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Descriptions should be written as one or more proper sentences, starting with a capital letter and ending with a full stop, exclamation mark, or question mark.

This is a course for qualified optometrists who want to specialise in visual impairment and update their knowledge on recent developments in the field particularly related to assistive technology. Upon completion of the course participants will be able to assess and mange a variety of visually impaired people both in a hospital and community setting.

1 starting date

  • Starting date:

    • Duration: 12 weeks (unconfirmed)
    • Fees: £1,180 (£1,400 for overseas students)
    • Course credits: 15
    • Course code: OVM013
    • Location: Northampton Square
    • Application deadline:

Professional Certificate in Low Vision Course overview

From time to time, every eye care practitioner will encounter patients who suffer from irreversible vision loss. With an increasing ageing population, these numbers are set to rise and many more eye care practitioners will need to enhance their knowledge and understanding of optometric and general issues relating to the needs of visually impaired people in order to serve the community effectively.

This course enhances your knowledge of low-vision assessment and management, including the latest assistive technologies relevant to visual impairment.

Who is it for?

This course is for qualified optometrists who want to specialise in visual impairment.

Timetable

Term 2

Tuesday 18th March 2025 (asynchronous lecture material available, access in your own time)

Monday 28 April 2025 (Hybrid teaching, attendance required either online or in person at Northampton Square) and Tuesday 29 April 2025 (in person teaching at Northampton Square, attendance required)

Assessment:

Monday 7 July 2025 (in person at Northampton Square attendance required)

Benefits

By specialising in visual impairment, you will expand your current scope of practice to include working in a hospital setting.

Additionally, this course is accredited by the College of Optometrists, and upon successful completion, participants are awarded a Professional Certificate in Low Vision.

This short course module is designed to be flexible in allowing you to study and reach your goals at your own pace. Our health CPD courses are credit-bearing modules that contribute to a University degree or award.

Transfer course credits towards postgraduate taught degree

As a health care professional, once you've completed this course you could offset 15 credits as part of a postgraduate programme, continuing your study with further modules to make up a Postgraduate Certificate (PGCert) 60 credits, Postgraduate Diploma (PGDip) 120 credits or Master of Science (MSc) 180 credits qualification (all credits must be awarded within five years of study commencing).

This course is worth 15 credits

This course can be used a module, contributing to a University degree or award.

Find a list of degrees this module can contribute towards:

MSc Clinical Optometry - Master's degree

What will I learn?

On this course you will learn about:

  • definitions and epidemiology of visual impairment
  • registration and certification process in the UK including benefits of registration
  • assessing visual performance and refracting a patient with visual impairment
  • different organisations involved in low-vision care in the UK including different service modules
  • optics of low-vision devices
  • prescription and dispensing of optical, non-optical and electronic aids
  • rehabilitation techniques such as eccentric viewing and steady eye fixation strategy
  • the use of contrast and lighting to maximise performance in visually impaired people
  • children and visual impairment including the law relating to low-vision service provision in this population
  • optometric management of visually impaired patients including children
  • psychosocial effect of visual impairment and its management.

Assessment and certificates

Teaching

This low-vision course is taught by experienced low-vision practitioners, and is a mix of blended learning and two days of face-to-face teaching. Participants will receive all the online reading and course materials approximately four weeks before the course. The two teaching days are run back-to-back.

Assessment

Assessment takes place approximately eight weeks later after the two-day course.

The assessment consists of a multiple-choice question paper, a practical skills assessment (OSCE) and a 2,000-word written assignment.

The pass mark for all assessments is 50%. The multiple-choice question paper accounts for 30% of your overall mark, the OSCE accounts for 50% of your overall mark and the written assignment accounts for 20% of your overall mark.

Award

This is a professional and an academic qualification. On successful completion of this course you will receive 15 postgraduate credits, which count towards an MSc in Clinical Optometry. You will also receive a College of Optometrists accredited professional certificate in low vision and CET points.

This course is provided by the School of Health & Psychological Sciences.

Credits

This course is worth 15 credits toward eligible programmes.

Eligibility

  • You should normally be a UK-registered optometrist satisfying all legal requirements to be eligible to practise in the UK
  • Overseas optometrists will be accepted on an ad hoc basis providing your undergraduate syllabus and clinical responsibilities are similar to those of a UK optometrist.

English requirements

If your first language is not English, one of the following is required:

  • A first degree from a UK university
  • A first degree from an overseas institution recognised by City, University of London as providing adequate evidence of proficiency in the English language, for example, from institutions from Australia, Canada or the United States of America.
  • International English Language Test Service (IELTS) a score of 7.0 is required with no subtest below 7.0
  • Pearson Test of English (Academic) score 72 required
  • TOEFL 100 overall with 24 in Writing, 20 in Listening, 19 Reading and 20 Speaking
  • Other evidence of proficiency in the English language, which satisfies the board of studies concerned, including registration with your professional regulator.

Recommended reading

Suggested reading list will be available on Moodle.

Tutor

  • Dr Ahalya Subramanian

    Associate Professor

    Dr Ahalya Subramanian is a registered optometrist who graduated from the Elite School of Optometry in Chennai, India. During her undergraduate degree she was awarded several subject medals including the best optometry student three years in a row. Following graduation Ahalya worked at Sankara Nethralaya, a well-known ophthalmic institution in India and the Elite School of Optometry before coming to the United Kingdom to commence a PhD in visual impairment at UMIST (now the University of Manchester) funded by the Guide Dogs for Blind Association. Following completion of her doctoral studies Ahalya took up a post-doctoral position at Anglia Ruskin University before starting her career as an optometry lecturer at the Department of Optometry and Visual Sciences at City, University of London where she is currently an associate professor. Since joining City Ahalya has held a number of senior management positions including programme director for the foundation degree in ophthalmic dispensing and undergraduate optometry programme and more recently (2016-2019) head of department. Ahalya also holds a number of external positions and is the external examiner for a number of universities. She is also a trustee for Vision Action and was recently voted on to the executive committee of the international society for low vision research and rehabilitation.

    Ahalya’s main research interests lie in the field of visual impairment. Her early research was mainly quantitative investigating spatial localisation, reaching and grasping and reading. More recently she has become interested in qualitative research and the use of technology. For example, the use of mobile electronic devices such as smart phones for visually impaired people and the development of a virtual assistant to provide timely support to individuals with visual impairment. She is also interested in the impact that COVID-19 has had on visually impaired people and how low vision services have been altered as a result including remote low vision services. Ahalya recently won the Neil Charman Medal awarded by the College of Optometrists for her research. Ahalya is currently supervising a number of doctoral and MSc students.

    Ahalya has presented her work at national and international conferences and has a number of publications in peer reviewed journals.. Her research has been funded by the College of Optometrists, Macular Society, RNIB, Royal Society, Eleanor Peel Trust, Fight for Sight and the institutional Global Challenges Research Fund. Apart from researching in the area, Ahalya also lectures on visual impairment to foundation, undergraduate and postgraduate optometry students.

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