Are you interested in becoming a sports physiotherapist? The University of Notre Dame Australia’s Bachelor of Physiotherapy/ Bachelor of Exercise and Sports Science is the only double degree in Australia. The 5-year full-time program will prepare you to become an effective, culturally appropriate practitioner with a focus on the physiotherapist-client relationship. This double degree allows you to explore and develop advanced knowledge, skills and abilities in analysing physical activity, exercise prescription and sports health. Graduates will be eligible for registration as a physiotherapist with the Australian Health Practitioner Registration Agency (AHPRA).

Why study this degree?

Designed by highly-respected industry practitioners, our Bachelor of Physiotherapy/Bachelor of Exercise & Sport Science program is the only degree in Australia. Accredited by the Australian Physiotherapy Council, this double degree provides a pathway that incorporates two complementary health and exercise sciences programs.

Physiotherapy Exercise & Sport Science share a common bond in much of the human sciences while having specialised knowledge and application within each path. This allows you to develop profession-specific areas of knowledge and skills from both degrees.

To ensure that you graduate with the practical skills and training necessary to excel, this combined degree contains 1150 hours of workplace experience. This practicum component comprises physiotherapy-specific clinical placements and Exercise & Sport Science practical experiences.

Your formal physiotherapy clinical education program begins with a five-week placement in Year Three and continues in Year Four. It culminates in almost full-time clinical practice during Year Five of the course. Upon graduation, you will have developed your clinical assessment, treatment skills, reflective professional practice in laboratories, and exposure to patients in physiotherapy practices, hospitals or community health settings in urban and rural locations.

The program also strongly focuses on evidence-based and reflective practice ensuring graduates will be well prepared to meet the challenge of current and future health provision across the many clinical and non-clinical areas in which Physiotherapists are employed.

Year One

• Functional Anatomy for Physiotherapy A
• Aboriginal People
• Developmental Psychology and Mental Health in Physiotherapy
• Functional Anatomy for Physiotherapy B
• Therapeutic Exercise After Injury: Physiological and Practical Foundations
• Medical Sciences
• Movement Sciences for Physiotherapy

Year Two

• Research and Evidence in Physiotherapy
• Principles of Strength and Conditioning
• Physiology of Training and Environmental Extremes
• Exercise Health and Disease
• Health, Fitness and Performance Assessment
• Exercise Biomechanics
• Motor Control Development & Learning
• Nutrition for Health and Physical Activity
• Psychosocial Aspects of Sport and Physical Activity
• Exercise Prescription and Delivery

Year Three

• Principals of Clinical Rehabilitation
• Musculoskeletal Physiotherapy (Lower Limb)
• Applied Neuroscience
• Cardiorespiratory Physiotherapy Sciences I
• Musculoskeletal Physiotherapy (Upper Limb)
• Physiotherapy in Gerontology
• Clinical Education I
• Physiotherapy in Gender Health

Year Four

• Musculoskeletal Physiotherapy (Spinal I)
• Rehabilitation for the Neurosciences
• Cardiorespiratory Physiotherapy Sciences II
• Advanced Biomechanics
• ESS Industry Internship A
• Physiotherapy in Paediatrics
• Musculoskeletal Physiotherapy (Spinal II)
• Clinical Education II and Practitioner Development
• ESS Industry Internship B

Year Five

• Clinical Education III
• Clinical Education IV
• Clinical Education V
• Clinical Education VI
• Professional Issues in Physiotherapy Practice
• Complex Cases and Professional Issues

Core Curriculum

• CORE I: Foundations of Wisdom
• CORE II: Elective
  • Electives in philosophy and\or theology
  • Professional embedded electives that integrate studies in a profession with philosophy and\or theology
  • An option to undertake a pilgrimage embedded in the study of the philosophy and theology of pilgrimage, e.g., World Youth Day
  • An option to undertake a course that integrates philosophy & theology with community service and charity work
  • An option to undertake an elective in philosophy, theology, and the liberal arts contained within an international experience

More information regarding courses can be found at the course descriptions page.

Full details of the program requirements are contained in the Program Requirements.

Graduates of this program can follow diverse career paths in the private and public health sectors; career opportunities range from working in physiotherapy practices, hospitals or community health settings in both urban and rural locations in the fields of all physiotherapy clinical areas, healthcare management, industrial rehabilitation, research, academic teaching, sport.

Applicants must meet High school qualifications (or equivalent) to apply for undergraduate program. Academic minimum entry requirements for international applicants vary from country to count

IELTS (Academic) - 7.0 overall, with no individual band score lower than 7.0

OET - B in all sections; PTE Academic - 65, with no individual band score lower than 65

TOEFL (iBT) - 94, with no score lower than 24 in reading and listening, no lower than 23 in speaking, and no lower than 27 in writing.