The Course

The European School of Osteopathy offers a four-year full-time course leading to a Integrated Masters Degree in Osteopathy (M.Ost). This qualification is widely recognised and replaces and upgrades the previous BSc(Hons). 

The undergraduate academic year is 36 weeks in duration, extending to 46 weeks for the 3rd and 4th years to incorporate essential clinical experience. The course is a demanding one requiring total commitment from the student, but the reward is an immensely satisfying career.

The osteopathic teaching at the ESO has always reflected an eclectic view and the School is renowned for its broad approach to osteopathy and the wide range of osteopathic modalities it teaches which, at undergraduate level, include:

• Structural techniques, including manipulation
• Cranial osteopathy and balanced ligamentous tension techniques
• Functional approaches to treatment
• General Osteopathic Treatment
• Visceral osteopathy
• Muscle energy techniques (MET)
• Specific adjustment technique (SAT)
• The treatment of children and pregnant women

The course is in a modular format.  An Osteopathy Module runs

through all four years, developing students' understanding of

osteopathic concepts and their clinical application, building on

technical skills as they progress through the course. Anatomy, 

Physiology and Neural Science are taught over years one and two. 

A new module has been introduced to the revised curriculum for the 2011-12 academic session,called Personal and Professional Development.  This, again,runs across all four years, with the aim of aiding the development of the student as an autonomous practitioner.

A portfolio will be kept as part of this module to develop reflective skills.  In Year 4, the module will include lectures helping to prepare

students for practice life, including legal and employment issues,

marketing and basic accounting.

A crucial part of undergraduate osteopathic training is the time spent in

the teaching clinic.  Some observation time is required of first and

second year students, but the bulk of the 1,000 hours required to be spent in the clinic takes place in Years 3 and 4 (400 and 600 hours, respectively).  From Year 3, students begin to treat patients under supervision of tutors within the clinic.  Students are allocated to a tutor, usually, for a six week period.  Over their training, this gives them the opportunity to work with a range of tutors, drawing on the breadth of experience on offer.  Year 4 students are required to spend some time in the specialist Maternity and Children's clinics.  We also run a diagnostic ultrasound clinic, that students are able to refer patients to

for imaging of musculoskeletal problems.

The first three years of the Integrated Masters (M.Ost) programme are largely at the same educational level as the former BSc programme.  The exception to this is the Research Methods Module in Year 3, which is at Masters level, to help prepare students for the final dissertation, which is undertaken between Years 3 and 4.  This is a significant piece of work and, along with the remainder of Year 4 material, is at Masters level.

The course aims to develop technically competent, well rounded practitioners, able to think critically, evaluate evidence and cope with the complexities and demands of practice life, whichever direction that ultimately takes them.

Timetabled Hours

The M.Ost programme is a busy one, with the practical element resulting in a relatively high number of contact hours – students are generally in lectures or practical classes for 3 to 4 days each week. 

One of the School’s strengths is its clinic facility.  In excess of 18,000 treatments are carried out each year by ESO students under the supervision of clinic tutors, who are experienced practicing osteopaths.  The clinic maintains a tutor/student ratio of 1:6.  First and second year students will observe for some 40 hours in the teaching clinic prior to formally entering Year 3, when, in addition to continuing lectures, they will begin to interact with patients and put into practice what they have learnt during the two pre-clinical years. 

The time spent at clinic increases in Year 4, so that, over Years 3 and 4, students spend approximately 1000 hours in the clinic, seeing approximately fifty new patients.  The clinic remains open during normal holiday periods, and students are timetabled to work there for half of each holiday, including five weeks between Year 3 and Year 4.  

In total, the programme, including time allocated for completing a research dissertation between Years 3 and 4, amounts to approximately 3,000 hours.