Meeting manpower needs and competency in Quebec through partnership

The goal of this long-term project is to fulfill present and future rehabilitation personnel needs in a 7-million population province by implementing a university training program in Orientation and Mobility and Rehabilitation Teaching. A study conducted at the government level of Quebec in 2001 stated that, as the actual workers in the field will retire massively between years 2009 and 2016, newly trained personnel in the field of visual impairment would need to integrate the field by that time. A competency-based graduate level university personnel training program was developed and implemented by the École d'optométrie of the Université de Montréal. Considering a strong expertise in the field developed in the past 25 years and a unique public rehabilitation model throughout the province, the training program established partnership with the field, a partnership that shows promises for the future. The program strives for professional standards set in the field of visual impairment in order to prepare a new wave of leaders able to meet future challenges.