Join a network of health services and placement educators who are making a valuable contribution to developing our future health professionals through life-changing experiences in healthcare settings.
Student placements across diverse health facilities and settings form a core part of our students’ learning. They learn from our placement partners who are practitioners in their field and who can offer our students depth and breadth of competencies and experiences.
Our students enjoy tremendous opportunities to develop their clinical skills and clinical reasoning, while also growing professionally and personally and preparing to join the health workforce.
Our enduring partnerships with diverse organisations and health professionals throughout NSW and beyond, are vital to providing high-quality placement supervision.
Our students consistently highlight their placements as one of the most impactful and memorable aspects of their education. These experiences shape their career paths and often lead directly to graduate employment opportunities.
We aim for placement partnerships to be mutually rewarding. Placement educators often find deep personal and professional satisfaction in mentoring the next generation of health professionals. In turn, students bring energy, curiosity, and a passion for learning – enhancing and contributing to innovations in service delivery, quality improvement projects and supporting high-quality patient care.
Some of the benefits of becoming a placement partner include:
Our health and medical students are required to undertake placements with external organisations in preparation for registration and professional practice. As a placement supervisor you will be giving students the opportunity to apply theoretical knowledge gained in the classroom in clinical and non-clinical settings and with a range of client presentations.
We formalise our student placement partnerships through a Student Placement Agreement, outlining mutual expectations, roles and responsibilities and legal requirements for student placements and to ensure a safe and positive working environment for all. The University also provides public liability and professional indemnity (medical malpractice) insurance and personal accident insurance for students.
Students must meet all discipline-specific and school placement requirements, and adhere to faculty professionalism requirements and the University Code of Conduct. We also ensure that students comply with your specific site requirements, such as NSW Health verification or NDIS worker screening checks.
Our students are assessed by site supervisors/educators using discipline-specific competences and informed by accreditation requirements. Supervisors provide guidance, evaluate performance, and offer constructive feedback. Online assessment tools and academic support are available to assist supervisors. Throughout their program, it is expected that students progress from novice to a graduate level competencies. Academic unit of study coordinators and work integrated learning experts are available to support supervisors through the learning rubric.
All placement partners are provided detailed discipline-specific student supervision handbooks to facilitate supervision requirements and mutually rewarding student placement experiences.
Below are some discipline-specific guidelines for hosting student placements. More detailed information is available.
We welcome new partners to supervise our dental and oral health students in public and private healthcare settings.
Our Doctor of Dental Medicine and Bachelor of Oral Health students complete most of their clinical and practical placements at the Westmead Centre for Oral Health, Sydney Dental Hospital, Nepean Dental Health Clinic, and other public health and private clinics in Sydney and rural locations, including Aboriginal controlled medical services. Dental simulation training also takes place in the Sydney Dental School Simulation Centre.
Treatment provided by dental and oral health students must be under the direct supervision of clinical educators who are registered practitioners.
The Rural Placement program builds on the overall learning outcomes and provides rural practice exposure for final year students in the Bachelor of Oral Health Doctor of Dental Medicine. The program facilitates opportunities for students to seek post-graduation employment in a rural dental health setting. It includes observational placements with local private dental practitioners and Aboriginal medical services and which complement the practical placements in public settings.
In the Rural Placement Program final year oral health students are rostered to a rural placement partner for a 7-week placement and dental students for an 8-week placement. All students attend to patients 4 days per week, with one day allocated for community engagement and rural cultural experience. There is a minimum of two 3-hour clinical sessions each day, the timing of which may vary slightly and will be determined by the placement site. Students work in pairs and alternate as either operator or assistant.
Register your interest in supervising dentistry and oral health students.
We partner with a diverse range of medical imaging organisations across the public and private sectors, as well as some community-specific services, for student placements in our fully accredited Bachelor of Applied Science (Diagnostic Radiography) and Master of Diagnostic Radiography programs.
The Medical Radiation Practice Board of Australia (MRPBA) requires all diagnostic radiography students undertaking clinical placement to be supervised by a diagnostic radiographer who holds general registration with the MRPBA and a full radiation license from either the NSW Environment Protection Authority or equivalent state radiation licensing body.
External placements occur throughout the calendar year, ranging from 6 to 9 weeks in duration.
Undergraduate students have their external placements in years 2, 3 and 4 of their program and postgraduate students have external placements in their first and second years of study.
Register your interest in supervising our diagnostic radiography students.
We welcome placement educators from a range of settings. Students are supervised by staff from the public and private health sectors including hospitals and rehabilitation centres, education, disability, sport and fitness and other private and non-government organisations.
All students in the undergraduate Exercise and Sports Science program must be supervised on placement by professionals who hold an externally recognised, formal qualification for the activities being supervised. Oversight supervision plans can be arranged for larger teams that may engage with the students.
Students in our Exercise Physiology programs must be supervised on placement by professionals who are Accredited Exercise Physiologists (AEP). Oversight supervision plans can be arranged for larger teams that may engage with the students, but the AEP must be the oversight supervisor.
Our final year exercise physiology students also undertake a project-based learning initiative. As this initiative is not related to practicum requirements for accreditation, there are no specific supervision requirements, however supervisors must be available to work closely with students throughout the project and meet with them at least once per week.
Prior to placements commencing, the team will organise a site visit with you to become familiar with your learning environment, WHS procedures, travel arrangements and the clientele that students will be working with.
Placements occur throughout the year, from mid-January through to November.
Undergraduate students in the Exercise and Sports Science program have their external placements in their third (final) year. Undergraduate Exercise Physiology students have their external placements in their third and fourth (final) years. Postgraduate students in the Exercise Physiology program have placements in their first and second years of study.
Placement durations range from 6-10 weeks.
Register your interest in supervising our exercise sports science and exercise physiology students.
We invite clinical supervisors to join a team of educators for both the SLICE Program (Situated Learning in Community Environments) for Year 2 medical students and the General Practice Term for Year 4 medical students.
Placements in community, allied health and general practitioner settings will provide students with enriching opportunities to learn about primary health and holistic patient care in diverse settings.
Sydney Medical School has clinical placement exchange agreements with a number of international institutions and welcomes other international partners. Medical elective exchange partners are selected based on student demand and placement availability. In most instances, English speaking sites are necessary for our medical students to benefit from the experience.
Opportunities for clinical supervisors from community-based environments for the SLICE Program are many and varied, including from general practice medicine, community nursing, aged care services, community mental health settings, pathology, radiology, pharmacy, physiotherapy, psychology, speech pathology, occupational therapy, dietetics, podiatry, chiropractic and rehabilitation services. GP supervisors may be eligible to apply for the Medicare Practice Incentives Program.
In the General Practice term, students are expected to spend most of their clinical sessions with their allocated supervisor who will complete their assessments. Students are also encouraged to sit with other qualified general practitioners, nurses and allied health professionals to experience different ways of practising.
Second year medical students attend community medicine placements with general practice and allied health providers one day per week over 16 weeks: 8 sessions are with a GP, 2 sessions with a practice nurse and six sessions with two or three other health professions, including some ambulatory care placements.
Fourth year students attend two 3-week placements for the General Practice term, including 18 half day sessions of six sessions per week.
Fourth year students may also undertake an 8-week international medical elective between early January and early March.
We invite new partners in public, private and community health care settings to support our pre-registration nursing students to undertake their professional experience placements with people across the lifespan and from diverse cultures, settings and in specialty areas such as mental health, community health and high acuity settings.
While most clinical placements occur within the Sydney metropolitan area, we also invite placement partners from regional, rural or remote areas of NSW to support our students’ clinical learning.
Structured off-campus professional experience placements are a key part of the pre-registration nursing programs. They meet the accreditation standards of the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Accreditation Council and enable graduates to be eligible to apply for registration with the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia on completion of their course.
Our students are supervised by facilitators employed by Sydney Nursing School or by registered nursing facilitators, usually on a 1:8 facilitator to student ratio. Workshops and online modules are provided to support nurse facilitators in health care settings and for professional development.
Pre-registration students start their external placements in their first year of study. Each placement is aligned to meet the learning and teaching outcomes for each unit of study.
Clinical placements in each pre-registration nursing program range from two to six weeks.
Register your interest in hosting our pre-registration nursing students for clinical placements.
We work with dietetics partners across NSW in a range of settings and professional domains and welcome new partners and supervisors working in hospitals, community, aged care and disability sectors and industry.
Professional placements are a 2-way process, with students receiving practical training and experiential learning, whilst departments benefit through the enhancement of the professional skills of individual supervisors and also from the completion of project work and sharing new ideas and perspectives.
The Accreditation Standards for Dietetics Education Programs requires a supervisor to be an Accredited Practising Dietitian to sign off competencies on placement. Supervisors without current APD status can have an alternate supervisor at the site with current APD status to sign off relevant competencies. If there is no alternate supervisor available, the University will take on this role in conjunction with the site supervisor to determine the student’s level of competence for community and food service management placements.
We meet with new potential placement partners, either a site visit, phone or video conference, to discuss your suitability for taking students on placement, including whether there is an Accredited Practising Dietitian (APD) available to supervise students.
The University of Sydney provides online workshops for Dietetic supervisors throughout the year. These workshops are aimed at new supervisors and experienced supervisors.
Assessment of students is based on the 2021 National Competency Standards for Dietitians in Australia.
Placements take place throughout the year, from early January to late November.
Students complete 20 weeks of placements in the second year of the Master of Nutrition and Dietetics program in three clinical placement domains: Food Service Management (4 weeks), Community Public Health Nutrition (6 weeks) and Individual Case Management (10 weeks that is typically split over 2 or more sites but may be a whole 10 weeks or combination thereof).
To facilitate peer learning, students are to be allocated in pairs or more. We can provide more information about implementing peer learning in the workplace.
During the placement semester, students are required to return to the University at regular intervals (or online if placements are rural or remote). These days are an integral part of student training and attendance is compulsory.
Register your interest in supervising our nutrition and dietetics students.
We partner with occupational therapy placement educators who are working with clients across the lifespan and in diverse settings, including hospitals, workplace rehabilitation, schools and mental health, disability and aged care services.
The World Federation of Occupational Therapists requires accredited occupational therapy courses, including our Bachelor of Applied Science (Occupational Therapy) and Master of Occupational Therapy, to include 1000 hours of practice education that reflect a range of current practice areas across the lifespan. A large proportion of these hours are undertaken with our external placement educator partners.
Students develop skills in therapeutic communication and relationship building, observation, commonly utilised occupational therapy assessments, and different formats of formal and informal documentation. Students also learn about the roles of occupational therapists in different settings, working in multidisciplinary teams and managing their learning in professional practice settings.
While students may receive feedback and guidance from other disciplines or staff within the organisation throughout their placements, a registered occupational therapist must be actively involved in the practice education experience, providing student supervision and be responsible for overseeing and finalising student evaluations.
We meet with prospective placement partners and educators to discuss all aspects of occupational therapy student placements and provide support and advice to both supervisors and students throughout the placement period.
Students are required to complete five external placement units of study across three of the four years of the undergraduate program and five external placements in the two years of the master’s program.
Students also undertake simulation activities on campus with trained medical actors.
Students are expected to complete a Continuing Professional Development plan at the start of their placements to help them manage their own learning as well as to help supervisors negotiate the expectations of the placement. Students are assessed by their supervisors using the SPEF-R2©.
Placements range from two to ten weeks.
Register your interest in supervising our occupational therapy students.
The Sydney Pharmacy School welcomes pharmacy preceptors working in the pharmacy profession to work with our students in professional settings.
Preceptors are responsible for guiding and supporting clinical placement students primarily through being a role model for professional behaviour. This includes orientating students to the work environment, setting expectations and goals, looking for learning opportunities and providing feedback to the student and university regarding student progress and performance.
Preceptor opportunities are not limited to pharmacists. We welcome placement opportunities within a range of practice settings, including community pharmacies, hospitals, specialist medical clinics, aged care homes, professional organisations and the pharmaceutical industry.
Students often return to their training sites after graduation as an employee. Past preceptors report that mentoring and training novice practitioners is a gratifying experience.
Pharmacy students start their external placements in their first year of study.
Depending on the student cohort, pharmacy placements occur throughout the year, from mid-January through to early November. As a preceptor, you could host a student for a 1-week, 2-week or 10-week placement block or one day per week for 4 or 6 weeks.
In our new Master of Pharmacy program students will undertake three 10-week external placements in their final year in community, hospital and other settings, such as aged care and industry.
A new Pharmacy Preceptor training program will be offered to our pharmacy preceptors in 2026.
Register your interest in becoming a pharmacy preceptor to supervise our pharmacy students.
As we strive to develop exceptional physiotherapy graduates our clinical educators play a critical role in providing quality education and clinical experiences for our students.
The physiotherapy clinical placement program at the University of Sydney forms part of the course requirements for our fully accredited Bachelor of Applied Science (Physiotherapy) and Doctor of Physiotherapy programs. As per the Australian Physiotherapy Council’s Clinical Placement Requirements, students are expected to gain experience across a range of settings and areas of practice and across the lifespan.
Supervision on placement can be provided by more than one staff member. Clinical education can be provided by part-time workers and/or job share positions. Students may also spend some time supervised by other health professionals while on placement. Student learning activities include (but are not limited to) patient interactions, interprofessional learning, clinical reasoning tasks, ISBAR handovers, journal article reviews, reflective practice opportunities, quality improvement tasks, attending surgery, group-based activities and case presentations.
While a placement site has a primary focus e.g. rehabilitation, there are often opportunities for students to be exposed to a broader range of patients and conditions during their placement, for example a respiratory patient during a musculoskeletal outpatient placement. Students will record these experiences in their Summary of Activity which will be reviewed and subsequent placements will be carefully allocated to target specific gaps in practice.
The assessment of students must be completed by a physiotherapist with AHPRA registration. Students are assessed using the Assessment of Physiotherapy Practice (APP) completed on the APP Linkup online platform.
Prior to external placements, all students will have undertaken simulated learning activities (SIM) with actors reflecting a range of real-world settings and client cohorts.
Placement duration: Students are required to complete four 5-week clinical placement units of study across years 3 and 4 of the undergraduate program and years 2 and 3 of the Doctor program.
Our Placement Educator Handbook will provide you with all relevant information for student placements, including program information, pre-placement assistance, orientation essentials, student expectations and assessment guidelines through AppLinkup.
Register your interest in supervising our physiotherapy students.
We engage with speech pathology placement supervisors working with clients across the lifespan and in diverse settings, including hospitals, rehabilitation centres, private sites, disability, schools and aged care services.
By hosting speech pathology students you are embracing the “reciprocal benefits of participating in education and practice-based learning opportunities” as identified by Speech Pathology Australia.
The speech pathology placement program at the University of Sydney forms part of the fully accredited course requirements for the Bachelor of Applied Science (Speech Pathology) and Master of Speech Language Pathology.
As part of the supervisory process, it is expected that practice educators will provide students with orientation, teaching, feedback and support in their development of speech pathology practice skills and opportunities for interprofessional and peer learning where possible.
Supervision can take many forms, such as in-room observations, 2-way mirror observations, reviewing video recordings of sessions, student report/discussion of sessions, provision of written feedback at the time of, or after, these observations, group or individual supervisory meetings.
A learning agreement is developed between the practice educator and student to facilitate the negotiation of the structure and content of the placement. The Speech Pathology Australia Professional Standards (2020) and COMPASS® (2013) are used as the basis for negotiation about learning experiences.
Supervisors are also responsible for evaluating students at mid and end placement using the Competency Assessment in Speech Pathology COMPASS®. The COMPASS® Assessment Resource Manual is available to students and practice educators on the COMPASS® Online site.
Prior to external placements, all students will have had considerable contact with clients in our on-campus Speech Clinic as well as some simulated learning activities (SIM) and preschool or aged care visits.
Depending on the student cohort, external placements occur throughout the year, from early January through to December.
Our undergraduate students have their advanced external placements in their fourth year of study. Our masters (MSLP2) students have both intermediate and advanced external placements in their second year of study.
Placements are 6 weeks for advanced adult and advanced child placements.
MSLP2 students are also required to complete an external mixed (adult and child) intermediate placement (24 days) or concurrent adult and child placements of 12 days each, totalling 24 days.
Register your interest in supervising our speech pathology students.
Supporting the next generation of health professionals starts with well-prepared placement educators.
Our Placement Educator Development Program provides health professionals with the tools, confidence, and strategies they need to create positive and effective student learning experiences.
Designed with flexibility in mind, the program offers a choice of formats to suit busy educators, whether you prefer face-to-face workshops, regional events, or self-paced online modules.
We offer a variety of formats to fit the needs of busy placement educators:
Our program is designed to build confidence and capability in placement education, ensuring students have supportive and high-quality learning experiences.
