Bachelor of Science (Hons) in International Relations

at University of Plymouth United Kingdom

Do you want to promote and restore people’s health and well-being? On this two year masters programme you'll learn how to enhance people’s occupational engagement in everyday life in order to meet their biological, psychological, social and spiritual needs through exploration and adaptation. You will become a highly skilled, reflective and confident occupational therapy practitioner, able to critically evaluate the importance of occupational engagement for every stage of an individual’s life.

Key features

• Study full time over two years and gain an MSc as your entry qualification to the profession.
• Join an enthusiastic team of occupational therapists, undergraduate, postgraduate and PhD students who are pushing forward the boundaries of knowledge on  occupational therapy and occupational science.
• Take the opportunity to study on the only programme of its kind in the South West.
• Cover the required 90 weeks of pre-registration study in two years, instead of the usual three years, on the full-time accelerated programme, to qualify and gain employment quicker.
• Develop your understanding of the philosophy of the profession and the relevant sciences that guide practice, as well as the creative reflexivity for effecting necessary change.
• Benefit from the experience of being out on placement for 29 weeks – gain invaluable knowledge, skills and industry contacts which will help boost your future career prospects.
• Looking for a change of career? Prepare yourself for a new future role. Your first degree does not have to be from a health profession background to study on this programme.
• Successfully complete the programme and you’ll be eligible to apply for registration as an Occupational Therapist with the Health and Care Professions Council and to be a member of the British Association of Occupational Therapists.
• Your qualification will be recognised by the World Federation of Occupational Therapists, meaning you may be eligible to apply to work overseas.

Interested to learn how we think and behave and how the social influences and structures of our everyday lives affect us? With this combined honours course, you’ll cover all aspects of human behaviour and our underlying thoughts, feelings and motivations. You’ll learn about the rapidly changing nature of contemporary society and graduate with a true understanding of the interaction between the individual mind and the social world in which we live.

You will immerse yourself in an innovative and imaginative curriculum that’s continually shaped by the latest developments in psychological research. You’ll expand your horizons and experience with opportunities for international exchange and a year studying abroad. You’ll develop your skills as a scientist working alongside leading researchers with the Research Apprentice Scheme. You will gain invaluable experience and cultivate professional contacts by taking an optional placement year.

Key Features

• Take your first step to becoming a professional in your field – as a successful graduate, you’ll be eligible for Graduate Basis for Chartered Membership with the British Psychological Society, putting you on the ladder to becoming a professional psychologist.
• Expand your horizons and experience with opportunities for international exchange and a year studying abroad (in Year 2).
• Develop your skills as a scientist working alongside leading researchers with the Research Apprentice Scheme.
• Maximise your learning with a personal tutor assigned throughout your studies to provide the support and guidance you need to get the most out of your course.
• Shape your own study path with an exciting range of topics available through lectures, optional courses and project supervision.
• Gain invaluable experience and cultivate professional contacts by taking an optional placement year.
• Benefit from studying on a course that the Research Assessment Exercise rates as excellent for research and the Quality Assurance Agency praises for its quality of education.
• Immerse yourself in an innovative and imaginative curriculum that’s continually shaped by the latest developments in psychological research.
• Make the most of our specialist facilities – we’ve got 22 labs to choose from, including a virtual reality laboratory with 3D modelling software, sound-proof cubicles with a range of stimulus equipment and computer laboratories.  You'll be able to get your hands on everything you need for your own research.
• To complement your formal learning we offer regular PALS sessions that provide the opportunity for you to learn with and from your peers. Share knowledge, discuss ideas, and ask questions in a relaxed and friendly environment.

Our MA Photography programme engages with contemporary practices in image-making, writing and curating through eco-critical and post-human perspectives.
This outward-facing programme prepares you for professional opportunities in the fields of exhibition, curation and publication. Intensive periods of studio-based workshops, symposia, lectures, online tutorials, and visits to studios, galleries and research centres provide the basis of the learning experience.

Key Features

Experience an academic year working in emergency care and gain an intercalated degree at the same time with the BSc (Hons) in Urgent and Emergency Care. Learn skills that will enable you to work flexibly as a healthcare professional across traditional boundaries to meet the needs of the healthcare community, whilst developing as a competent and adaptive practitioner, with specialist and transferable skills.

You will explore opportunities to set up placements within your locality helping you with the cost of living and development of important relationships in settings where you may like to work in the future. You’ll experience working in genuinely challenging clinical environments. You will also get prepared to lead teams in the future with a specific module on management and leadership, and practice skills that will be essential as you progress to becoming a consultant.

Key Features

• Study with the only university to offer an intercalated degree in emergency care in the UK
• Explore opportunities to set up placements within your locality helping you with the cost of living and development of important relationships in settings where you may like to work in the future
• Experience working in genuinely challenging clinical environments; real-life experiences mean meaningful education
• Get to grips with working and studying with a multi-professional team and all the insight that brings
• Prepare to lead teams in the future with a specific module on management and leadership
• Practice skills that will be essential as you progress to becoming a consultant
• Deepen your research and audit knowledge, helping you to decide (with your emergency department mentor) what area of emergency care you will develop an audit in
• Choose from a range of optional modules including paediatrics and mental health.

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.

Key Features

• All our modules rely on 100% coursework. We want to create inclusive learning environments, designing forms of assessment that reflect real working conditions and truly test the skills anthropologists will need to apply in their future careers.
• Learn by doing. Throughout your time with us, you will get many opportunities to participate in real anthropological research.
• You will be taught by research-active anthropologists, who constantly publish work in renowned academic journals, ensuring your course is based on cutting-edge developments in the field.
• Take part in two major, funded field trips that enable you to practice core anthropological skills, and get to know your colleagues better. Travel to London and Oxford to visit various ethnographic museums, and take part in an international field trip to carry out fieldwork in a non-British setting.
• Shape the way anthropology is taught. Many of the subjects we teach are directly proposed by students themselves. That’s why you’ll learn about marine ethnography, humour and laughter, conspiracy theory, and anything in between.

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.

Take a fresh look at childhood. Exploring the theory and reality of children’s early years from many points of view, this innovative course will help you find your niche in this competitive sector and graduate with a clear view of where your career is going. Investigate issues through the lenses of sociology, social psychology, history, and philosophy.

Work directly with young children and their families during the Work Based Learning module or choose the option of gaining professional recognition of your practice. Our Work Based Learning Plus module enables you to meet Early Years Educator standards and be counted in the ratios in an early years setting through relevant assessed practice experience.

Key Features

• Explore the relationships between play and learning in your own studies as well as in child development
• Expand your options beyond traditional teaching and open up further career opportunities in education, social care, community work, psychology, management and research.
• See for yourself how theories and policies are applied in practice by visiting a wide range of provision for children and families.
• Learn on the job during the work-based learning placement.  You will gain the practical skills employers are looking for.
• Take a broader view of children’s development by studying the subject in practical, historical and international contexts.
• Develop essential skills through a variety of coursework-based assessments – from essays, surveys and child observations to group presentations and video commentaries.
• Learn from experienced lecturers and tutors who are actively engaged in national and international research projects.
• Make the most of the opportunities presented by being part of a department that has strong links with universities in Europe, Canada, Africa and the USA and through the International Students’ Exchange Programme.

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.

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.