Southern Cross University (SCU), Lismore, Australia, announced that its Gold Coast campus, Bilinga, Australia, will offer a bachelor of clinical science degree in pedorthics beginning in 2013. This will be the first university in the country to do so.
According to an SCU press release, pedorthics has historically been studied via vocational education and training.
The pedorthics major will be a three-year long, fulltime study program, and graduates will be eligible to study an additional two years to earn a podiatry degree.
“Lifting pedorthics into degree qualification will lift professionalism among the sector,” Jacinta Arellano, BSc(Hons), PhD, clinical science course coordinator said. “The knowledge and research in this area continues to grow so therefore the knowledge requirements of a pedorthist must also grow.”
Further, students earning a bachelor of health science degree in podiatry, which is a four-year degree, will also be able to take an additional year of study to earn a pedorthics degree. This is the first time in Australia a podiatry course has offered an option in pedorthics, according to course coordinator Paul Butterworth, BPod, MPod.
