees**.
**Excludes Full-Time EU Undergraduate fees. These are fixed and do not change.

Find out More

Jane Bowman

The School of Health Sciences , College of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences

T 353 (0)91 492 957

E healththerapies@universityofgalway.ie

Website: https://www.universityofgalway.ie/medicine-nursing-and-health-sciences/healthsciences/disciplines/occupational-therapy/

What Our Students Say

Anna Lynam | BSc (Occupational Therapy)

There is an excellent balance between academic learning and practical work. Placements were organised by the college and provided me with opportunities to apply the skills and theory I had learned in a practical setting. These placements were not only enjoyable but also supported me in becoming more confident in both myself and my role as an occupational therapist. This course also offers brilliant modules on different aspects of Mental Health, which is an area I now feel particularly passionate about pursuing. As the class is relatively small, I got to know the lecturers very well and developed lifelong friendships with my classmates. Lecturers always offer constructive feedback, which supports you in developing any areas for improvement.  I am so excited to start my journey as an occupational therapist and believe I have the skill set, confidence and knowledge base to do so. 