Occupational Therapy
BSc (Hons)
UCAS code: B920
Start dates: September 2025 / September 2026
Full time: 3 years
Location: Headington, Headington (Marston Road site)
Department(s): School of Sport, Nutrition and Allied Health Professions
Overview
On your Occupational Therapy course, you'll gain an understanding of how to help people overcome daily challenges. With your vision, you'll be able to help people achieve and progress in their everyday lives, and help them improve their quality of life.
You’ll meet people from around the world who share your values and can broaden your perspective on looking after others. You’ll also take part in a supervised practice placement each year. This gives you opportunities to apply everything you learn on the course in a professional context. Placements take place in or outside of the Oxford area, in professional settings, giving you the chance to learn and practice on location.
This degree is approved by the Health and Care Professions Council. It is accredited by the Royal College of Occupational Therapists. Successful completion allows you to register as an occupational therapist in the UK. So you can be confident you’ll be learning the right skills for a lifelong and rewarding career.
Why Oxford Brookes University?
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Personalised support
By joining a close-knit community, you’ll have easy access to help and guidance.
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Diverse perspectives
You’ll meet people from all over the world on this course, and learn from their perspectives and experiences.
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Community spirit
Engage and collaborate with the Oxford Brookes Occupational Therapy Society to enhance your learning.
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Practical experience
Hone your skills by practising occupational therapy in simulated learning environments.
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Top 20 in the UK
Occupational Therapy is ranked 15th in the Guardian Health Professions subject league ranking 2025.
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Free language courses
Free language courses are available to full-time undergraduate and postgraduate students on many of our courses, and can be taken as a credit on some courses.
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Accreditation(s)
Approved by the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) and accredited by the Royal College of Occupational Therapists (on behalf of the World Federation of Occupational Therapists - WFOT)
Course details
Study modules
Teaching for this course takes place
Face to Face and you can expect around 10 hours of contact time per week. In addition to this, you should also anticipate a workload of 1,200 hours per year. Teaching usually takes place Monday to Friday, between 9.00am and 6.00pm.
Contact hours involve activities such as lectures, seminars, practicals, assessments, and academic advising sessions. These hours differ by year of study and typically increase significantly during placements or other types of work-based learning.
Please note: As our courses are reviewed regularly as part of our quality assurance framework, the modules you can choose from may vary from those shown here. The structure of the course may also mean some modules are not available to you.
Careers
You’ll have the opportunity to get involved with different groups and communities. This will help you develop skills useful in your occupational therapy career. This includes communication, research, and collaboration with sector professionals. You’ll graduate with the knowledge and skills to add real value to the role of occupational therapy.
You’ll find you can work in any field where an occupational therapist is needed. Our graduates have secured employment across various sectors, including social care, charities, and in policy development.
Entry requirements
Wherever possible we make our conditional offers using the UCAS Tariff. The combination of A-level grades listed here would be just one way of achieving the UCAS Tariff points for this course.
Standard offer
UCAS Tariff Points: 104
A Level: BCC
IB Points: 29
BTEC: DMM
Contextual offer
UCAS Tariff Points: 88
A Level: CCD
IB Points: 27
BTEC: MMM
Further offer details
The following are intended to give you a general guide to the attainment levels we expect for this course:
Access to Higher Education Diploma: to include 12 Level 3 credits in Biology/Human Biology. English and maths level 2 credits will no longer be accepted as GCSE equivalences.
Mature students are welcome to apply but will have to show evidence of recent academic study at A-level standard or above in the last three years. They will also have to have GCSE English grade 5 and Mathematics at Grade 4 qualification, or equivalent.
Specific entry requirements
A Level: One science subject (e.g. Biology, Chemistry, Maths, PE, Physics, Psychology).
GCSE: Grade 4 (C) in English, Maths and Science. For English and Maths, Level 2 Functional Skills are accepted as alternatives to GCSEs.
To enhance your application to our Occupational Therapy program, we strongly recommend that you seek the opportunity to observe an occupational therapist working either in a hospital, community or third sector setting before applying.
Personal qualities and work experience are also taken into consideration if you meet the academic entry requirements. Preference will be given to those candidates who show an understanding of the demands of completing a degree and the resilience necessary to work in as a health care professional. All applicants are invited to take part in a group interview as part of the selection process.
Securing a place is subject to both a satisfactory DBS and an Occupational Health clearance. If neither clearance has been completed prior to enrolment nor a DBS issue has been declared on application, then enrolment may not be possible.
If enrolment has been agreed, then continuation on the programme will be contingent on satisfactory clearances.
Please also see the University's general entry requirements.
Screening
All applicants will be screened for fitness to practise and a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check will be made.
Selection process
All Oxford Brookes University Health and Social Care Programmes conduct Value Based Recruitment (VBR). We recognise that values and attitudes have the greatest impact on the quality of people's care and their experiences.
VBR is a way of helping our Programme recruitment teams to assess the values, motives and attitudes of those who wish to work with people in health and social care settings. When we refer to values we mean, for example, the values included in the NHS constitution.
VBR focuses on 'how' and 'why' an applicant makes choices in how they act and seeks to explore reasons for their behaviour. Further details about the VBR framework can be found here.
English language requirements
International students are required to undertake IELTS English language proficiency test, and achieve 6.5 in the IELTS, with no less than 6.5 in any component. They must be eligible for matriculation into a university in their home country.
Please also see the University's standard English language requirements.
Pathways courses for international and EU students
If you do not meet the entry requirements for this degree, or if you would like more preparation before you start, you can take an international foundation course. Once you enrol, you will have a guaranteed pathway to this degree if you pass your foundation course with the required grades.
If you only need to meet the language requirements, you can take our pre-sessional English course. You will develop key language and study skills for academic success and you will not need to take an external language test to progress to your degree.
English requirements for visas
If you need a student visa to enter the UK you will need to meet the UK Visas and Immigration minimum language requirements as well as the University's requirements. Find out more about English language requirements.
Credit transfer
Many of our courses consider applications for entry part-way through the course for students who have credit from previous learning or relevant professional experience.
Find out more about transferring to Brookes. If you'd like to talk through your options, please contact our Admissions team.
Terms and Conditions of Enrolment
When you accept our offer, you agree to the Terms and Conditions of Enrolment. You should therefore read those conditions before accepting the offer.
International qualifications and equivalences
How to apply
Application process
Full time international applicants can also apply through UCAS
Tuition fees
Questions about fees?
Contact Student Finance on:
Tuition fees
Please note, tuition fees for Home students may increase in subsequent years both for new and continuing students in line with an inflationary amount determined by government. Oxford Brookes University intends to maintain its fees for new and returning Home students at the maximum permitted level.
Tuition fees for International students may increase in subsequent years both for new and continuing students.
The following factors will be taken into account by the University when it is setting the annual fees: inflationary measures such as the retail price indices, projected increases in University costs, changes in the level of funding received from Government sources, admissions statistics and access considerations including the availability of student support.
How and when to pay
Tuition fee instalments for the semester are due by the Monday of week 1 of each semester. Students are not liable for full fees for that semester if they leave before week 4. If the leaving date is after week 4, full fees for the semester are payable.
- For information on payment methods please see our Make a Payment page.
- For information about refunds please visit our Refund policy page
Financial support and scholarships
All eligible Occupational Therapy students on courses from September 2020 (new and continuing) will receive a payment of at least £5,000 a year which they will not need to pay back. For more information please visit NHS Learning Support Fund (LSF).
Additional costs
Please be aware that some courses will involve some additional costs that are not covered by your fees. Specific additional costs for this course are detailed below.
Placement costs
There are costs that need to be paid for by students in travelling to and from practice placement and/or potential accommodation costs (a minority of students require additional accommodation for placement(s) during the course). Currently these can be as much as £1,500 per placement for accommodation and/or travel but will depend on location and type of placement. Eligible home students will be able to claim reimbursement of these additional placement costs but will need the money to pay upfront. Currently, the average travel cost per placement is £300 and for placements that require accommodation the average cost per placement is £800. There are 3 placements during the course (but more may be required if students are obliged to re-take with potential resulting additional costs).
Information from Discover Uni
Full-time study
Programme changes:
On rare occasions we may need to make changes to our course programmes after they have been
published on the website. For more information, please visit our
changes to programmes page.