UT awards profession of physiotherapist and speech therapist
The professional qualifications committee of health care and social work gave the University of Tartu the right to award the professions of physiotherapist and speech therapist and thereby recognised the correspondence of the curricula to the needs of the labour market.
The University of Tartu was given the right to award level 7 profession of speech therapist to graduates of the master’s programme in special education and speech therapy, and the profession of physiotherapist, level 6 and level 7, to graduates of the bachelor’s and master’s programme in physiotherapy respectively.
Head of UT Department of Special Education Marika Padrik said that in developing the programme of special education and speech therapy, the programme council has based their work on the needs of the Estonian labour market but also kept in mind the requirements set for specialists in the European Union.
“We are very pleased that our master’s studies meet the requirements of two professional standards – a few weeks ago UT was given the right to award level 7 profession of special education teacher and now we have the right to award the speech therapist profession. Holding a profession is becoming increasingly important in the labour market and it gives those who need help a guarantee for the quality of the service,” said Padrik.
Jelena Sokk, UT Programme Director of Physiotherapy, said that in developing the current professional standard for physiotherapists, the UT bachelor’s and master’s programmes in physiotherapy were aligned with the standard. For example, the course “Entrepreneurship and Management in Health Services” was added to the curriculum, which gives knowledge that is necessary to succeed in the labour market and encourage entrepreneurship.
According to Sokk, awarding the profession should give graduates more professional security: “Upon graduating, physiotherapists can enter the labour market immediately. Until now, the employer decided whether it was necessary to take the professional exam and the exam, which had to be paid for, had to be taken within three years after graduating, but now students will be given the profession upon graduation.”
Additional information: Marika Padrik, Head of UT Department of Special Education, tel. 555 80746, e-mail: marika.padrik [ät] ut.ee;
Jelena Sokk, UT Programme Director of Physiotherapy at UT, tel. 737 5383, e-mail: jelena.sokk [ät] ut.ee.