Healthcare Science (Audiology) BSc (Hons)

Clinical Placement and Careers

You will undertake compulsory work placements mostly in the NHS, working with a range of people from diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds, developing your clinical and professional skills. Placements are spread across the country and we try to ensure that you are placed where you will have the best chance of development.

You will have a short placement after the first year and then embark on a 40 week placement which will start in the middle of your second year and end in the middle of your final year.

During your 40 week placement you will be supported by a clinical educator in practice and will also have a university appointed clinical lecturer, as well as your personal tutor. Throughout your placement you will be supported and we aim to maintain contact with you through emails and return days back to the university. 

Built into the placement are study and reflection time to ensure that you can reflect on your learning in practice and look back at the theory you have been taught, considering how this links to practice.

Placements will allow you to develop your clinical skills, as well as your professional skills, time management, team working, leadership and management qualities. They will also instil a work ethic and help you develop your overall maturity.

You should be aware that any disclosure on your DBS, or disclosed health issues or learning differences will be discussed with placement providers prior to placement allocation. It is important to note that placement providers may not be able to take a student depending on what is disclosed on their DBS.

Whilst on placement, students must adhere to the uniform and dress code policy of the placement provider. NHS Trusts and other placement providers have given careful consideration to cultural and religious needs relating to uniform policies / dress codes. These policies/codes have been developed in conjunction with local and national cultural and religious bodies to ensure that local and national infection control guidance is adhered to. Whilst every attempt has been made to accommodate individual needs, there are some areas where the need to fully comply with infection control guidance has overridden religious requirements.

There is no guarantee that clinical placement will be near Leicester or your family home address. We can only allocate placements that meet our criteria and that are available at the time that you are due to start your placement. You will always be notified in advance of your placement allocation, typically early on at the start of your second year.

If you decline your allocated placement this could result in a delay in allocating you an alternative placement which in turn will impact on when you complete your programme and are able to graduate.

Typically placements mimic the typical working week. You must complete 40 weeks on placement, excluding any annual leave and sickness, within a period of 48 weeks.

While on placements you are likely to incur additional travel and accommodation costs compared with a regular student attending university and requiring student accommodation. The university consider financial support on an individual basis, depending on placement location and circumstances.  All NHS placements are unpaid, departments offer placements as they are keen to support the profession and in most cases receive limited funds from the NHS. 

DMU Global

This is our innovative international experience programme which aims to enrich your studies and expand your cultural horizons – helping you to become a global graduate, equipped to meet the needs of employers across the world. Through DMU Global, we offer a wide range of opportunities including on-campus and UK activities, overseas study, internships, faculty-led field trips and volunteering, as well as Erasmus+ and international exchanges.

Students on this course have recently undertaken DMU Global trips to India and the Special Olympics in Belgium, where they provided hearing tests. They’ve also been on trips to New York to consider the health risks of biological hazards in the city, taught science classes in Bermuda and helped refugees in Berlin.

Graduate careers

Our graduates go on to work in a variety of roles for the NHS and private providers such as Specsavers, while a significant number of our graduates also manage or are partners of their own branches.

Opportunities are available outside the clinical arena and some of our graduates have been employed with hearing aid and audiology equipment manufacturers.

Healthcare Science (Audiology) graduate Layla Mohamed is now working at the Queen Alexandra Hospital in Portsmouth as a qualified clinical audiologist. She said: “The DMU Audiology course ticked a lot of boxes for me in terms of working in the health sector, and job prospects were high.

“It is the greatest feeling when a patient comes back to me saying how much their life has improved and how much they have benefited from the treatment you have provided.”