Health and Wellbeing

PgDip, MSc

2023/24 Part-time Postgraduate course

Award:

Postgraduate Diploma, Master of Science

Faculty:

Faculty of Life and Health Sciences

School:

School of Nursing and Paramedic Science

Campus:

Belfast campus

Start date:

September 2023

This course is now closed for International applications for September 2023

Overview

Developing highly knowledgeable and skilled graduates for the health and social care professions.

Summary

This postgraduate programme in Health and Wellbeing aims to develop highly knowledgeable and skilled postgraduates from the health and social care professions, including nurses and midwives. There is an emphasis on the application of knowledge to practice and the development of leadership skills. The programme extends the knowledge base necessary for practitioners to function at an advanced level and to develop into expert or advanced practitioners, advisers, managers or educators within their particular area of expertise.

We’d love to hear from you!

We know that choosing to study at university is a big decision, and you may not always be able to find the information you need online.

Please contact Ulster University with any queries or questions you might have about:

  • Course specific information
  • Fees and Finance
  • Admissions

For any queries regarding getting help with your application, please select Admissions in the drop down below.

For queries related to course content, including modules and placements, please select Course specific information.

We look forward to hearing from you.

About this course

About

This programme leads to the academic awards of PgCert/PGDip/MSc in Health and Wellbeing. Students may exit with a Postgraduate Certificate after completing 60 credits within a clinical pathway: Diabetes Care, Stroke Care, or Forensic Healthcare.

The Postgraduate Diploma (120 credits) has four 30 credit Modules. Two 30 credit compulsory modules (Health and Wellbeing: Challenges and Controversies and Advanced Methods in Research and Development in Health and Social Care). Students also study Critical Application of Advanced Compassionate Communication in Health and Social Care Practice and may then choose to study either Ethics and Professional Decision-making or Transforming Practice through Person-centred Collective Leadership.

Alternatively, students may study the two compulsory modules and two modules from one of the 60 credits clinical pathways - Diabetes, Stroke or Forensic Health Care.

For the award of the Master’s degree in Health and Wellbeing a further 60 credits must be completed in the form of the Master’s dissertation project.

How to apply

Students wishing to apply for a Department of Health (DH) Commissioned place should contact the Practice Education Team in their Health and Social Care Trust. The HSCT will manage your application.

Those who are not eligible for DoH Commissioned places, must apply via the University online application system. (known as the self-funded route).

Attendance

Students are required to attend for at least 75% of all campus-based modules. Some modules are online – students are required to log on to the website and interact on a weekly basis.

Start dates

  • September 2023

Teaching, Learning and Assessment

A range of teaching and learning methods are used to enable students to develop knowledge and understanding. There is a continuous focus upon how theory is linked to and informed by practice through the use of lectures, seminars, discussions, guided reading, reflection, creative methods and debate. Online material may be used to support this. All assessment is via course work.

Academic profile

The University employs over 1,000 suitably qualified and experienced academic staff - 59% have PhDs in their subject field and many have professional body recognition.

Courses are taught by staff who are Professors (25%), Readers, Senior Lecturers (20%) or Lecturers (55%).

We require most academic staff to be qualified to teach in higher education: 82% hold either Postgraduate Certificates in Higher Education Practice or higher. Most academic staff (81%) are accredited fellows of the Higher Education Academy (HEA) by Advanced HE - the university sector professional body for teaching and learning. Many academic and technical staff hold other professional body designations related to their subject or scholarly practice.

The profiles of many academic staff can be found on the University’s departmental websites and give a detailed insight into the range of staffing and expertise.  The precise staffing for a course will depend on the department(s) involved and the availability and management of staff.  This is subject to change annually and is confirmed in the timetable issued at the start of the course.

Occasionally, teaching may be supplemented by suitably qualified part-time staff (usually qualified researchers) and specialist guest lecturers. In these cases, all staff are inducted, mostly through our staff development programme ‘First Steps to Teaching’. In some cases, usually for provision in one of our out-centres, Recognised University Teachers are involved, supported by the University in suitable professional development for teaching.

Figures correct for academic year 2021-2022.

Belfast campus

Accommodation

High quality apartment living in Belfast city centre adjacent to the university campus.

Find out more - information about accommodation  


Student Wellbeing

At Student Wellbeing we provide many services to help students through their time at Ulster University.

Find out more - information about student wellbeing  


Belfast Campus Location

The Belfast campus is situated in the artistic and cultural centre of the city, the Cathedral Quarter.

Find out more about our Belfast Campus.

Campus Address

Ulster University,
2-24 York Street,
Belfast
BT15 1AP

T: 02870 123 456

Standard entry conditions

We recognise a range of qualifications for admission to our courses. In addition to the specific entry conditions for this course you must also meet the University’s General Entrance Requirements.

Entry Requirements

Applicants must have gained:

(i) a subject relevant Honours or non-Honours degree from a University of the United Kingdom or the Republic of Ireland, or from a recognised national awarding body, or from an institution of another country which is recognised as being of an equivalent standard; or

(ii) an equivalent standard in a Postgraduate Certificate, Graduate Diploma, Graduate Certificate or an approved alternative qualification; and

In addition, applicants should normally

• be working in the field of health and social care

• and, additionally, for admittance to a clinical pathway hold a registered/licensed Nursing or other Health and Social Care professional qualification

and

(b) provide evidence of competence in written and spoken English (GCSE grade C or equivalent).

or as an alternative to (a) (i) or (a) (ii) and/or (b):

(c) In exceptional circumstances, where an individual has substantial and significant experiential learning, a portfolio of written evidence demonstrating the meeting of graduate qualities (including subject-specific outcomes, as determined by the Course Committee) may be considered as an alternative entrance route.

Applicants whose first language is not English must demonstrate their competency in written and spoken English through the achievement of an IELTS score of 6.0 with no individual band score (in the four bands of listening, speaking, reading and writing) below 5.5.

English Language Requirements

English language requirements for international applicants
The minimum requirement for this course is Academic IELTS 6.0 with no band score less than 5.5. Trinity ISE: Pass at level III also meets this requirement for Tier 4 visa purposes.

Ulster recognises a number of other English language tests and comparable IELTS equivalent scores.

Careers & opportunities

In this section

Career options

This degree covers a broad range of healthcare issues allowing for careers in health and social care, education, leisure and health promotion and management.

Apply

Start dates

  • September 2023

Fees and funding

Fees (total cost)

The price of your overall programme will be determined by the number of credit points that you initiate in the relevant academic year.

For modules commenced in the academic year 2023/24, the following fees apply:

Fees
Credit PointsNI/ROI/GB CostInternational Cost
5 £186.65 £440
10 £373.30 £880
15 £559.95 £1,320
20 £746.60 £1,760
30 £1,119.90 £2,640
60 £2,239.80 £5,280
120 £4,479.60 £10,560
180 £6,719.40 £15,840

NB: A standard full-time PGCert is equivalent to 60 credit points per year. A standard full-time PGDip is equivalent to 120 credit points per year.

Where the postgraduate course selected offers multiple awards (e.g. PG Cert, PG Dip, Masters), please note that the price displayed is for the complete Masters programme.

Postgraduate certificates and diplomas are charged at a pro-rata basis.

Find out more about postgraduate fees

Additional mandatory costs

It is important to remember that costs associated with accommodation, travel (including car parking charges) and normal living will need to be covered in addition to tuition fees.

Where a course has additional mandatory expenses (in addition to tuition fees) we make every effort to highlight them above. We aim to provide students with the learning materials needed to support their studies. Our libraries are a valuable resource with an extensive collection of books and journals, as well as first-class facilities and IT equipment. Computer suites and free Wi-Fi are also available on each of the campuses.

There are additional fees for graduation ceremonies, examination resits and library fines.

Students choosing a period of paid work placement or study abroad as a part of their course should be aware that there may be additional travel and living costs, as well as tuition fees.

See the tuition fees on our student guide for most up to date costs.

Contact

We’d love to hear from you!

We know that choosing to study at university is a big decision, and you may not always be able to find the information you need online.

Please contact Ulster University with any queries or questions you might have about:

  • Course specific information
  • Fees and Finance
  • Admissions

For any queries regarding getting help with your application, please select Admissions in the drop down below.

For queries related to course content, including modules and placements, please select Course specific information.

We look forward to hearing from you.


For more information visit

Disclaimer

  1. Although reasonable steps are taken to provide the programmes and services described, the University cannot guarantee the provision of any course or facility and the University may make variations to the contents or methods of delivery of courses, discontinue, merge or combine courses and introduce new courses if such action is reasonably considered to be necessary by the University. Such circumstances include (but are not limited to) industrial action, lack of demand, departure of key staff, changes in legislation or government policy including changes, if any, resulting from the UK departing the European Union, withdrawal or reduction of funding or other circumstances beyond the University’s reasonable control.
  1. If the University discontinues any courses, it will use its best endeavours to provide a suitable alternative course. In addition, courses may change during the course of study and in such circumstances the University will normally undertake a consultation process prior to any such changes being introduced and seek to ensure that no student is unreasonably prejudiced as a consequence of any such change.
  1. The University does not accept responsibility (other than through the negligence of the University, its staff or agents), for the consequences of any modification or cancellation of any course, or part of a course, offered by the University but will take into consideration the effects on individual students and seek to minimise the impact of such effects where reasonably practicable.
  1. The University cannot accept any liability for disruption to its provision of educational or other services caused by circumstances beyond its control, but the University will take all reasonable steps to minimise the resultant disruption to such services.
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