Thank you so much for your interest in collaborating with Rehab Essentials to deliver University of Montana's transitional DPT program to licensed physical therapists in your country.  Rehab Essentials is dedicated to providing sustainable e-learning solutions to improve the practice of PTs worldwide.  The transitional Doctorate of Physical Therapy degree will significantly raise the level of practice of physical therapists, but it does not guarantee licensure in the US.  Foreign-trained therapists wishing to practice in the US must still undergo evaluation by the FSBPT (Federation of State Boards of Physical Therapy).  The University of Montana's transitional DPT program certainly goes a long way to fulfilling the deficiencies typically found in an FSBPT review.

To help us both better understand what implementation might look like in your country, there is some basic information that we must all understand. The following outline and questions are designed to help us all better understand the potential opportunity in front of us.

Below is a summary of the fixed and variable fees associated with the transitional DPT program.  Under certain very specific criteria, Rehab Essentials MAY be able to negotiate discounted tuition at University of Montana.  

The fees listed below are the standard fixed fees per student based on University of Montana's tuition and the per student administrative fees incurred by Rehab Essentials to run the program for University of Montana (such as technology and graduation fees).

*  University of Montana Tuition and Fees (Bachelors to tDPT):  $12,995 per student;
*  University of Montana Tuition and Fees (Masters to tDPT):  $8745 per student;
*  Rehab Essentials Administrative   Fees :  $1440 per student

*  Rehab Essentials On-site Teaching Fees:  variable depending on how the Professionalism seminar is structured and how much in-person exposure to US faculty your in-country program desires.  The Professionalism seminar is part of the tDPT curriculum, and typically involves 4 US-based faculty coming in to teach a 3 day seminar "Physical Therapy as a Doctoring Profession".   The Professionalism seminar ranges from $250 to $630 per student depending on the number of students attending.  

*   Endorsed Affiliate fees:  These are monies that the Endorsed Affiliate  may charge based upon the duties and responsibilities the Endorsed Affiliate takes on (see below).  Acceptable fees based upon duties performed must be approved in writing by Rehab Essentials so that we may ensure that our mission of low cost access to advanced education is maintained and supported by our Endorsed Affiliate.  

1. In-Country Student Recruitment to achieve minimum cohort size [required]: RE will provide English collateral for translation; links to our website; and identify  Endorsed Affiliate on the U of M tDPT website.  Endorsed Affiliate must provide a dedicated Marketing Associate to work with RE's marketing team.

2. In-Country Capstone Coordinator [required]: RE will train and compensate in-country coordinator. Compensation TBD

3.  In-Country Capstone Advisers [required]:   Endorsed Affiliate must provide; In-country capstone coordinator will manage; RE will train and compensate each adviser per capstone project. Compensation TBD.

4. In-Country Admissions Coordinator [required]: Represents RE in-country; students apply directly through U of M portal (and pay application fee); coordinator reviews application; has access to back-end of U of M's application portal to confirm application process is complete (to include license, English proficiency results); collects and uploads official transcripts; communicates acceptance to students via email; receives responses from students to reserve seat in class; communicates with students on what to expect next (i.e., you will be receiving an email with all the details for registration etc from Jonathan Scheeler 2 weeks prior to start of semester). RE compensates in-country Admissions Coordinator per confirmed registered student. Compensation TBD.

5.  In-Country Program Liaison [optional]:  Program liaison recruits students and assists candidates in the application process: pre-qualifies candidates by providing informational sessions, providing proof of academic equivalency on behalf of student; collecting required documents, conducting a qualifying interview; collecting application fee from students and applying on behalf of student. Program liaisons may choose to collect an administrative fee directly from the students that is independent of RE (see note in previous section).

A.  Who is the Endorsed Affiliate in country?

This could be a University or an independent third party who wishes to collaborate with Rehab Essentials.  The Endorsed Affiliate  will be the entity with whom RE negotiates and communicates.  University affiliates typically recruit into their University to funnel students into the tDPT program.  Independent third parties typically work with multiple universities and other associations to funnel students into the tDPT program  

The Endorsed Affiliate  will have marketing and logistics, admissions coordination, and in-country faculty coordination duties.
Marketing and logistics:  marketing sufficient to recruit cohorts of at least 75 students; all logistics associated with marketing and any on-site seminars that bring US faculty in-country (e.g., the Professionalism Seminar).  

B.  How does Silvergate Evaluations evaluate in-country transcripts? https://silvergateevaluations.com/academic-evaluations/ 

Admission to University of Montana's tDPT program requires  the applicant to have the equivalent of a US Bachelors of Science degree in Physical Therapy.  Silvergate Evaluations is an independent third party auditor who will provide an equivalency assessment that is accepted by University of Montana.  Successful Key Partners typically identify individuals from  several key in-country programs and sponsors their transcript evaluation.  The Silvergate determination of the individual's transcript can then be applied to all individuals from those same programs.  Individuals from different programs than those evaluated by Silvergate would have to submit their transcripts for an independent review and determination.  Silvergate determinations take approximately 1 month.   Key Partners who facilitate the Silvergate Evaluation for several key in-country programs have a much easier time marketing the program and meeting the minimum cohort requirements.

C.  What are the TOEFFL Requirements?

Admission to University of Montana's tDPT program requires proof of English proficiency.  
TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language), IELTS (International English Language Testing System) or MELAB (Michigan English Language Assessment Battery) scores may be submitted as proof.
Qualifying Scores are as follows:

Acceptable TOEFL scores:  above 580 (paper-based test), above 237 (computer-based test) or above 92 (internet-based test)
Acceptable IELTS score:  above 6.5
Acceptable MELAB score:  above 82

How large is the potential market?