The Terrassa School of Optics and Optometry (FOOT) is a teaching facility on the Terrassa Campus that belongs to the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC).

The FOOT teaches degree and postgraduate courses that have been adapted to the European Higher Education Area (EHEA). Degree courses in optics and optometry are taught in the first cycle (on a face-to-face and blended learning basis). These courses cover all of the competencies required of professions in the fields of optics and optometry. The Master’s Degree in Optometry and Vision Sciences is taught in the second cycle. It provides students with specialised training in the fields related to optometry and it prepares them to work on multidisciplinary teams in the field of vision sciences and clinical optometry. It also allows students to join third cycle courses that are awarded a PhD.

The School has always maintained contacts with professionals and the industrial sector, where our students are held in high esteem. There are also a number of educational cooperation agreements in place so that students are able to go on work placement. In fact, the blended learning option is run thanks to the financial contributions of businesses and institutions that sit on the Board of the FOOT. There are currently around 500 students at the School.

The FOOT’s optometry clinic is the University Vision Centre (CUV). At the CUV, students have the opportunity of gaining practical experience by examining outpatients under the supervision of their lecturers. The CUV is divided into units that provide services to the various groups of patients with eyesight problems (forms of strabismus, low vision, contact lenses, eye treatments, etc.). Both degree and master’s degree students complete their clinical training within the framework of these units. In the case of master’s degree students, practical training is given in the areas of specialisation provided for in the curriculum, and they are trained to carry out applied clinical research.

The FOOT regularly works with the NGO OxO (Opticians in the World) and with the UNESCO Chair of Vision and Development, awarded to the UPC on 5 March 2002.