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  "path": "/utah/2026/04/11/physical-therapy-partnership/",
  "publishedAt": "2026-04-11T20:09:13.000Z",
  "site": "https://www.deseret.com",
  "tags": [
    "How a Provo-based graduate school is endeavoring to meet society's healthcare needs",
    "according to Utah’s Department of Workforce Services.",
    "Rocky Mountain release.",
    "according to the Utah State Board of Education’s website.",
    "The concurrent enrollment master list compiled",
    "such as Utah Tech University"
  ],
  "textContent": "Utah’s higher education institutes are charged with a dual mission: providing optimal learning circumstances for students — and also meeting industry needs in Utah and beyond.\n\nNow a new partnership between two Utah County schools — Utah Valley University and Rocky Mountain University of Health Professions — is being touted as a boon for both Utah students and the health care community.\n\nThe two neighboring schools recently announced an articulation agreement enabling eligible UVU students to complete both a bachelor’s degree and, subsequently, a Doctor of Physical Therapy degree in an accelerated timeframe.\n\nAt first glance, UVU and RMU don’t appear to be obvious academic partners.\n\nThe state’s largest university, UVU is a public, nonprofit school — and the vast majority of its students are undergraduates.\n\nMeanwhile, RMU is a private, for-profit school with approximately 1,700 students who are all pursuing graduate-level degrees and certificates.\n\nBut both institutions share a commitment to prepare students to meet the health care industry’s evolving, high-demand needs.\n\nHow a Provo-based graduate school is endeavoring to meet society's healthcare needs\n\nUnder the articulation agreement, eligible students who complete prescribed pre-professional coursework at UVU with a minimum 3.0 GPA — and meet RMU’s admission requirements — may apply to enter RMU’s physical therapy program one year early.\n\nParticipating students’ first two semesters of graduate-level coursework at RMU will then count toward completion of their UVU bachelor’s degree in health science or exercise science.\n\nOnce matriculated into RMU’s program, students will pay RMU tuition.\n\nA similar program articulation agreement already exists between RMU and Southern Utah University.\n\n### Meeting Utah’s ‘growing health care needs’\n\nThe UVU/RMU partnership essentially allows future physical therapists to join the industry a year earlier.\n\nAnd that’s good news for Utah’s health care industry. Physical therapist jobs in the state are expected to experience “much faster than average employment growth,” according to Utah’s Department of Workforce Services.\n\nPhysical therapists are in particularly high demand in Utah’s rural areas.\n\n“This partnership strengthens our commitment to offering clear, innovative academic routes that help students progress efficiently from undergraduate learning to advanced professional preparation,” said UVU Provost Wayne Vaught in an Rocky Mountain release.\n\n“By allowing qualified students to begin graduate‑level DPT coursework during their senior year, we are expanding opportunity, reducing time to degree, and preparing more highly skilled professionals who are ready to meet the growing healthcare needs of our community.”\n\nAdded RMU Provost Malissa Martin: “This partnership with Utah Valley University reflects our shared vision to accelerate student success and prepare practice-ready physical therapists who are equipped to offer compassionate, evidence-based care.”\n\n### Agreements offer Utah students ‘a head start’\n\nArticulation agreements are nothing new in Utah. They’re most common among the state’s high schools and Utah’s colleges and universities — allowing high school coursework to be accepted for college credit.\n\n“Enrolling in high school courses that have been defined by articulation agreements gives students a head start on completing a postsecondary credit and/or noncredit program of study,” according to the Utah State Board of Education’s website.\n\nThe concurrent enrollment master list compiled by the Utah System of Higher Education includes a list of scores of accepted courses from a variety of Utah colleges.\n\nOther Utah schools, such as Utah Tech University , utilize a variety of formal articulation agreements with several postsecondary institutions such as Snow College and Salt Lake Community College — allowing for seamless credit transfers between schools.\n\n### UVU/RMU: Building upon health profession partnerships\n\nThe recent UVU/RMU articulation agreement for aspiring physical therapists signals a growing union between the institutions.\n\nTwo years ago, the two schools signed an agreement to assist UVU students pursuing careers in occupational therapy.\n\nThe so-called ‘3 plus 3 program’ allows current UVU students in the Bachelor of Health Sciences degree program to apply to RMU’s Doctor of Occupational Therapy program.\n\nIf accepted, their first two semesters of graduate occupational therapy study at RMU count toward the upper-division courses for their UVU bachelor’s degree.\n\nThe program allows participating students to graduate from UVU — and have just two more years to complete RMU’s occupational therapy degree.",
  "title": "How a new academic partnership will benefit aspiring Utah physical therapists — and their future patients"
}