BSc (Hons) Speech and Language Therapy

Course Overview

Join our accredited course in Speech & Language Therapy (SLT) to open up a world of opportunities. You could work with people of any age and from any background, supporting individuals and their families living with communication and/or swallowing needs. Your course will interweave the disciplines of linguistics and phonetics, psychology, and anatomy and physiology in a wide-ranging exploration of SLT research and practice, including your completion of Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists (RCSLT) pre-registration eating, drinking and swallowing competencies.

Through our established and innovative hybrid Problem-Based Learning curriculum, our dedicated teaching team will support you to develop and apply your knowledge and skills, drawing on in-house clinical expertise and phonetics/psychology/linguistics subject specialists, supported by local clinicians and service users.

Our curriculum facilitates your development of independent and collaborative working skills to thrive within the profession. In group learning sessions, you’ll investigate materials such as videos and case notes to generate questions which you’ll then research, discuss, integrate, and apply. Through our blend of conversation partner and clinical block placements, you’ll gain the skills and experience to become well-rounded clinicians.

You’ll benefit from our dedicated Clinical Skills Area, housing specialist resources including an extensive library of tools for assessment and intervention. You may also have placements through our in-house Hub, supported by our clinical staff.

Demand for Speech & Language Therapists remains strong. After graduation, you might progress into any number of careers with employers in the NHS, private clinics, education, the non-profit sector or the justice system. Or you might pursue further study to enter research, specialist teaching or other related fields.

This course is open to

UK and International fee-paying students. Choose UK or International above to see relevant information. The entry point is in September each year.

We welcome and value a wide range of qualifications, and we recognise that some students might take a mixture of different qualifications. We have listed typical examples that we accept for entry.

You should hold or be working towards the specified English and Mathematics requirements and one of the examples of typical entry qualifications listed below. If your qualifications aren’t listed, or if you are taking a combination of qualifications that isn’t specified, please contact Admissions.

English and Mathematics

All applicants must hold or be working towards GCSEs in English Language and Mathematics at minimum grade C or grade 4.

We accept a wide range of English Language qualifications, please see our English Language equivalencies page.

Additional GCSE Requirements

We also require 5 GCSEs at a minimum grade C or grade 4, including Mathematics, English Language, and at least one Science subject.

If you hold or are working towards Mathematics and English Language GCSEs but do not hold 5 GCSEs/a science GCSE, please contact Admissions.

Typical International Entry Requirements

A levels

ABB.

Not accepted: Critical Thinking and General Studies.

International Baccalaureate

32 points overall.

We accept many international qualifications for entry to this course. For specific details about your country, view our information for International Students.

INTO UEA

If you do not meet the academic and/or English language requirements for direct entry our partner, INTO UEA offers progression on to this undergraduate degree upon successful completion of a preparation programme.

English Foreign Language

Applications from students whose first language is not English are welcome. We require evidence of proficiency in English (including writing, speaking, listening and reading): 

• IELTS:  7.5  overall (minimum  7.5  in all components) 

We also accept a number of other English language tests. Review our English Language Equivalencies for a list of example qualifications that we may accept to meet this requirement.

Test dates should be within two years of the course start date.

If you do not yet meet the English language requirements for this course, INTO UEA offer a variety of English language programmes which are designed to help you develop the English skills necessary for successful undergraduate study:

Pre-sessional English at INTO UEA

Academic English at INTO UEA

Non-Academic Entry Requirements

Offers will be made to applicants after completion of successful interviews, and will be subject to a satisfactory occupational health check (including evidence of appropriate immunisations), an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check and two satisfactory references. Where applicable, an Overseas Police Check may be required. We will let you know what you need to do (and when) to meet these conditions if you are successful in gaining an offer.

If you have previously studied at degree level in a health based subject, we will want to see that you have passed all of the study that you have undertaken. We’ll be unable to consider you for this course if you’ve obtained an academic fail from a previous health based degree programme, including where an exit award has been achieved.

Interviews

The strongest applicants will be invited to interview. Please note that meeting (or being predicted to meet) the minimum academic entry requirements will not guarantee that you will be selected for interview.

Interview invitations will be sent by email. Please keep a close eye on all emails from UEA after you submit your UCAS application. For more information on the application process and what to expect at each step, take a look at our handy Applying to HSC infographic, which explains the application journey from start to finish.

Interview format

Our interviews for 2025 will take place on our campus. The format will match the process outlined in our animation: What to expect from a Health Science interview at UEA, as closely as possible. You will be invited to book your interview for a morning or afternoon session by email. The email will include the arrival time and building location. We use a variety of the buildings on our campus for interviews, but they will either be on our Main Campus or on our West Campus (which is around a 20-minute walk from the centre of the Main Campus, near the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital). The session will last no longer than 3 hours in total.  Applicants who are based outside of England at the point of applying will be offered an online interview. 

As part of the session, you will take part in ‘multiple mini-interviews’ with academic members of staff from the School of Health Sciences at UEA, clinicians from the profession, service users* and/or current UEA students from the course.

*A ‘service user’ is someone who has access to use health or social care services or could be affected by the services of health and social care professionals.

You will undertake your ‘multiple mini-interview’ alongside 1 or 2 other applicants for the course. Together, you will be taken to your interview room, which will be furnished with three interview stations. You will attend each interview station in turn, rotating with the other applicants you have been grouped with.

Before you visit each interview station, you will be given time to read some information. The information will include the interview questions or topics that you will be asked about. You will then be given a set amount of time with the interviewer(s), who will ask you the questions verbally.

The other applicants who you have been grouped together with will be following the same process as you at the same time. They will be speaking to alternate interviewer(s) to you simultaneously. You will all continue the process above until you have been interviewed at all three interview stations.

As part of your interview day, you will also have an opportunity to join some other sessions, for which you will not be assessed. The sessions are an opportunity for you to learn more about the course, the university, the students that study here, and for you to ask questions of current students and teaching staff. There may be an opportunity to undertake some practical skills during some of these sessions, if possible. There may also be an opportunity to tour the teaching facilities. These parts of your interview day are not compulsory, and do not form part of the assessment.

Interview questions

At each interview station you will be asked questions that focus on a particular domain. The order in which you are asked about these domains will be variable. The domains are:

• Your knowledge of the professional field for which you are applying.
• Your personal qualities and suitability for the profession. To help with discussion around this domain, you may be asked to consider a scenario and asked questions about how you would respond to it. You will be given time to read the scenario before you approach the interview station, and it will also be read to you by the interviewer(s).
• Your understanding of and suitability for the course at UEA.

On all interview stations, interviewers will also consider your ability to clearly present information and communicate your responses effectively.

Experience of healthcare

We are aware that it is a difficult time to try to gain relevant experience in healthcare. First time applicants to Nursing, Midwifery and the Allied Health Professions will all be in a similar situation.

Clinical work experience will not generally be a requirement for applying to train in healthcare. We will be looking for you to show that you are able to work with people, that you appreciate the health and social care setting, and that you understand what a career in health will involve. While we will expect you to show some understanding of what it is like to be the professional of your choice, part of this involves demonstrating that you know what it is like to work in a responsible role, particularly with the public.

Note that your experiences are only as valuable as the way you talk about them and what understanding you take from them. It is important that you think about how you might be able to demonstrate your understanding of healthcare, that you can relate this to experience or research, and that you can explain what you have learned.

What type of experience or research do you need?

Any activity, life experience or research that helps you to prepare for training to be a healthcare professional will help. This means any activity that allows you to demonstrate that you have:

• Had people-focused experience of providing a service, care, support or help to others, and that you understand the realities of working in a caring profession.
• Developed some of the values, attitudes and behaviours essential to being a Nurse, Midwife or Allied Health professional such as conscientiousness, effective communication and the ability to interact with a wide variety of people. The values that we are looking for are set out in the NHS Constitution.
• A realistic understanding of Health and Social Care and in particular, the physical, organisational and emotional demands of the career.

Practical ways to gain experience

Keep a reflective diary on what is happening in the news and online. Listen to what healthcare professionals have to say and reflect on this. All healthcare professionals can be a valuable source of information and experience, not just those that work in the specific profession that you are applying for. Demonstrating that you have a sense of all healthcare professions (and how they work together) will help you in both your personal statement and interview.

Volunteer in your spare time if you can, all forms of voluntary work can provide helpful work experience. If volunteer work in the NHS isn’t something that is available to you, think about what else you could explore i.e. working with other people in a caring or service role. Voluntary commitments to community groups (for example groups related to the work of churches, mosques and temples, or other groups such as Scouts or Guides) and online community support groups may also provide valuable experience of taking on responsibility, dealing with people and communicating effectively.

Remember: what is important is what you learn about yourself and about other people, and what you learn about how effective care is delivered and received. How you learn these things is only a small part of the story; it is how you communicate what you learnt that matters.

Placements

During the course, no less than 50% of your time will be spent on practice placement. This might be in a variety of settings that include hospitals, community services, general practice, social services and voluntary or private organisations. Placement allocation occurs throughout the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex and Cambridgeshire.

As this course includes patient facing placements in health or social care settings, and these are a mandatory component of the course, you will need to comply with the placement vaccination policy. Failure to meet the placement vaccination policy may prevent you from joining the course or may lead to your withdrawal from the course in the future. Future employment may also be subject to this condition.

Assessing your fitness to become a registered healthcare professional

Please see our guidance on assessing your fitness.

Deferred Entry

We welcome applications from students who have already taken or intend to take a gap year.  We believe that a year between school and university can be of substantial benefit. You are advised to indicate your reason for wishing to defer entry on your UCAS application.

Admissions Policy

Our Admissions Policy applies to the admissions of all undergraduate applicants.

Recent Study

We would prefer you to be able to demonstrate evidence of recent academic study within 5 years of the start of the course. If your last qualification will have been completed more than 5 years ago by the time the course starts, please contact Admissions.

Age on Entry

Applicants for this course need to be aged 18 or over by the 31 August 2025. This is owing to the integrated nature of placements within the second year of the course and safeguarding implications. In view of this, applicants who will not be 18 years old or over by this date, should consider applying for deferred entry.

Employability

Studying within UEA’s Problem-Based Learning curriculum will equip you with a wealth of specific and transferable skills to launch you into the Speech and Language Therapy profession. Your degree qualification will enable you to apply for professional registration as a Speech and Language Therapist, opening doors to a wide range of settings including schools, hospitals, people’s homes and the justice system, as well as community work.

Graduates from this programme are widely employed across the NHS and in education and independent sectors throughout the UK and beyond. You could also choose to return to higher education as an academic or researcher.

The transferable skills you develop on this course will also equip you well for further training in health or education (e.g. PGCE) and for non-clinical roles involving communication skills, problem-solving, and disability awareness.

Examples of careers that you could enter include:

• Hospitals
• Community health centres
• Education (schools and nurseries)
• The independent sector
• The charity sector
• The justice system

Discover more on our Careers webpages.