Audiology News
 

The Number of BSc Audiology Students in the UK, January 2005

Ali A. Mohiuddin and Tasneem F. Mohiuddin, www.aud.org.uk, 24^th January 2005

 

Audiology courses are thriving in the UK. We found that there are 348 students currently studying on the BSc Audiology degree courses across the UK. Numbers are predicted to increase considerably over the next few years.

Why & How the Survey was Carried Out

We thought it would be interesting to ascertain how many students were currently on BSc Audiology training programmes across the UK. This would allow us to speculate on the popularity of audiology as a profession and how many new audiologists would be gained via the BSc route over the next few years. To achieve this we decided to carry out a snapshot survey, using a three pronged approach. At the first instance we posted the question in our forum (Audiology Discussions). We then emailed the institutions concerned, and then as a last resort we contacted the institutions by telephone. The results were then posted and collated in the Audiology Discussions forum.

Results of Survey:

Table 1.

No.of Students, in Each Year at Each College / University	Total
Aston University: est. 2003  24 students  25 students	49
University of Bristol: est. 2004  16 students	16
De Montfort University / The People's College: est. 2002  15 students  24 students  25 students	64
University of Leeds: est. 2004  15 students	15
The University of Manchester: est. 2002  19 students  30 students  29 students	78
University of Southampton: est. 2003  21 students  27 students	48
University of Wales Swansea: est. 2002    8 students  14 students  16 students	38
University College London (UCL): est 2003  11 students  29 students	40

Key:

3rd year students (2002 intake)     Number of Places 2nd year students (2003 intake)   1st year student (2004 intake)

Table 2.

Total No.of BSc Audiology Students at Each College (January 2005)
Aston,  49 students, 2 years  Bristol, 16 students, 1 year De Montfort, 64 students, 3 years  Leeds, 15 students, 1 year  Manchester, 78 students, 3 years  Southampton, 48 students, 2 years  Swansea, 38 students, 3 years  UCL, 40 students, 2 years
Students Studying BSc Audiology in the UK = 348

Table 3.

Notes About the Survey

It was somewhat difficult to obtain the student numbers from the institutions concerned, with some institutions and certain individuals being more forthcoming than others.

In addition to the number of students we were also given the yearly constituent number of students, if the course had been running for greater than one year, and the intake the institutions were commissioned to take each year.

As the study was intended to be a snapshot study we were not looking at establishing the original number of students taken or taking into account any drop-outs (churn-rate).

The commissioned rate (number of places) for each institution varied, but primarily depended upon how much funding was made available to the institution and the availability of clinical placements in the locale of the institution concerned. It would be somewhat inappropriate if there were insufficient number of clinical placements available compared to the number of students. However, it will be interesting to see if in reality this works, as many of the institutions are only in their first or second year of existence and the programmes have not even got to their clinical placement stages.

The data provided has been assumed to be correct. However we may amend or correct these as necessary, but we do not expect any changes to make any significant impact on the findings.

Findings / Conclusions

Taking all of the provided student numbers into consideration we found that in January 2005 there are 348 students enrolled on Audiology BSc programmes across the United Kingdom .

Looking at the figures, there is a common trend across all the institutions that the first year of intake does not tend to fill the capacity available by the commissioned rate. However, there tends to be a year-on-year increase. We can speculate that there will be a significantly high demand for each place, with demand outstripping supply. Audiology is gaining in popularity, particularly with increased media coverage and public knowledge of the field. There are various reasons for popularity in the BSc Audiology courses. This includes the availability funding to cover course fees and a means tested bursary, as well as the potential for a career in the NHS. The courses and the funding have been made available as there are distinct shortages of audiology professionals within the NHS, sufficient to cover the population. In addition to the current eight BSc programmes, new courses are being proposed for establishment throughout the UK to combat this shortfall. This leads us to consider a potentially underestimated problem associated with the availability of clinical placements.

If we just consider the current eight BSc courses we can extrapolate the commissioned numbers, assuming the yearly cohorts are fully populated, to give a total number of some 221 audiology students in each year across the whole of the UK. When the courses are fully established across all four years, this gives a projected 884 BSc Audiologists in training at any one time in the UK. It also means that there will be a requirement for 221 clinical placements each year across the UK. The real number will vary as there are new courses being proposed and established, but would mean even higher numbers will be required. Even though each institute will be responsible for their clinical placements, it can be perceived that these numbers may lead to a real problem / shortage.

Summary of Findings

• Taking all of the provided student numbers into consideration we found that in January 2005 there are 348 students enrolled on UK BSc Audiology programmes.
  
  
• We can speculate that there will be a significantly high demand for each place, with demand outstripping supply. This is due to a number of factors including the fact that audiology is gaining in popularity, with increased media coverage and public knowledge of the field, and because the BSc audiology degree courses are fully funded for UK students.
  
  
• When the courses are fully established (if we consider only the 8 current BSc courses) with full cohorts, there will be around 221 audiology students in each year (across the whole of the UK) and therefore as many annual clinical placements will be required for the training of these students.
  
  
• When the courses are fully established across all four years, this gives a projected 884 BSc Audiologists in training at any one time in the UK.
  

Acknowledgements
We would like to thank our forum members and staff at the institutions that assisted in providing the data for this survey.

Additional Information
For further details of each of these courses, and links to each institution please see the Courses section of this website (Audiology Resources).

To take part in further discussions related to the findings of this survey please visit the 'General Chatter' section of the Audiology Discussions forum within this website, where you can give your opinion, ask questions or view what others have to say. If you are new to forums you may wish to view our forum introduction page first.

Copyright
Article © 2005, Audiology Resources Website, http://www.aud.org.uk, Dr A.A. Mohiuddin & Dr T. F. Mohiuddin, All rights reserved.