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Optometry

Overview

If you are looking for a health oriented respected profession where you get to help save sight and improve the quality of life of your community, then optometry is a career for you. With advancing technology, more time spent using computer screens and mobile phones, and with increasing prevalence of chronic eye disease, having access to an eye care specialist for routine eye care has become essential. Optometrists are trained to examine the eye and treat any vision disorder. Not only do they prescribe glasses or contact lenses, but they are also trained to screen for eye diseases.

A bachelor of optometry degree is a 4-year degree program where students are trained in vision science and primary eye care. Graduates of this program become independent primary eye care clinicians with expertise in a wide range of specialties dedicated to preserving sight and eliminating preventable causes of vision loss.

 

Goals

AAUP aims to serve as a center of excellence in optometry education by delivering an exemplary optometry educational program whose graduates possess the highest level of competency relative to international standards and who become future clinicians who are knowledgeable, clinically competent, professional and most of all ethical. The bachelor of optometry program will:

  1. Educate outstanding optometrists who provide exceptional comprehensive primary eye care.
  2. Combat blindness and visual impairment by providing exceptional general and specialized optometric care.
  3. Enhancing public health through education, research and evidence-based practice to a broad range of communities within the West Bank.

 

Careers of Graduates

Optometrists may practice independently, or in a multidisciplinary team of ophthalmologists or other health care specialists or rehabilitation workers.  Optometry is rewarding life-long career with extensive options of career pathways which include:

  • Optical retail industry- managers or employees at eye clinics or optical retail shops prescribing glasses, contact lenses and other ophthalmic products. 
  • Primary care centers- Providing primary eye care exams or vision screenings to help in the early detection and management of eye disease and visual disorders.  
  • Hospital-based clinical practice- Providing refractive care and assist in surgical co-management
  • Vision rehabilitation centers- Providing visual function assessment for special needs populations
  • Education & academia- University instructors in optometry programs
  • Research Development
  • Public health centers

 

Program Accreditation and Professional Body

The bachelor of optometry degree program at the Arab American University is accredited by the Palestinian Ministry of Higher Education. Graduates of the Optometry program will be members of the Palestinian Council of Optometrists and Opticians following their graduation, and will receive a recognized license from the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

Program Curriculum