奥塔哥理工学院

Are you keen to deepen your understanding of occupational therapy practice and develop your research skills?

Enhance your professional practice and increase your employment potential with this postgraduate qualification. Prepare for jobs in research-orientated positions or more responsible roles in occupational therapy practice, both within New Zealand and overseas. Alternatively, you may choose to pursue an academic career and this degree provides a pathway to take you to the top of your field.

Achieve a significant understanding of professional and practice issues in terms of their social, political, cultural and historical contexts, and analyse professional and practice issues from a sound theoretical basis. Critically evaluate research in professional literature and gain the confidence to engage in evidence-based practice. In addition, you will initiate and conduct small-scale research. Benefit from the online, flexible delivery, allowing you to fit your study around other work commitments and enjoy the chance to meet fellow students and staff at the multi-day schools held at the Dunedin campus.

Further study options

Advance your skills and increase your career prospects with the Master of Occupational Therapy at Otago Polytechnic. If you achieve a first class honours degree, you may also be able to progress straight into a doctoral programme.

You will study

This degree is made up of two 30 credit Level 8 courses and a 60 credit dissertation, totaling 120 credits. In order to gain the qualification, it is necessary to pass both courses and the dissertation on your first attempt.

Your workload

If enrolled full time you should allocate approximately 36-40 hours per week for study. These hours cover attendance at fortnightly web-based sessions, online discussions and reading, as well as research for your assessments for each course. In the first semester, you will work on your proposal and then ethics application (if required). In the second semester, you will undertake the research project. The average hours per week for semester two are harder to stipulate as the process of completing a dissertation is based very much on the individual. If enrolled part time the process is extended over a two year period.