Funding for Additional MSc Physiotherapy Students AY 2025-26

2. This additional funding is related to the Scottish Government’s commitment to fund additional advanced Musculo-Skeletal (MSK) practitioners in Primary Care.
3. Four providers recruited 34 additional students in AY 2025-26 and 48 continuing students are being funded for year 2 of their studies. SFC will administer the funding associated with the additional recruitment for both year groups.
4. AY 2025-26 will be the last year that providers will recruit to the programme. Funding has been set aside by the Scottish Government for students that have started their studies to complete their course in future years.

5. This funding announcement covers the total of 82 additional students across two years of study.
6. In discussions between the Scottish Government, NHS Education for Scotland and the relevant universities, it was agreed that the funding associated with these additional students would be based on each university’s postgraduate fees for each year, rather than at SFC’s teaching subject price. As a result of this arrangement, the additional MSc Physiotherapy funding will sit outside of SFC’s Main Teaching Grant model and no funded student places will be allocated for this additional provision.
7. Total funding of £869,665 will be allocated in AY 2025-26, with payment due to be made in December 2025. The table below sets out the funding for each university, broken down by year

Table 1 has been updated to take account of revised student numbers and an updated fee assumption.

8. It is a condition of grant that universities should not charge additional pre-registration MSc Physiotherapy students a tuition fee, in addition to the funding provided through this allocation.
9. Universities should work with Scottish Government colleagues in the Chief Nursing Officer’s Directorate on the monitoring of MSc Physiotherapy students and provide student number data as required.