Bachelor of Science (Hons) in Biological Sciences (Optional Placement)

at University of Plymouth United Kingdom

Interested in how people think, act and interact? Discover how thoughts, feelings and motivations shape our behaviour. A hands-on approach to learning across social, developmental, clinical, cognitive psychology and neuroscience will provide you the skills relevant across a range of careers, from education and health to business and the media. Shape the psychology graduate you want to be, and carve out your future in anything from professional psychology to marketing and management.

Key Features

• Hands-on learning in our psychology experiential learning lab. We embedded practical activities throughout the course, so you can put new knowledge into practice and build practical skills for future careers. 
• Shape the psychologist you want to be. Course choices and our option-based final year give the freedom to explore the areas of psychology that interest and benefit you the most.
• As a successful graduate, you are eligible for Graduate Basis for Chartered Membership with the British Psychological Society.
• Gain valuable real-world experience by putting your skills and knowledge into practice with an optional placement year, or take part in an international exchange year by studying abroad.

Enhance your skills in the areas of management, leadership and innovation - required by a wide range of healthcare professionals and health service managers. MSc Healthcare Management, Leadership and Innovation is designed to be a highly flexible entry into management within the health and care service, whether your interests lie in leadership, quality improvement, innovation methodology, organisation development, patient safety, or education.

You will study aspects of management, leadership and innovation in healthcare, relevant to professionals seeking to lead services and organisations into the future and explore the management and leadership theories pertinent to health and care practice. Gain practical experience of multi-disciplinary team working through problem identification and problem solving to encourage innovation and creativity in project design, development and knowledge transfer. You'll also be offered the choice of a traditional research-based dissertation or the option to undertake a work-related professional project or quality improvement project built on improvement science principles

Key features

It’s often said that the best way to see the future is to understand the past. History at Plymouth will help you do just that, giving you the tools to make a difference to tomorrow. Explore five centuries of history, from the Tudors to contemporary history. Study in 'Britain's Ocean City', one of the UK's most historic ports, and chart your course to the future with our partnerships with organisations like The Box and National Trust.

Key Features

We’re very proud of our National Student Survey (NSS) 2019 return showing 87% expressed overall satisfaction with the course.

92% agreed the course is intellectually stimulating and staff are good at explaining things.
98% expressed that they have been able to contact staff when they needed to.

• Enhance your career options with a degree that helps you develop highly sought-after analytical and communication skills while you home in on your passion.
• Participate in local/day, national and international field trips which are free or subsidised for all students
• Gain workplace experience with local public history and heritage sites so you can kick-start your career as soon as you graduate.
• Plot your own course through the centuries as you take the lead in your research projects and choose areas of study from our flexible range of modules, creating a tailor-made degree.
• Our international exchange programme gives you the opportunity to travel and spend either a semester or an entire year exploring history with one of our partner institutions in the US or Europe
• Explore history with your friends and course mates by joining the History Society, a lively and supportive community hosting educational and social events.
• Discover the most up-to-date ways of studying history through our online history resources including a vast eBook library, and array of online lectures and resources.

Geography explores the relationships between people, places and the environment. Our Geography with Ocean Science course allows you to focus on the physical side of this and also spend time studying ocean science. Plymouth is the ideal setting for this, giving you hands-on experience of the physical geography of a dynamic estuary and coast within walking distance of campus.

Our geography degrees make the most of geography’s strengths in tackling head on the biggest global challenges we face. Modules have been designed to address many of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals – developed by the UN as the 'blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all' – all of our degrees are fully accredited by the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG).

Key Features

• Our newly designed Geography curriculum places sustainability challenges at the centre, with modules designed to help address the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
• Choose from an exciting range of physical geography and ocean science modules. Establish a sound knowledge base across all areas of ocean science, with options to study physical oceanography and meteorology, biological and chemical oceanography, and coastal oceanography.
• Our supportive staff are expert researchers and many are world leaders in their field.
• Teaching is innovative and student-centred. You will learn through lectures, seminars, practicals, national and international residential fieldwork, tutorials and one-to-one dissertation support.
• Learn to use Geographical Information Systems to analyse and communicate complex spatial data.
• Take advantage of a wide range of study abroad possibilities in Europe, North America and Australia.
• Experience a valuable work placement programme, opening up a range of career opportunities such as consultancy, policy development and management, teaching, planning and conservation.
• LABplus is a unique open access laboratory and resource centre designed for students studying science and engineering courses. The lab provides a flexible workspace, computing facilities, specialist software, access to microscopes, microscope cameras and bespoke resources.  
• Benefit from our unique location, in the heart of the historical city of Plymouth, bordered by Dartmoor National Park as well as the Tamar Valley and South Hams Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Devon and Cornwall have glorious beaches, coasts, rivers and estuaries.

This IEMA accredited programme provides an outstanding foundation for a career in environmental management by providing diverse perspectives and practical training on the scientific, economic, ethical and political challenges of sustainability and environmental protection.

Classroom and field-based teaching and a short placement enables you to investigate your specific interests and to gain first-hand experience and skills in developing practical solutions to environmental management issues and 21st century global challenges.

Key Features

Computing and software development drives many of the world’s greatest technologies, helping us to live, learn, build and even save lives. This course combines computer science, software engineering and information systems to give you the skills employers want.

You’ll learn about programming, databases, computer hardware, computer networking, and how a computer operating system works. You will then extend your knowledge in graphical representation, data modelling and artificial intelligence. You can also enhance your career prospects with a placement at industry leaders such as IBM, Microsoft, Goss Interactive and Vualto.

Key Features

• Benefit from our close links with local industry by taking part in local meetups, conferences such as Agile on the Beach, and networking events across the South West such as Tech Exeter, Digital Plymouth. 
• Distinguish yourself with a degree that’s accredited by, and entitles membership of, British Computer Society, BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT (subject to approval). 
• Graduates may also gain registration as a Chartered IT Professional (CITP) and will partially meet the educational requirements for Chartered Engineer (CEng) registration. 
• Be inspired by the creativity that our practical, hands-on course nurtures. Our ‘learning through doing’ ethos means you build the skills to make you a desirable applicant for employers. 
• Learn from dedicated teaching staff who are engaged in internationally significant research, are actively creating and developing applications, and have a wealth of industry contacts.
• Enjoy guest lectures on cutting edge computing from the experts in industry such as Red Hat and Goss Interactive.
• Discover the many collaboration opportunities, which mirror the teamwork at the heart of the industry. In the second year, you’ll work in a team to develop a piece of software with a real purpose.
• Immerse yourself in the very latest technology and software. We use open source as well as providing access to Microsoft Imagine for software to work at home with. In our specialist labs you will get to use the Microsoft and Apple industry standard software, which we regularly update and refurbish. 

Set yourself up for a successful career in early years education, developing the professional skills you’ll need to teach in schools and other settings in this sector. Shaped by our own research expertise, this course supports you in the study of education throughout the primary phase, and specialising in different forms of education for children from three to seven years old.

Have you considered

• BEd (Hons) Primary (KS1/KS2 with QTS)
• BEd (Hons) Primary (Special Educational Needs with QTS)

Key Features

• Launch your career: obtaining integrated Qualified Teacher Status (QTS), which means you can begin your teaching career immediately. Expand your horizons, enhance your practical experience and set yourself above the competition.
• FS/KS1 focus area: this degree will look at teaching the ages from 3–7 but also look at the way the Foundation Stage feeds into KS1 and KS2 preparing you to work with children from any phase of primary education.
• No exams: learn through interactive workshops and with no end-of-year/semester exams.
• Close links to the Master of Education (MA Ed): this link enables students to achieve enhanced career progression in a profession in which masters level attainment is increasingly valued.
• Work based learning opportunities: students benefit from a wide range of placement types within our partnership of over 500 schools and other settings, from single days to extended block placements to develop and consolidate QTS standards.
• Professional identity: from the very start of the programme you are considered as a teacher in development. The programme supports you as you develop your professional standards and identity.
• Research-informed teaching: not only are all modules enhanced by tutors’ active research interests but students are immersed in a research culture and benefit from learning about the advantages of researching their practice first hand.
• Student support: within the Plymouth Institute of Education there is a strong ethos of support for all students. Your professional tutor will actively engage with you throughout the BEd programme to offer guidance and support in both academic and pastoral terms.
• OfSTED recognised: recent inspection rated the Primary ITE provision at Plymouth as good in all aspects, with particular strengths in the partnership led elements of the programmes and the quality of the graduates

 Explore the diverse and exciting subject of human geography. Geographers are fascinated by society and environment and examine how places are understood, imagined, used, shared and contested by different peoples. Geographers study the world at a range of scales, from the local to the global, and have a keen appreciation of how places are connected.

Be part of a rich discipline that engages with a vast range of philosophies and methodologies in its quest to understand people’s diverse relationships with the world.

This degree is strongly interdisciplinary and practical, providing you with the knowledge and skills to help build and manage solutions to environmental challenges on land and in our oceans. It draws on a wide range of modules from environmental science, geography and marine disciplines. Our teaching team are leaders in their research fields and offer excellent links with environmental consultancies, industry, national and local government.

Key Features

• Access to a wide choice of modules taught by a core of environmental science staff and sustainability champions from across the University.
• Work with scientists, business, educators and engineers to help build a more sustainable future by exploring environmental challenges and proposing management solutions.
• Learn about the latest actions and renewable energy developments in the struggle against climate change.
• Take part in overseas expeditions to Malaysia or Malta to experience challenges and solutions to sustainable development.
• The opportunity to develop your employability via a placement year, leading to the University’s Certificate of Professional Practice, and opportunities to study abroad, through exchange programmes.
• Teaching and learning that focuses on fun interactive, experiential and participatory learning and authentic tasks that mimic professional practice.
• Be a part of a University with an international reputation for sustainability education, recognition as outstanding in the People and Planet Green League and Green Gown Awards.

Do you want to launch your graduate career in a competitive, dynamic global industry that spans both the arts and the sciences? With our highly-regarded and well-established MA you can develop vital editorial, production and marketing skills, while working with industry-relevant digital technologies. We focus heavily on employability and you will undertake work placements, engage with live publishing projects, travel to national industry events and build a network of professional contacts.

Study our MA Publishing and you’ll gain insight into key areas of the publishing industry and achieve a qualification endorsed by the sector. You’ll immerse yourself in the world of digital publishing, discovering new technologies and the impact these have on the industry. Through dedicated modules, you’ll develop an understanding of the skills and responsibilities essential to becoming a publishing professional, as well as the roles and collaborative processes vital to the industry. Engage with the different stages of the publishing process, from production and distribution to marketing and financial viability. You’ll be able to network with guest lecturers from established publishing companies and negotiate invaluable work experience, through placements and collaborative projects. Benefit from key industry partnerships with publishers such as FW Media and University of Plymouth Press.

Key features