All your education questions answered by Brian Mooney.
My daughter is interested in a dietician degree course, but our research seems to imply that there are a limited number of courses, DIT/TCD, UCC, and UU in Coleraine. Nutrition programmes seem to be linked to the same courses. I believe that there are a number of nutrition/ dietician courses in the UK, but have very limited information on them. My questions relate to the relationship between dietician/nutrition programmes and related degrees.
Dietitians are qualified to work in the clinical area ie on a one-to-one patient basis. Patients have conditions such as diabetes, kidney disease, liver disease, diseases of the gut. The work involves feeding patients who are unconscious, treating burns patients and patients with various forms of cancer etc. Both dietitians and nutritionists can work in community health and industry. The DIT/TCD course qualifies graduates in nutrition and dietetics, whereas in UCC the course qualifies graduates in nutrition. Currently there are more job opportunities in Ireland for dietitians than nutritionists.
The DIT programme is a four-and-a-half-year undergraduate honours degree course in dietetics, run by the DIT and TCD. There are 25 places. This low number is due to the shortage of supervised practical placements in clinical and community settings, but the attrition rates are extremely low.
Practical placement experience forms an essential component of all undergraduate nutrition/dietetics courses. The University of Ulster, Coleraine, also offers a dietetics degree programme. Again, there are limited places on the UU course, however they also run a postgraduate course to qualify students as dietitians.
The following universities in the UK run undergraduate nutrition/dietetic courses. Scotland: Glasgow Caledonian, Queen Margaret College, and Robert Gordon. England: Coventry, King's College London, Leeds Metropolitan, London Metropolitan, Chester, Nottingham, Plymouth, Surrey, and Hertfordshire. Wales: University of Wales Institute, Cardiff. A number of these universities run postgraduate courses in dietetics.
The Health Professions Council (HPC), the registration body for the allied health professions in the UK, recognises all of the above courses. All dietitians who wish to work in the UK or Northern Ireland must acquire UK state registration. The HPC (UK) also recognises the DIT/TCD course. Graduates from courses recognised by the HPC (UK) are eligible to work in Ireland and must apply on an individual basis to the Department of Health and Children.
The entry requirements for any of the above undergraduate degree courses vary, but you will normally be expected to have obtained A-level passes, or the Irish equivalent in two or three science subjects, preferably including chemistry. Mathematics is accepted as a science subject.
The professional body for dietitians in Ireland is the Irish Nutrition and Dietetic Institute (INDI). Since 1996, a reciprocity agreement was signed between the INDI and the American Dietetic Association (ADA). This agreement specifies the eligibility of graduates of the DIT/TCD course to work as dietitians in the US subject to the sitting the ADA registration examination.
The DIT/TCD course shows 100 per cent graduate employment, which is mainly in the clinical area, with increasing numbers being employed in new posts in community health and industry. A recent survey predicts a healthy future in primary care and community health areas for graduates of both human nutrition and dietetics.
Brian Mooneyis the former president of the Institute of Guidance Counsellors.
