Optometry expands at Huddersfield alongside new integrated Master’s course

The University of Huddersfield’s popular Optometry course is expanding, with 100 places being offered this year on a new integrated four-year Master’s programme.

Due to changed education and training requirements from the General Optical Council, all providers must move away from the standalone Bachelor’s course to a level 7 Master's degree that incorporates all the clinical experience. This means that all first-year Optometry students at Huddersfield will start on the new-style course from September 2024.

Such is the demand for places, the intake numbers are also being boosted from 68 to 100 students to coincide with the course change.

All students will have access to the brand-new optometry laboratory – part of the refurbished School of Applied Sciences facilities in the Joseph Priestley Building on the University’s Queensgate Campus.

The Optometry Department takes up the ground floor of the East section of the building, with the new MOptom degree continuing to offer an emphasis on learning clinical skills from the first year.

Professor John Siderov, Head of Department for Optometry commented: “Optometry at the University of Huddersfield continues to develop and innovate. With the new MOptom we will be offering more students the opportunity to benefit from our high-quality education and facilities.”

Students will continue to benefit from the joint venture eye clinic, University Valli Opticians, and engage in clinical experience across the first three years, including carrying out full eye examinations during their third year prior to the major placement in the fourth year.

As part of the 2024 changes to a Master’s, the final year of the new course will see students being offered a placement, in collaboration with the College of Optometrists, which will then enable them to register directly with the General Optical Council as an Optometrist following graduation.

In addition to direct entrants, students who have successfully completed the University of Huddersfield’s Science Extended Degree with the required grades are also eligible to advance onto the Optometry MOptom course.

Following a recent £18.2 million redevelopment, the Joseph Priestley Building provides students and researchers with state-of-the-art laboratories dedicated to the study of Biology, Chemistry and Optometry.

It also includes the Centre for Vision across the Life Span (CVLS), a research centre to investigate the structure and function of eyes and vision in health and disease of children and adults.

The revamped building was officially opened earlier this year by Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Edinburgh.