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Monash University

The Honours degree of Bachelor of Physiotherapy

NOTE: This course has been updated - please refer to the undergraduate handbook change register for details.

Course code: 3891 ~ Course abbreviation: BPT(Hons) ~ Total credit points required: 216 ~ 4 years full-time ~ Managing faculty: Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences

Study mode and course location

On-campus (Peninsula - F/T only)

Course description

The Honours Degree of the Bachelor of Physiotherapy provides a recognised research course for undergraduate students. It provides students with the opportunity to develop research skills beyond the extensive research component already existing within the Bachelor of Physiotherapy. Students undertaking the honours degree program will be well placed with regard to applying for scholarship to pursue higher degrees by research, obtaining formal post graduate research opportunities and applying complex research skills in clinical practice. The course is offered at the end of first year to qualifying Bachelor of Physiotherapy students.

Course objectives

In addition to the course objectives for the Bachelor of Physiotherapy, on completion of the honours degree graduates will be able to:

  • sustain collaboration with an academic supervisor;
  • develop a focused research question;
  • complete a sophisticated and comprehensive search for relevant information;
  • construct a systematic review using the principles argued by the Cochrane Collaboration;
  • extract relevant data from studies included in a review using systematic methods;
  • apply knowledge of appropriate research design in the development of a high quality research proposal;
  • demonstrate an understanding of the principles of ethical research through the development and submission of an ethics application to conduct research;
  • determine and apply data analysis methods appropriate for a research question;
  • implement a focused research project;
  • demonstrate the ability to collect, manage and analyse data collected during the conduct of research;
  • demonstrate the ability to accurately document research findings and develop defensible conclusions;
  • demonstrate the ability to present research findings and respond in an educated way to enquiries about the research findings;
  • utilize feedback appropriately; write a scholarly account of a research project in a 10,000-12,000 word thesis;
  • demonstrate the ability to adhere to project timelines;
  • archive relevant documents arising from the conduct of research;
  • write a final report to the approving ethics committee describing project completion.

Course structure

The Honours Degree of the Bachelor of Physiotherapy is an alternative and parallel pathway to the Bachelor of Physiotherapy (see the entry under 'Single degrees' in this section of the handbook). Honours students undertake all units within the Bachelor of Physiotherapy plus three additional units. The three additional units that make up the honours program are PTY2000 Honours systematic review, PTY3000 Honours research proposal and PTY4000 Honours thesis.

Course requirements

To qualify for The Honours Degree of the Bachelor of Physiotherapy students must satisfactorily complete the following units.

First year

First semester
Second semester

Second year

First semester
Second semester
Full year

Third year

First semester
Second semester
Full year
  • PTY3000 Honours research proposal

Fourth year

First semester
Second semester
Semester One or Two
  • PTY4070 Physiotherapy 7 - clinical
  • PTY4080 Physiotherapy 8 - clinical
Full year

Contact details

Telephone: +61 3 9904 4466, email: physiotherapy@med.monash.edu.au or visit http://www.med.monash.edu.au/physiotherapy