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The University of Southampton
Health Sciences

University of Southampton pilots international occupational therapy exchange programme

Published: 24 April 2013

Occupational therapy (OT) teams and international representatives from the University of Southampton have developed an innovative international exchange programme in partnership with the prestigious Lund University in Sweden.

Scheduled to pilot later this year, our aim in creating this programme is to develop meaningful international collaborations between staff and students. 

Academics taking part will learn from each other, exchanging best practice and evidence-based practice, to inform the OT curriculum.   Students will develop a greater awareness of these practises and be better prepared for the international work market.

We hope that all 35 of our level six OT students will benefit from the opportunity to work intensively together with the Lund students on educationally challenging and inspiring projects.

During the week-long pilot field trip we have planned a participatory programme including education, practice and research-based workshops. The week culminates in a conference style report of the work achieved and the dissemination of outcomes through article and conference presentations.

Our Health Sciences programme lead for occupational therapy, Doctor Teresa Job, says: "The aim of this exciting new exchange programme is to enhance our students' learning experience and exposure to international perspectives and comparisons.

"The programme offers us on-going potential for further international collaboration with other universities and professional programmes.  We hope it will also create the opportunity to raise our profile internationally amongst World Federation of Occupational Therapy (WFOT) accredited programmes and healthcare care settings."

A week-long pilot project is due to take place in Autumn 2013 when a group of Lund students will be hosted by Health Sciences.  A reciprocal project will follow in the Autumn of 2014 when our Southampton students visit Lund.

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