Course summary

Please note, this course is being advertised subject to approval. Developed and taught by our School of Healthcare, the Master of Optometry (MOptom) degree is a gateway to a rewarding career as a registered optometrist. Optometrists work on the frontline of healthcare, playing a critical role in maintaining and improving the eye health of people of all ages and backgrounds. Optometrists work in a variety of settings, including in hospitals and on the high street. They carry out detailed eye examinations, prescribe glasses or contact lenses and, through their use of advanced technology and deep clinical knowledge, they also detect and manage defects in vision or disease. This course is undergoing accreditation by the General Optical Council (GOC). This means that, following successful approval of the programme, once you graduate, you can become a registered optometrist. On this degree, you will develop your knowledge and skills through a mix of academic study and work- and clinic-based learning. You will be taught by expert practitioners, and you will benefit from our outstanding clinical facilities at Leicester Royal infirmary and optic labs on campus, as well as pioneering and highly specialist facilities such as our medical dissection rooms and Space Park Leicester. Preparing you for your professional career life is a fundamental aspect of this course, which has been designed in close collaboration with the professional optometry sector. We believe that gaining practical, real-world experience is one of the best ways to develop the professional competencies demanded of an optometrist. You will undertake multiple placements throughout the course, which will allow you to experience the wide range of workplace environments and applications of an optometrist. These placements will also develop invaluable patient-centred skills which are essential to your role. For the first three years of the course, you will join other healthcare students from across the College of Life Sciences (which includes , Nursing, Midwifery, Physiotherapy, Diagnostic Radiography, Operating Department Practice and Pharmacy) in a series of inter-professional teaching and learning sessions. Learning alongside other healthcare students is ideal preparation for the workplace environment. You will also study aspects of business and management that are relevant to an optometrist's role in the high street or private sector. This includes business models, practice management and clinical law. In your final year, you will undertake a year-long College of Optometrists Clinical Learning in Practice (CLiP) module, in addition to a Professional Certificate in Glaucoma (ProfCert Glauc), with a single employer. This allows you to implement your clinical learning into routine practice and build on your experience at university instead of doing a separate pre-registration year. This also means that you will be ready for the workplace upon graduating, having spent a year in a professional role already.