Flexible study options and the chance to immerse herself in new fields have broadened the horizons for Master of Rehabilitation student Tamara Matulick.

Tamara had completed a Bachelor of Physiotherapy and was working in the discipline when she decided to return to university.

“I’d been out of university for six years and wanted to get back into it,” she says. “I was looking to update my knowledge about different aspects of physiotherapy.”

The Master of Rehabilitation in Physiotherapy is specifically designed to support generalist clinicians

wanting to up-skill and encourages collaboration and learning between different disciplines.

“Doing the Master of Rehabilitation will help with career progression — especially in getting jobs I wouldn’t otherwise be able to get,” Tamara says. “We covered many different areas including public health, ergonomics and epidemiology. I liked covering areas that were not necessarily physiotherapy, but showed where physiotherapists could branch into.”

Based in New South Wales, Tamara appreciates being able to study the course online. The Master of Rehabilitation is offered externally with attendance on campus for intensive residential weeks.

“The online format is really good,” Tamara says. “It allows study to be really flexible. You have to manage your time between work and study, but I think you’re more motivated as a learner because you’ve had situations where you can apply your experience and knowledge to.”

The most enjoyable part of the course for Tamara has been the intensive residential weeks.

“We did one week in a rehabilitation facility and another week at uni working in a clinical environment,” she says. “I enjoyed both meeting other students and getting more practical experience.”

Having an undergraduate degree served Tamara well when it came to the foundation skills required in the course.

“I think the Bachelor of Physiotherapy was a really good grounding for the Master of Rehabilitation, especially with the academic writing, medical knowledge, statistics and math that some of the work is based on. I’m familiar with those areas from my undergrad.”

With two more subjects until she completes the Master of Rehabilitation, Tamara is keeping her options open for the future.

“There is a whole different range of things I could go into,” she says. “I’d be more open to doing research, it’s just seeing how everything fits together.”