Program Overview

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MSci Optometry

Overview

Course overview

The Manchester MSci Optometry course will enable you to gain the knowledge and skills required to register as a UK optometrist.

The course uses mixed learning methods, but the key Manchester approach is the study of themed patient cases in an active learning environment that will allow you to integrate scientific understanding, clinical skills and professional skills throughout the course. Facilitated group activities will emphasise enquiry, discussion, self-education, and the development of critical faculties and communication skills, all essential skills for healthcare professionals.

You will cover a broad spectrum of industry-relevant study areas that prepare you for work as a professional optometrist, including:

• the key principles of optics;
• clinical optics and treating eye and vision disorders;
• ocular function and structure;
• the science of vision.

We provide a supportive and inclusive learning environment, with each year group looked after by a team of academics and clinicians. Theory assessments are focused on clinical cases and are taken at the end of an academic year, with plenty of opportunity to practise beforehand. Practical skills are monitored and assessed throughout the year rather than using a single set of high-pressure practical tests.

You will meet volunteer patients in your first year and then receive clinical experience in our university optometry clinics from the second year, seeing real patients and working in teams with students from across the course. You will also have the opportunity to gain clinical experience in a wide range of settings external to the University, for example in community, hospital, and domiciliary practice. In your final two years, you can choose to focus on a specialist area of optometry.

Aims

Our course integrates science and clinical learning, so you can apply scientific knowledge, decision-making and critical thinking, and the latest concepts to your clinical practice. We will foster your leadership abilities, and your commitment to continuing professional development after graduation.

Upon graduation, you will be able to apply knowledge to understand and manage the complex healthcare needs of individuals and society. You will also develop the resilience to meet the demands of changing healthcare environments. You will have the practical and professional skills needed to practise person centred optometry.

You will meet the requirements of the General Optical Council to register as a UK optometrist.

Special features

• Unique clinical experience: Gain experience at Manchester Royal Eye Hospital, one of Europe's biggest eye teaching hospitals, to learn about the management and treatment of eye disease. The hospital also runs satellite clinics from our optometry building, giving you access to a range of cases and patients.
• Early patient contact: Start to meet volunteer patients in Year 1 and begin to work with real patients in the Manchester Optometry Clinics from Year 2 onwards.
• Supportive learning environment: When you arrive at Manchester, we will spend around a month helping you adjust to University life and preparing you to study at degree level. We will help you build your community, get to know your fellow students and academics.
• Close-knit student cohort: Join the active student-run Optometry Society to take part in formal and informal social activities.
• Integrated master's: Direct registration with the General Optical Council on successful completion of the course.
• Interprofessional learning: At Manchester, the optometry course is run alongside a broad range of healthcare courses from nursing and midwifery to medicine, dentistry and pharmacy. For you, this means you will learn alongside other professions, helping you understand what your role is in the wider healthcare community.
• Flexibility and opportunity to specialise: You will have the opportunity to tailor your clinical experience (short and long term placements) to your interests. At Manchester, you may choose units from our University College for Interdisciplinary Learning (UCIL). This allows you to study with students from across the University and provides the flexibility to choose from a range of topics that may be delivered online, face-to-face, or a mixture of both. Units cover everything from British Sign Language to digital skills and AI. You can find out more by visiting our UCIL webpage.

Entry requirements

A-level

• AAA - AAB, including two science subjects (Biology, Maths, Physics or Chemistry) normally to be taken in one sitting and both of which should be predicted at grade A.
• Practical skills are a crucial part of science education and therefore will be a requirement to pass the practical element of any science A Level taken.
• Where applicants are applying for science and related degrees, this is likely to be made explicit in the offer you will receive.
• Applicants taking A Levels are normally expected to offer three full A Levels. If you’re taking more than three A Levels, these won’t be included in your offer. We will only make offers consisting of three A Levels.

A-level contextual offer

• AAB- ABB including two science subjects (Biology, Maths, Physics or Chemistry) normally to be taken in one sitting.
• Practical skills are a crucial part of science education and therefore will be a requirement to pass the practical element of any science A Level taken.
• Where applicants are applying for science and related degrees, this is likely to be made explicit in the offer you will receive.
• Applicants taking A Levels are normally expected to offer three full A Levels. If you’re taking more than three A Levels, these won’t be included in your offer. We will only make offers consisting of three A Levels.

UK refugee/care-experienced offer

• ABB - BBB including two science subjects (Biology, Maths, Physics or Chemistry) normally to be taken in one sitting.
• Practical skills are a crucial part of science education and therefore will be a requirement to pass the practical element of any science A Level taken.
• Where applicants are applying for science and related degrees, this is likely to be made explicit in the offer you will receive.
• Applicants taking A Levels are normally expected to offer three full A Levels. If you’re taking more than three A Levels, these won’t be included in your offer. We will only make offers consisting of three A Levels.

International Baccalaureate

• 35 points overall. 6,6,5 in Higher Level subjects, including two sciences (from Chemistry, Biology, Mathematics or Physics).
• For this course we will accept Higher Level Mathematics: Analysis and Approaches or Applications and Interpretation.
• Applicants studying the International Baccalaureate Career Related Programme (IBCP) should contact the admissions team prior to applying so that their academic profile can be considered.

GCSE/IGCSE

• We require at least five GCSEs at minimum grade 5 (B), including English Language and Mathematics. We will accept C+ in the Northern Ireland reformed GCSEs.
• For applicants whose status has been confirmed as WP+ using the University's Contextual Data Eligibility tool, we will allow an overall reduction of 2 grades on the full GCSE requirements. Please note, however, that no individual subject should be lower than C/4.
• For applicants whose status has been confirmed as WP++ using the University's Contextual Data Eligibility tool, we will allow an overall reduction of 4 grades on the full GCSE requirements. Please note, however, that no individual subject should be lower than C/4.

Fees and funding

Fees

• Fees for entry in 2026 have not yet been set. For entry in 2025 the tuition fees were £9,535 per annum for home students, and are expected to increase slightly for 2026 entry.

Additional expenses

• The General Optical Council student registration fee is currently £30 (renewable each year) but is reimbursed to you by the University.
• For each year of study, we provide you with two sets of clinical scrubs.
• During second year, you are encouraged to purchase your own ophthalmoscope and retinoscope (£1,300-£1,700).
• You will have the opportunity to go on placement outside of the University. Depending on the location of the practice, this could incur additional costs.

Application and selection

How to apply

• Apply through UCAS.

Advice to applicants

• We would normally only consider applicants who obtained the relevant qualification within the three years prior to entry. If your most recent qualification was taken more than three years ago, please contact the Admissions Office. We will consider each application individually and may require you to submit further information, such as transcripts and details of employment.
• Applicants should contact the Admissions Office to discuss their particular circumstances.

Course details

Course description

The Manchester MSci Optometry course will enable you to gain the knowledge and skills required to register as a UK optometrist.

The course uses mixed learning methods, but the key Manchester approach is the study of themed patient cases in an active learning environment that will allow you to integrate scientific understanding, clinical skills and professional skills throughout the course. Facilitated group activities will emphasise enquiry, discussion, self-education, and the development of critical faculties and communication skills, all essential skills for healthcare professionals.

You will cover a broad spectrum of industry-relevant study areas that prepare you for work as a professional optometrist, including:

• the key principles of optics;
• clinical optics and treating eye and vision disorders;
• ocular function and structure;
• the science of vision.

We provide a supportive and inclusive learning environment, with each year group looked after by a team of academics and clinicians. Theory assessments are focused on clinical cases and are taken at the end of an academic year, with plenty of opportunity to practise beforehand. Practical skills are monitored and assessed throughout the year rather than using a single set of high-pressure practical tests.

You will meet volunteer patients in your first year and then receive clinical experience in our university optometry clinics from the second year, seeing real patients and working in teams with students from across the course. You will also have the opportunity to gain clinical experience in a wide range of settings external to the University, for example in community, hospital, and domiciliary practice. In your final two years, you can choose to focus on a specialist area of optometry.

Aims

Our course integrates science and clinical learning, so you can apply scientific knowledge, decision-making and critical thinking, and the latest concepts to your clinical practice. We will foster your leadership abilities, and your commitment to continuing professional development after graduation.

Upon graduation, you will be able to apply knowledge to understand and manage the complex healthcare needs of individuals and society. You will also develop the resilience to meet the demands of changing healthcare environments. You will have the practical and professional skills needed to practise person centred optometry.

You will meet the requirements of the General Optical Council to register as a UK optometrist.

Special features

• Unique clinical experience: Gain experience at Manchester Royal Eye Hospital, one of Europe's biggest eye teaching hospitals, to learn about the management and treatment of eye disease. The hospital also runs satellite clinics from our optometry building, giving you access to a range of cases and patients.
• Early patient contact: Start to meet volunteer patients in Year 1 and begin to work with real patients in the Manchester Optometry Clinics from Year 2 onwards.
• Supportive learning environment: When you arrive at Manchester, we will spend around a month helping you adjust to University life and preparing you to study at degree level. We will help you build your community, get to know your fellow students and academics.
• Close-knit student cohort: Join the active student-run Optometry Society to take part in formal and informal social activities.
• Integrated master's: Direct registration with the General Optical Council on successful completion of the course.
• Interprofessional learning: At Manchester, the optometry course is run alongside a broad range of healthcare courses from nursing and midwifery to medicine, dentistry and pharmacy. For you, this means you will learn alongside other professions, helping you understand what your role is in the wider healthcare community.
• Flexibility and opportunity to specialise: You will have the opportunity to tailor your clinical experience (short and long term placements) to your interests. At Manchester, you may choose units from our University College for Interdisciplinary Learning (UCIL). This allows you to study with students from across the University and provides the flexibility to choose from a range of topics that may be delivered online, face-to-face, or a mixture of both. Units cover everything from British Sign Language to digital skills and AI. You can find out more by visiting our UCIL webpage.

Careers

Career opportunities

Optometrists work in high street practice or hospital eye clinics, where they:

• prescribe and dispense spectacles and contact lenses;
• provide low vision rehabilitation;
• treat problems with binocular vision;
• monitor ocular disease.

Optometrists are now also involved in the primary care of patients with diseases such as diabetes and glaucoma. They can also undertake postgraduate study to become independent prescribers with the authority to treat a range of eye conditions.

After registration with the General Optical Council, you can take your career forward in private practice or within the National Health Service. Of our recent graduates, 95% are working in private practice and 5% in the NHS.

See a blog post from one of our graduates who is now working as an optometrist on the Biology, Medicine and Health Student Blog.

Accrediting organisations

Optometry degrees are approved by the General Optical Council and the course must abide by their standards and demonstrate their outcomes.

It is a legal requirement to maintain GOC student registration throughout your studies. Failure to register or renew registration by the GOC mandated deadline will lead to suspension from all teaching and assessment activities and ultimately, removal from the course.