Bachelor of Science (Hons) in International Supply Chain and Shipping Management (Top-Up)

at University of Plymouth United Kingdom

 Why should we conserve biodiversity? How can we manage and restore habitats? With a hands-on approach, we’ll give you the scientific tools to address these issues, developing your understanding of plant and animal biodiversity in the UK and abroad. Develop your knowledge of key areas such as population ecology, evolutionary processes, behavioural ecology, conservation genetics and habitat management, and prime yourself for a career in ecology, conservation or environmental monitoring.

This course focuses on conservation in terrestrial, marine and freshwater environments. You will experience two compulsory overseas residential field courses in years one (Spain) and two (Mexico), giving you first-hand experience of a range of ecosystems in other parts of the world. There’s no extra to pay: it’s all included within your tuition fees. You’ll participate in an optional work placement year, giving you the opportunity to apply your knowledge in a real world context.

Key Features

Are you passionate about understanding animal behaviour and applying this knowledge to improve welfare? Do you want to explore the evolution of behaviour in a variety of species? Applying an understanding of animal needs and health, you consider the many aspects of animal welfare, including an examination of the legal and ethical frameworks that safeguard welfare. You also undertake practical work, conducting behavioural and welfare assessment studies, gaining the skills sought by employers.

In the 2019 National Student Survey, 100% expressed overall satisfaction with the course; 93% of students felt staff on this course were good at explaining things; 83% felt that the staff made the subject interesting and 93% found the course intellectually stimulating.

Key Features

• You will build a strong foundation in the fundamental science that underpins the study and understanding of behaviour and welfare - including ecology, evolution, microbiology, physiology, nutrition, health and disease. You will then build onto this with in-depth study of behaviour, welfare and their links in your second and final years of study.
• You will take part in residential field courses in South Devon and the Netherlands, allowing you to develop and apply the understanding you gain through lectures and to study animal behaviour in both wild and captive settings - the latter including zoos and agricultural settings.
• You will benefit from our collaborations with Dartmoor Zoo, Paignton Zoo, Newquay Zoo, the Donkey Sanctuary and National Marine Aquarium, which enable a number of field-trips throughout your course to look at captive animal behaviour, welfare, conservation and rehabilitation.
• You will have opportunity to boost your employability by taking a placement year between your second and final years of study, working in the industry, anywhere in the world - you can read more about this in the 'course details' section of this page.
• You can broaden your horizons by taking your second year at one of a range of universities overseas offered in our year abroad scheme.
• You will be supported pastorally and academically by a personal tutor throughout your studies, and will have regular 1:1 meetings to discuss your progress formally.
• You will interact with and be lectured by academic staff who are research-active and well regarded in their fields.
• You will undertake self-study throughout your course, using our well-equipped library and range of online scientific journals, as well as LABPlus, our unique laboratory and resource centre designed for science and engineering students, which will provide you with flexible workspace, computing facilities, specialist software and bioinformatic applications, access to microscopes, cameras and bespoke resources designed by academic staff to support specific modules as well as more general self-study.

The impact of human activity on our marine ecosystems has become more evident and high profile in recent years, such as from overfishing, habitat destruction, pollution, coastal development, plastics and climate change. So what do we do about it – how can we preserve and recover marine habitats and species populations while also allow sustainable use and exploitation of our seas?

This new MSc program, taught by leading experts in the field, focuses specifically on marine conservation in practice and is targeted at producing the next generation of ocean guardians with the skill set to address this question. The MSc Marine Conservation program does not have any exams within its range of assessments.

Key features

Creatively solve design problems as you learn to harness the power of typography within graphic design. Collaborate with students from other disciplines and world-leading researchers to discover how graphic design makes a positive impact in the world. Work hands-on in an inspiring and dedicated studio environment with 360-degree views of the cityscape and ocean before joining our community of graduates working for leading design studios worldwide.

Key Features

• Prepare yourself for your dream career: our graduates finding creative fulfilment working for companies such as DesignBridge, Leo Burnett, Snask, IBM and The Times.
• In your final year you can choose a specialism to match your interests and career goals with options that relate directly to the design industry. Choose from identity and branding, editorial and publishing and Information design.
• Draw on support from committed tutors with long-term industry and academic experience.
• Fly high and join alumni and current students who have won national and international competitions.
• Engage with live client briefs, giving your creativity real-world impact.
• Explore our range of resources including printmaking workshops, photographic studios and Apple Mac workstations complete with the latest Adobe CC software.
• Develop your knowledge and develop yourself by taking advantage of a learning environment that includes open plan studios with a 360 degree view of Plymouth, a city at the heart of art and culture in the South West.
• Have direct contact with prestigious visiting speakers such as Jonathon Barnbrook, Michael Johnson and Angus Hyland. Get feedback on your work from practicing graphic designers during our ‘Industrial Liaison Day’.

Geography explores the relationships between people, places and the environment. Our diverse degree has a strong emphasis on applied skills and career development. You can choose to specialise or maintain a broad range of interests, and an optional placement year offers work experience. You learn from expert, accessible, supportive staff who are skilled researchers in their field. Plymouth is the ideal setting as a vibrant urban environment surrounded by iconic rural and coastal landscapes.

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 curriculum places sustainability challenges at the centre, with modules designed to help address the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
• Choose from a range of human and/or physical geography choice modules so that you determine your degree pathway. 
• 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. 
• We’re very proud of our National Student Survey (NSS) 2020 return which shows student satisfaction overall at 96 per cent for human geography. 
• 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.

What can the arts, humanities and social sciences do to cultivate a deeper understanding of relationships between society, culture and the environment.

This programme brings multiple disciplinary perspectives into dialogue with the ecological sciences, conservation and environmental thought. Drawing on wide-ranging and world-leading staff expertise, this interdisciplinary MA will enable you to build key skills in communication, research and critical and creative thinking invaluable for building more environmentally responsible societies of the future.

Key Features

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

Are you an occupational therapist wishing to develop your skills and knowledge in critical thinking? This pathway will help you to improve people’s health and well-being by implementing innovative, evidence-based practice in a range of practice settings. You will be able to develop your skills and knowledge in research and scholarly activity around the core principles of occupational therapy. This pathway enables you to explore innovative occupational therapy and occupational science in depth.

Key Features

In the financial world, high-level mathematics equips you to understand and model the markets. Key topics in this course include stochastic calculus and time series, which are used for modelling the pricing of financial options or quantifying your exposure to risk. You are introduced to the structure of the financial world through modules in accountancy, financial institutions and investment management. You gain strong communication skills through presentations and small group tutorials.

Key Features

• The degree includes high level mathematical and statistical techniques, with financial applications ranging from accountancy to financial markets and investment management.
• You will be taught by staff with expertise in financial mathematics and statistics from both the Centre for Mathematical Sciences and Plymouth Business School.
• Financial statistics is lectured by someone who has worked for a hedge fund. Other important mathematical material for financial markets includes partial differential equations, time series and optimisation techniques.
• Model and simulate financial products with Bloomberg Professional service and the statistical programming language, R. These skills are valued by financial employers.
• An optional but strongly recommended placement between the second and final years gives you excellent career prospects. Recent placement providers include Vauxhall Motors (finance division) and reinsurance giant Swiss Re.

Education is a driving force for a better and more just world. BA (Hons) Education informs, supports and promotes those looking to become innovators, pioneers and leaders of societal change. Educators can have a lasting impact on people’s lives. Whether you want to become a teacher, work in the social or care industries, as an educator in business, the environment or community development, BA (Hons) Education offers a flexible path to challenging and rewarding careers.

Explore social and political issues, consider diversity in education and discover how the environment shapes learning. This degree will help you make a difference to adults' and children's wellbeing and our global future.

Key Features

• We are about exploration: we love Plymouth but we also love to explore. Within the course there is the opportunity to broaden your understanding of Education in different environments and cultures: residential trips; an option to study for the second semester in the USA; work based learning placements, and more.
• Learning and working with others: students are given space and tools to develop your individual voice, critical insight, and knowledge over a wide range of the education field. We encourage you to engage with different views and ideas about what a meaningful, inclusive and socially just form of education is.
• Enriched student experience: there are many additional opportunities to nourish a thriving student experience, such as benefitting from visiting speakers; wide ranging free public lectures/performances; Makaton training; teaching English as a second language fully certified course; and a range of volunteering experiences and placements in schools and the community.
• Developing confidence and critical thinking: we encourage and foster students’ knowledge and understanding of yourself and others, to develop confidence and conviction in personal opinions and beliefs and to have these challenged, as well as to build the courage to step outside of your comfort zones and to embrace new things.
• Becoming a researcher: students arrive imagining they might enter teaching, or social work, etc, at the end. Often, however, as you develop as an academic researcher, it opens up new opportunities and you catch the research bug! Doing research also helps to build confidence and skills which are useful for many work disciplines in the years ahead.
• Individual journeys and development: one of the things we particularly prize is the way we work to nurture, challenge and encourage personal growth and development. The course has the journey of 'you' at its heart: the person you wish to be, providing you with the enthusiasm and knowledge you need change the world around us.
• Early Childhood options: You can dip your toe into another program; as well as the BA (Hons) Education course, you will have the opportunity in your second year to take one or two modules in Early Childhood Studies.
• Other learning opportunities: Take advantage of paid or unpaid work-based learning module/s to help you stand out when it comes to starting your career. You can also participate in education-related volunteering, or pursue the opportunities presented in our International Students Exchange Programme.