1:30min
UTS orthoptics students with a Synoptophore for binocular vision assessment
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By Rhiannon Riches
Assistant Editor
The first cohort of students undertaking a Master of Orthoptics at the University of Technology Sydney will graduate at the end of 2016.
The two-year course, which began in the Graduate School of Health at UTS last year, is one of only two orthoptics degree courses offered in the Asia-Pacific region.
Head of UTS Orthoptics Professor Kathryn Rose said an ageing population and the rise in eye conditions that are associated with age were creating demand for orthoptists.
‘In recent years, demand has outstripped supply with a number of positions unable to be filled. With nearly 120 postgraduate students enrolled in the Master of Orthoptics at UTS across the two years, we will start to meet this shortfall … Our graduates will be sought by local, national and international employers,’ Professor Rose said.
UTS has stated that its orthoptics research and postgraduate education was integrated within the discipline, in areas such as myopia and strabismus. This has been augmented with the appointment of Dr Motjaba Golzan who specialises in glaucoma research and has a background in biomedical engineering.