The University of Melbourne

Program

Melbourne’s Master of Speech Pathology features practical subjects threaded throughout the regular coursework. This joint focus on practice and theory will help facilitate your translation of theoretical knowledge into clinical skills.

The course consists of formal lectures, seminars, practical work, and student presentations along with a substantial clinical component. You’ll be scheduled for approximately 400 hours of supervised clinical work at various healthcare and educational facilities in metropolitan and rural areas in Victoria.

The first year of the course provides scientific background in anatomy and physiology, articulatory and acoustic phonetics, linguistics, speech and language disorders, clinical practice, and processes.

In your second year, you’ll build on the specialized knowledge acquired in first year, develop clinical skills, and become familiar with the research methods in the field. In your final year, you’ll be assigned to a research project under the supervision of a member of staff. This will equip you with invaluable research skills and experience and preparation of a manuscript for publication in an international peer-reviewed journal.

Clinical Placements
As a student of the Master of Speech Pathology program, you will have access to unique onsite clinical experiences, including the FEES clinic (swallowing assessment) the only one of its kind at any university in Melbourne. The clinical work will occur throughout the semesters alongside the lectures as well as block placements during the semester breaks. Diverse clinical partnerships will provide you with rich placement experience and valuable career networks, which are useful across a wide range of career options.