Occupational Therapy 2024-2025

Options in English

For exchange students without very good command of the Swedish language, the Occupational Therapy Programme offers options in English as presented below.

Curricular courses and projects in English

All courses are full-time courses and require at least 40 hours of work per week. A student can only attend one course at a time. One study week is equivalent to 1.5 ECTS credits. The performance during the placement will be graded with pass or fail on the basis of the student´s fulfillment of the learning outcomes stated in the course syllabus. If the partner university needs the grades according to the ECTS scale this can be accommodated.

General requirements 

Specific requirements may apply.

Offered spring semester 2025

• 1EE021 Community and Home Based Rehabilitation - Cultural Perspectives, 7.5 ECTS credits 
• 1EE104 Professional Identity within Healthcare from a Global Perspective, 3 ECTS credits 

Offered both autumn semester 2024 and spring semester 2025

• 1EE064 Project Work in Occupational Therapy, 15 ECTS credits
• 1EE112 Analyses of Literature from an Occupational Perspective, 3 ECTS credits (2 weeks, this course may be adapted to fit the applicant's exchange study period)
• 1AR035 Participation and Environment, 7.5 ECTS credits, 5 weeks

Clinical Rotations in English

The study programme in Occupational Therapy also arranges full-time clinical rotations in English designed to meet the needs of incoming exchange students. A student can only attend one rotation at a time.

Clinical rotation are carried out at out-patient clinics or hospitals within one of the areas specified by the Swedish Board of Health. The student will engage in clinical activities under the supervision of licensed occupational therapists. The extent of participation in patient care is determined by the skill level, motivation and initiative of the student.

The student should complete assignments agreed upon at the start of the clinical rotation. Continuous evaluation will also be carried out throughout the rotation according to our evaluation instrument. The performance will be graded on the ECTS grading scale and on the basis of the student´s fulfillment of the learning outcomes stated in the course syllabus.

The following requirements have to be met by students wanting to take part in clinical rotations:

• A very good command of English (equal to a TOEFL score of 550)
• At least 2 years of study on a study programme in Occupational Therapy
• Basic computer knowledge

Clinical rotations offered both autumn semester 2024 and spring semester 2025

• 1EE113 Clinical rotation for exchange students 1, 6 ECTS credits 
• 1EE115 Clinical rotation for exchange students 2, 6 ECTS credits
• 1EE116 Clinical rotation for exchange students 3, 6 ECTS credits
• 1EE114 Clinical rotation for exchange students, 7.5 ECTS credits 
  
  Dates for these rotations may be adapted to fit the applicant’s exchange study period. Please note which dates you want to apply to come to Karolinska Insitutet for your exchange studies. Choose a variation of courses as you please but note that more than 8 weeks of clinical rotation will be hard to accommodate. We recommend you to choose a combination of theoretical courses and clinical rotation to have a varied and qualitative learning experience with us.

Options in Swedish

Exchange students with a good command of Swedish or another Scandinavian language are welcome to apply.

Courses and projects

All courses are full-time courses and require at least 40 hours of work per week. A student can only attend one course at a time. One study week is equivalent to 1.5 ECTS credits. The performance will be graded in accordance with the ECTS grading scale and on the basis of the student´s fulfillment of the learning outcomes stated in the course syllabus.

Specific requirements may apply. General requirements have to be met in order to apply for the courses:

• A very good command of Swedish or another Scandinavian language (Pass Tisus test or equivalent)
• 90 ECTS credits (1½ years of study) at the home university

All courses are offered both autumn semester 2024 and spring semester 2025.

Overview of all courses

Courses offered during semester 2 in the curriculum

• 1AR025 Health, Participation and Occupation, 15 ECTS credits

Courses offered during semester 3 in the curriculum

• 1AR028 Creativity and Activity, 7.5 ECTS credits

Courses offered during semester 4 in the curriculum

• 1AR032 Occupational Therapy 1 – Assessment, Goalsetting and Therapeutic reasoning, 7.5 ECTS credits
• 1AR033 Occupational Therapy 2 – Occupation and Intervention , 15 ECTS credits
• 1AR034 Occupational Therapy 3 – Prevention and Evaluation, 7.5 ECTS credits

Courses offered during semester 5 in the curriculum

• 1AR036 Work, occupation and participation, 15 ECTS credits
• 1AR035 Participation and environment, 5 ECTS credits
• 1AR037 Scientific design and method, 7.5 ECTS credits

Courses offered during semester 6 in the curriculum

• 1AR039 Interprofessional Clinical Education, 3 ECTS credits
• 1AR038 Advanced clinical placement, 7.5 ECTS credits
• 1AR010 Organisation and Leadership, 4.5 ECTS credits
• Elective course, 7.5 ECTS credits

For more information about the study programme, please visit the programme website (in Swedish).

Application

Application deadline - courses

• 22 April (for the autumn semester 2024, end of August to mid-January)
• 15 October (for the spring semester 2025, mid-January to the beginning of June)

More information about the study programme

When a person's everyday life is made problematic through illness, occupational therapists can step in with creative solutions. Occupational therapy makes use of activity as a means of enabling people to work and study and to have a decent home life and an active leisure time.

Occupational therapeutic interventions prevent, improve and compensate for the patient´s impaired capacity to be active, and include everything from training physical and mental faculties to changing work methods and adapting work environments. An important aspect of the occupational therapist´s work is to prescribe and adapt assistive technologies, such as IT-based equipment designed to make life easier for people with memory impairment.

It is common for the occupational therapist to be contacted with questions about accessibility, which is ultimately a matter of participation in society.

The study programme has its pedagogical foundation in problem-based learning, and employs different teaching methods, such as lectures, seminars, individual assignments, case studies and group work.

Apart from occupational therapy, students also study medicine and social and behavioural science. The final term includes a degree project and an elective course that allows the students to specialise in some aspect of occupational therapy.

After graduation

Occupational therapists work in the healthcare services, in hospitals and clinics, and with the municipal care of the elderly and people with disabilities. Occupational therapists also work for labour market institutes, the National Insurance Office, penal care institutions, assistive technology companies, schools, and other occupational therapy health services. They also run private practices