Master of Arts in Design (Optional Placement)

at University of Plymouth United Kingdom

Our industry-recognised BSc (Hons) Building Surveying course is designed to build your knowledge and skills in the physical care, repair, conservation and restoration and refurbishment of buildings. The combination of lectures, site visits, tutorials and an optional year-long paid industry placement will prepare you for a range of routes in the construction and surveying sector including building surveying, property management, project management, or building regulation.

This course will help you gain the problem-solving skills and technical knowledge necessary to survey buildings and identify defects. You will also participate in real-world group projects involving the refurbishment of existing, historic and listed buildings, as well as new-build, which will help you understand the surveyor’s role, the client’s requirements, and develop project management skills.

Key Features

• Our course is fully accredited by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) and the Chartered Association of Building Engineers (CABE).
• This course is designed around a common first year with BSc (Hons) Quantity Surveying and BSc (Hons) Construction Project Management, allowing you to transfer to these courses after successful completion of Year 1.
• You will gain valuable experience with an optional, paid year-long placement in a leading surveying company in the UK or abroad. Our industry links will help you find a placement, boosting your studies with practical experience and providing the contacts that can lead to future employment.
• You will be part of a vibrant multidisciplinary learning environment, working with students from other built environment disciplines, including construction project managers, architectural engineers and quantity surveyors.
• You will have access to a wide range of industry standard facilities, resources and equipment, including, a designated design studio space, specialist laboratories and workshops, Mac and PC suites, a 360 degree immersive vision theatre.
• Each year the building surveying knowledge and skills you develop come together in a real-world design and build project with an actual client and project brief. Guided by our panel of industrial advisers, you will develop the professional skills to stand out in the sector.
• Learn from leaders in their fields. Our staff come from both industry and research backgrounds. Industry professionals also play an active role in the course participating in guest lectures, workshops and tutorials.
• Our built environment courses have been running for over 25 years.

Are you a qualified physiotherapist looking to enhance your current skills and knowledge whilst developing a strong critical thinking ethos? This programme offers you the opportunity to review your current practice and evaluate new approaches, ensuring that you are equipped to meet the challenges of working in an ever changing physiotherapy profession with confidence.

Key Features

• Become an evidence-based practitioner equipped to manage and lead in dynamic settings.
• Feel encouraged and supported by experienced and enthusiastic staff, who are recognised for their national and international research reputations.
• Make use of blended learning techniques, combining short study blocks and distance learning technologies.
• Explore a large range of continuing professional development (CPD) modules aligned to a number of specialities including neurology, musculoskeletal and respiratory.
• Tailor your learning to your interests or workplace through module assignments and our physiotherapy focused supported independent study module.
• Complete the programme in one year with the full-time study option or balance work and caring commitments by studying part time over a maximum of five years. The full-time route is suitable for international students, who will be supported to choose optional modules with non-clinical assignments.

Are you a registered health or social care professional looking to develop your advanced practitioner knowledge and skills? The MSc Advanced Professional Practice (Nursing and Midwifery Professions) has been developed to meet the needs of nurses, midwives and allied health professionals working across all healthcare sectors. You will develop your practice by building on your current experience and knowledge, leading to improved ways of working and a positive impact on patient care.

Key features

• This programme may be studied full time over one year or part time over up to five years, offering flexible delivery and exit points to support a learner centred approach.
• A contemporary and dynamic programme responsive to the changing health and social care environment.
• Build a qualification around your personal professional needs by picking and choosing optional modules with relevance to your area of practice and benefit from a student-centred approach providing flexibility in your choice of award.
• Embed independent and supplementary prescribing into your masters degree (subject to profession).
• Opportunities to study in an inter-professional setting with inter-professional core and optional modules delivered by an academic team with extensive experience as well as a close relationship with clinicians contributing to teaching.
• Research informed teaching is embedded throughout the curriculum and you will be given the chance to design and undertake your own research to enhance and develop patient care and/or service provision.
• Gain a deeper understanding of the advanced clinical practice role and how this is used to enhance the patient journey whilst ensuring the right care is delivered by the right clinician at the right time.
• Be equipped to take on lead roles in management, clinical practice and/or education.

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.

Are you passionate about biology in all of its forms? Do you want to study a broad biology degree without the constraints of choosing a specialism too soon, with equal emphasis on lab and field skills? You will build an understanding of biology from viruses to mammals and from freshwater to rocky shores, gaining state-of-the-art practical and transferable skills highly sought by employers, graduating ready to shape the future of fields from ecosystem management to laboratory research.

In the 2019 National Student Survey, 97% of students felt staff on this course were good at explaining things and 95% found the course intellectually stimulating.* This programme focuses on biology of a wide range of environments from soils and the oceans to hydrothermal vents and volcanic lakes.

Key Features

A marine biology degree with an international reputation, you’ll explore the diversity of marine life from the coast to the deep-sea. Using a range of marine organisms from the smallest microbes to the largest marine vertebrates, you'll learn how marine species and ecosystems function, consider why we see such diversity of life in our oceans, and learn how to conserve this. You'll tackle big questions like how are humans and climate change affecting marine biodiversity?

Using some of the best marine facilities in Europe alongside field work in the marine and coastal habitats of Devon, France and South Africa, and the option of becoming an HSE diver, you'll gain arguably the best practical experience of any marine biology course. By the end of your degree, your wide-range of skills and in-depth knowledge of marine biology will allow you to tackle the most pressing environmental challenges that marine systems are facing.

Key Features

• We’re very proud of our National Student Survey (NSS) 2019 return including that 94% of student respondents said that staff made the subject interesting. Other feedback included 100% also agreeing that our staff are good at explaining things and that the course was intellectually stimulating.*
• Add an exciting extra dimension to your marine studies by examining marine organisms and ecosystems in a truly global context. If you are interested in how marine and coastal habitats work, why they are so diverse and how best to conserve them, this is the course for you.
• Access the University’s research vessels based in the Plymouth Sound Special Area for Conservation and our Marine Station.
• Benefit from our reputation as an international centre for marine and environmental research. Our expert teaching staff are active researchers and enthusiastic specialists in their fields.
• Study marine life in the wild with access to the beautiful and varied Devon and Cornwall coastline. A recent World Wildlife Fund report highlighted the South Devon coast – which can be reached on foot from campus – as the area of highest marine biodiversity in the UK.
• Deepen your experience through practical field and laboratory work, linked to lectures – something regularly praised by our external examiners. Our specialist facilities include advanced molecular and behavioural laboratories, a seawater aquarium, environmentally controlled labs and a new bespoke marine station opening in 2014/15.
• Increase your knowledge and apply your skills in an international setting, with two residential field courses abroad (France and South Africa – one of the most biodiverse places on earth), giving you the chance to study organisms and ecosystems not found in the UK.
• Develop a wide range of skills that will prepare you for your chosen career and make you attractive to employers – learn how to ask and answer research questions, and how to apply this skill to conservation challenges in the real world.  There is also the opportunity to gain the HSE PRO SCUBA qualification, for those with a suitable background in diving.
• Immerse yourself in Plymouth’s marine research culture. Alongside the University the city is home to several other world-leading establishments, one of the largest concentrations of marine science study in Europe. Take opportunities to gain extra experience working in one of the marine organisations located in Plymouth, alongside your studies.
• Take the opportunity to contribute to the latest research and advances in the field – many of our students have their research projects published in leading international peer-reviewed journals.
• Choose from a wide range of subjects that most interest you and are best suited to your intended career path, building your own specialisms and skills.
• 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.

Are you a qualified health practitioner looking to enhance your knowledge and skills in order to advance your professional practice? Designed for registered dietitians, this pathway has a specialist core dietetic practice: supported studies module, which provides you with support to investigate and design an evidence-based ‘service improvement’ within your own specialist field of practice. You’ll be primed to become an evidence-based practitioner, ready to manage and lead in dynamic settings.

Key Features

• Become an evidence-based practitioner, equipped to manage and lead in busy and constantly changing settings. 
• Take the opportunity to study in an inter-professional setting with inter-professional core and optional modules. 
• Shape your own learning journey – you’ll have opportunities to tailor your learning in the workplace through module assignments and the Dietetic Practice: Supported Study module.
• Learn from experts in a setting where innovative thinking regards advanced professional development is put into practice.
• Take advantage of the flexibility our programme offers. You can take some of the modules by distance learning, while others are taught via short intensive study blocks to minimise time away from other commitments. 
• Complete the programme in one year with the full-time study option or balance work and caring commitments by studying part time over a maximum of five years. 
• The full-time route is suitable for international students, who will be supported to choose optional modules with non-clinical assignments.

Do you want to lead, direct or manage clinical research? Interprofessional teams of clinical researchers are needed in order to bridge a transitional gap between scientific innovation and healthcare, and to optimise patient care and ensure efficiency of costs for healthcare providers. This programme provides in-depth training in qualitative and quantitative research methods and equips you with the skills to direct, develop, manage and deliver research in any clinical setting

This programme originated as a result of close collaboration with the NIHR, HEE and the student voice. The programme offers either full-time or flexible part-time pathways, designed to accommodate busy clinical caseloads/postgraduate occupations.

Key features

• Aligned with key Health Education England (HEE) and National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) objectives: to develop clinical academics skilled in evidence-based practice with the capacity to research.
• Programme delivery via flexible and blended learning - experience an inclusive curriculum designed specifically for health professionals, continually developed in line with student feedback this currently features 2-3 day face-to-face study blocks and supported distance learning.
• Receive mentorship and supervision from experienced clinical academic researchers. A research mentorship 'mini-module' is available.
• Develop a critical understanding of research.
• Learn advanced qualitative methods and analysis using a variety of approaches. 
• Incorporates quantitative study designs such as RCTs and observational studies. 
• Join the Institute of Health and Community to further engage with contemporary clinical research during and beyond your studies.
• Progress your career and become a leader in clinical research with a programme that provides both theoretical and first hand practical experience of the whole research process from developing a clinically relevant question through to implementation of research in clinical practice.
• Learn from experts from across the University of Plymouth, other higher education institutes, the Research Design Service, the National Institute for Health Research Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (NIHR CLAHRC) and the Peninsula Clinical Trials Unit.
• Study a contemporary MClinRes founded on ongoing consultation with patient and public support groups, NHS staff, managers and commissioners and international partners.
• Receive support with onward funding applications to further your integrated clinical research career. Opt for the research management and mentorship module to gain protected time and support with academic writing to publish your research, develop your profile and compose onward funding applications.
• Choose from three award pathways – PgCert, PgDip, MClinRes

Do you want to develop your own original writing whilst engaging with the best contemporary work being published? You’ll refine your craft with guidance from the award-winning writers who teach on this workshop-based MA, as well as from visiting writers. Make the most of an opportunity to produce a substantial written project in a nurturing, creative environment. The writing skills you’ll develop will help ensure that, upon graduating, your work is ready for submission to publishers and agents.

Key features

Make a difference to someone’s life when it matters most. Our degree will prepare you to care for adults with acute/long-term illness, in a multitude of healthcare settings. You will be ready to play a vital role in health promotion and disease prevention as well as nursing adults. Working closely with other healthcare professionals, patients and their families, you will gain the necessary experience, competencies and skills needed to join the 1000s of our graduates working as registered nurses.

You will distinguish yourself with a degree from one of the first institutions to offer the new Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) standards for nursing education and you will practice your clinical and communication skills both in the clinical environment and the safe, supervised setting of our Clinical Skills Resource Centre (CSRC). You will have the option to study at Plymouth, our Knowledge Spa Campus, Truro or at our new School of Nursing in Exeter.

Four year MNurs Degrees
Our four year MNurs programme allows you to study at masters level and choose two fields of nursing to register within

• MNurs (Hons) Nursing (Adult Health and Child Health)
• MNurs (Hons) Nursing (Adult Health and Mental Health) 
• MNurs (Hons) Nursing (Child Health and Mental Health)

Key Features

• Achieve a bachelors honours degree and register as a nurse with the Nursing and Midwifery Council in Adult Health enabling you to progress on to a rewarding career and work in a range of healthcare settings nationally or internationally
• Distinguish yourself with a degree from one of the first institutions to offer the new Nursing and Midwifery (NMC) standards for nursing education.
• Ignite your passion for life-long learning with our evidence-informed modules, on a course designed to meet a diverse range of nursing career pathways.
• Enjoy an accessible approach to your theoretical studies, with the option of studying in Plymouth, our Knowledge Spa campus in Truro or at our new University of Plymouth School of Nursing in Exeter.
• Experience nursing practice in a variety of clinical settings, whilst learning collaboratively within dynamic healthcare teams.
• Enhance and develop your nursing skills in the safe environment of the clinical skills simulation ward, under the supervision of nurse lecturers and clinical demonstrators.
• Boost your employability by joining the 1000s of Adult nursing students who have realised their dreams by successfully graduating from the University of Plymouth.