UK schools for Canadian and other oversea candidates

[albertasqip]

In Canada the University standards for Physiotherapy are extremely high. For example, all students must dissect dead cadavers in first year anatomy class. It is something only few universities can offer. It means taking care of the dead people's bodies with care and good ethics. Keeping all body parts, and eventually returning them to the families for burial or cremation. It is a privilege but a huge responsibility to care for dead Canadians who volunteer to be cut open in this way. So very few Universities can do it. Also, only so many bodies can be accommodated in the University morgue. So the number of Physiotherapy students is kept small.
However, with only 118 student places for all of our province, there are thousands of young adults who'd like to attend. So what does a University do, when it has heaps of applicants and only 118 spots? It takes only the 118 best students of course!!! Others are turned away. No this is not new since it became a master's level. It has always been a high standard here.
The problem with all this, is that Alberta needs hundreds of new physios each year, not 118. So some must come from other places in Canada and Internationally. My organization assists qualified physios to move to Alberta from all over the world, especially the British Isles.
Hope that explains well,
Crystal
Alberta Society for Qualified International Physiotherapists

[lilium5260]

Great to hear the circumstances in Cananda!! I hope to hear more.

I can't talk on be half of Oz programmes because they are exploding since the last decade so I can't gareentee that every Oz can offer their students high standard training as Canadian programmes do (e.g. dissect corpus). On the other hand there are only 2 NZ programmes since 1960's and both of them currently require students to participate dissection in junior years (at least it is the case in my cohort). Thinking about migrating to Canada upon graduation now...

But to be honest as a student who has completed Year one with B+ and had dissection lab works I don't feel dissection is an essential part for comtemporary physiotherapy practice out of UK - UK currently is the only realm allows physios to conduct invasive procedures among all english speaking countries. In this senario surface anatomy is much more useful than dissection, so I indeed don't think that graduates from UK and Oz programmes which have lower standards than Canadian counterparts are not competent to practice in Canada.

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And another question since I am seriousely considering to work in Canada upon graduation:

Do u mind to tell me the scope of practice for cardiovascular and respiratory physiotherapy in Canada? And what daily work a Canadian cardiovascular and respiratory physiotherapist do? The demands of cardiovascular and respiratory physiotherapist in Canada? You see there are some professions (e.g. respiratory therapy) which are unique in North America and may de facto have taken over most daily tasks that cardiovascular and respiratory physiotherapists in UK, Oz and NZ do.

And also I wonder since US has agreement with Canada and US PTs can directly gain CA registration, why there is still such as huge shortage of workforce and US graduates don't fill CA vacancies?