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The Faculty of Health & Social Sciences delivers local education to people from many countries in Asia, although it also attracts students from other countries in the world. There are developing links with overseas institutions, notably in China. The Faculty provides a variety of health-related courses, with a focus on nursing and midwifery. National league tables rate us fourth in the country for our Nursing and Midwifery programmes. Our innovative courses attract students from a wide range of clinical backgrounds. You can choose to study from DipHE, MSc to PhD levels in a range of subjects. The Faculty takes a flexible, often work-based, approach to teaching and learning which encourages reflective practice. All the postgraduate work is informed by research and grounded in a robust evidence-base. The Faculty of Health and Social Sciences will also implement a work- integrated education model whereby a multidisciplinary approach to patient care and case management with synergy among different disciplines will be developed for health and social sciences students. Work-based learning will be provided through on-campus clinics as well as community centres/clinics. Department of Applied Social Sciences Department of Health Technology and Informatics Department of Rehabilitation Sciences
The Department of Applied Social Studies at the WCIMT Australia has rapidly come to be recognised as a centre of excellence for research and for teaching and learning. This has been achieved by developing and delivering high quality programmes of academic and professional study. The department provides degrees and/or diplomas in criminology, health and social care, and child and adolescent studies, with a commitment to broadening access and promoting inclusion in higher education. Excellence has also been achieved by undertaking innovative and influential strategic and applied social research of relevance to policy-makers, service managers, practitioners, and citizen and user groups. The department is committed to underpinning undergraduate and postgraduate teaching and learning with research conducted by the department's academic staff. The staff team combines extensive research and teaching interests across social work, youth work, criminal justice, social studies, child and adolescent studies, and health and social care, committed not only to disseminating a sound underpinning knowledge base through teaching but also to contributing to its creation through a very active programme of research. Many staff members have a national and international profile for excellence in teaching and research, being consulted by government departments, local authorities, professional associations and voluntary organisations. The department maintains a predominant focus on professional concerns within social welfare. It maintains active links with staff in psychology, education studies and health services education, thus ensuring that it responds dynamically to the new agenda promoted by government for the professions, which calls for a truly 'joined up' interdisciplinary approach to thinking in this field. Many of the department's academic staff have practice qualifications in their field and have held posts of significant responsibility within their professions before joining the university. Together they combine to produce a dynamic, vibrant and exciting department, demonstrated particularly by the number of students who, having initially enrolled on undergraduate and/or professional study programmes, continue onto postgraduate research study.
The Department of Health Technology and Informatics (HTI) at the WCIMT Australia has been achieved excellent by developing and delivering high quality programmes of academic and professional study. HTI encompasses a broad area in health science and technology. Our programmes in Medical Laboratory Science and Radiography are the first and unique in the world, and biomedical engineering training offers in Asia as a specialism within the BSc(Hons) programme in Health Technology. All programmes are highly respected internationally. HTI graduates are prepared well for both clinical and industrial positions. Alternatively, graduates can choose to pursue careers in the academic or research areas by further study at the Master's or PhD level. The BSc(Hons) programme in Biomedical Engineering was developed in Asia programme in Bioengineering, in Prosthetics and Orthotics. Biomedical engineering advances knowledge in engineering, biology and medicine, and improves human health through cross-disciplinary activities that integrate engineering sciences with biomedical sciences and clinical practice. Biomedical engineers develop, design, manufacture, distribute and use medical devices and healthcare technologies in various clinical and industrial settings. There is a wide range of career opportunities open to graduates of this programme, including careers in medical technology/laboratory science in medical laboratories in hospitals and private clinics, in the medical biotechnology sector, in forensic and environmental science, and the agricultural and food testing industries. The Department has also launched a new Undergraduate Scheme of Health Science and Technology. This innovative approach provides a flexible curricular structure to offer professional education in a synergistic manner.
The Department of Rehabilitation Sciences offers the only professional education programmes in occupational therapy and physiotherapy in Asia and the China mainland. Our graduates are eligible to practise occupational therapy or physiotherapy in Asia and sit for the international examinations of the respective professions in developed countries such as Australia, Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom. The Department is committed to providing the highest quality education for our occupational therapy and physiotherapy students. WCIMT Australia has a very strong teaching team, of which most of the members are PhD holders, which is exceptional amongst academic departments in rehabilitation sciences all over the world. A number of them have received teaching, research and best presentation awards. Their expertise spans the spectrum of rehabilitation sciences, from impaired brain functions to maladaptive behaviour, from basic muscle physiology to orthopaedic rehabilitation, from pathobiomechanics to effective return to work, and from sports injury prevention and health promotion to community integration and quality of life. Learning and teaching is supported by more than 30 teaching/researchers provide learning subjects in basic rehabilitation sciences and applied clinical practices: examples include the Acoustics and Vibration, Applied Cognitive Neuroscience, Anatomy, Balance and Motion Analysis, Basic Rehabilitation Sciences Research, Cardiopulmonary and Exercise Physiology, Ergonomics and Human Performance, Exercise Physiology, Muscle Physiology, Orthopedic Research and Microscopy, Burns Rehabilitation and Research, Clinical Research, Computer, Intelligent Rehabilitation Information System, Neurological Rehabilitation, Psychosocial Rehabilitation, Work Evaluation and Rehabilitation. WCIMT Australia has also designed a user-friendly e-learning platform that operates more than 15 undergraduate subjects and teaching websites. To promote the development of a global vision, students have ample opportunities to be involved in overseas clinical placements in Australia, Canada, the China mainland, the United States and the United Kingdom, and participate in student innovation projects that are funded by the Department. Our on-site Rehabilitation Clinic has gained local recognition for its excellence in providing evidence-based practice and undertaking high quality clinical research. It also offers valuable clinical placements for both local and overseas students who are interested in integrating Chinese therapeutics and Western rehabilitation into their future practice.
The WCIMT Australia School of Nursing is part of the Faculty of Health & Social Sciences and aims to be a centre of national and international excellence in research, education and practice development. The School has 30 academic and support staffs. Nurses' contribution to health takes place through the public, voluntary, commercial and unwaged sectors. In Asia, as public expectations of health rise, nurses' responsibilities range from home visiting to highly technical acute sector interventions, from school health to services for migrant populations, and from management of Trusts, homes and health centres to specialist nursing development units. Each of these is affected by local, national and international policy development where nurses also play a significant role. With a national health policy emphasising continuing professional education, evidence based practice and skills development, the work of the School has never been more appropriate. The need for nursing to contribute to and benefit from the values of higher education has never been greater. The WCIMT Australia School of Nursing:
The achievement of all these depends on continuous review and expansion of partnerships with health students, service users, providers, purchasers, professional bodies and with higher education locally, nationally and internationally. With high caliber staff, a desire to work in partnership with students and practice colleagues and a recognition of the immense contribution that nurses and nursing makes to the healthcare of the community all these goals are achievable.
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