BSc (Hons) Psychological Studies
- Study Mode: Full Time
- Location: High Wycombe
- Duration: Three or Four Years
- Start Date: September 2024
You can also study this course:
Gain the knowledge, skills, and experience to understand a range of psychology subjects. This degree is designed to enable you to tailor your studies to your own desired psychology specialism through the choice of modules. Take advantage of the specialist facilities that professional psychologists use day to day.
Lectures and seminars are always very informative, interactive and also a good laugh with plenty of open discussion between students and with the lecturers. They are always very supportive of ideas and opinions as well as with our work, through punctual turn arounds on assignments and quick responses through emails.Emily Crawshaw
Why study this subject?
Whether you’re simply fascinated by psychology, or looking for a career in the subject, gaining a psychology degree is a great choice. A psychology degree also gives you a strong foundation for a variety of roles, utilizing your knowledge of human behaviour.
A psychology degree helps you gain an understanding of the root cause of behaviours, thoughts and emotions and explains them within the scope of scientific theory and evidence.
You can expect to build a deep understanding of yourself and how we operate within our social structures, develop your analytical mind, nurture your curiosity, and understand communication and relationships.
Why study at Buckinghamshire New University?
Choosing BNU means choosing to go on a journey of discovery. As one of our students you will continually grow as a professional psychologist and discover our amazing and welcoming community, meet lifelong friends and gain knowledge from expert tutors who are actively engaged in the profession.
Take advantage of the specialist facilities that professional psychologists use day to day, including virtual reality facilities, laboratory facilities containing equipment that tracks eye movement, emotions, communication, brain activity and more.
Our hands-on practical approach to teaching is designed to impart the skills needed to experiment and excel, developing your own understanding and knowledge, and helping you to push the boundaries of psychological research, whether this is based within the fields of medical science, counselling, forensics, sport, business, or society.
This course is not BPS accredited, which means you will not be eligible for graduate chartered membership. This is because you have gained the option of choosing more of your own modules, and we cannot guarantee you will pick BPS modules.
Our specialisms
We believe in giving you the freedom to make your career your own. That's why we introduce you to various different subjects in your first year, and then allow you to choose a course after you've got a taste of them all, if your goals change. You can choose to stay on BSc (Hons) Psychological Studies or switch to BSc (Hons) Psychology, BSc (Hons) Counselling Psychology, BSc (Hons) Psychology and Criminology, BSc (Hons) Sport and Exercise Psychology, BSc (Hons) Forensic Psychology, and , after your first year in any.
These specialisms are also offered as four-year programmes, including an initial Foundation Year. The Foundation Year will allow you to develop your academic study skills and build confidence in your abilities, identifying your own strengths and development needs for progression onto an undergraduate programme and are available if you didn't meet the entry requirements.
I cannot fault the quality of teaching, it’s excellent. The lecturers do all they can to support students. They are well experienced, kind, passionate, supportive and always available to help students in any way they can. The lectures and seminars are well prepared and delivered. I am enjoying my course, my time at BNU and the whole learning environment.Homaira Merzai
What facilities can I use?
On our psychology degree, you will benefit from hands-on learning, using our state-of-the-art facilities.
In our laboratory and computing workshops, you’ll use software and equipment that social scientists use in the field to present research data. You will use industry standard equipment as part of these courses to build your own experience using a range of professionally recognizable equipment.
You can use our observation laboratory for the measurement of psycho-physiological responses using eye trackers as well as the activity of the cardiovascular system, brain, autonomic nervous system and more.
You’ll use our eye tracking equipment and virtual reality software to test what happens when our local conditions change, and how the brain reacts to those changes.
The facilities at BNU are always here for your use, and we have heavily invested in them with the goal of providing the best space for your own experiments. We want you to use them to push your skills and gain all the experience you feel you need to go on and get a job, as what you do here is what you could be doing when you start work in Psychology.
We’ll also sign you up to our Virtual Learning Environment which means you’ll have access to lots of online resources wherever you are! The VLE is an additional online learning platform that supplements your core degree content.
What will I study?
This course is not BPS accredited, which means you will not be eligible for graduate chartered membership. This is because you have gained the option of choosing more of your own modules, and we cannot guarantee you will pick BPS modules.
With only two core modules in year two and one in year three, you will have the choice of 32 modules from a range of subjects, studying 3 in second and third year, for a total of 6 module choices across the degree.
Not everyone gets to their destination on the same journey. That’s why we designed this degree to empower you to go on your own path. This course is designed to give you a more personalized degree pathway.
You will have the benefit of fewer core modules and more optional modules allowing you to ‘tailor make’ your programme to suit your own goals.
You can choose to stay on BSc (Hons) Psychological studies or switch to BSc (Hons) Psychology, BSc (Hons) Counselling Psychology, BSc (Hons) Psychology and Criminology, BSc (Hons) Sport and Exercise Psychology, BSc (Hons) Forensic Psychology, after your first year in any.
These specialisms are also offered as four-year programmes, including an initial Foundation Year. The Foundation Year will allow you to develop your academic study skills and build confidence in your abilities, identifying your own strengths and development needs for progression onto an undergraduate programme and are available if you didn't meet the entry requirements.
How will I be taught and assessed?
This course is not BPS accredited, which means you will not be eligible for graduate chartered membership. This is because you have gained the option of choosing more of your own modules, and we cannot guarantee you will pick BPS modules.
There are many ways you can be assessed, and assessments are designed to help you learn and identify certain areas you need to improve. We use a variety of assessment techniques to look at your ability and areas you may need support with. You must pass the module assessments to progress with the course. Some of the methods we use are:
- exams
- presentations
- group work
- projects
- labs
- coursework
I have always loved psychology and the further along the course, the more freedom there is. The option to choose modules in the last year also lets me study exactly what I love. The facilities are really great; the library and other course-related facilities are super accessible to students.Emma Fraser-Mills
What are the course entry requirements?
A typical offer will require a UCAS tariff score of: 104 - 128 (Full-Time) or 32 - 56 (Foundation Year)
UCAS points can be obtained through qualifications such as A levels, T levels, BTEC or an Access to Higher Education course in a relevant subject. Please list all your qualifications on the application form as you will be asked to provide copies when we receive your application.
For this course, you'll need at least two A-levels and a GCSE Maths and English at grade C/4.
For further details of our international English entry requirements, please visit our international pages.
Applicants who do not meet the minimum requirements for the three-year undergraduate programme, or those who do not feel fully prepared for a degree course, can apply for a four-year programme including a Foundation Year; find out more.
Modules
This provides a guide of the modules that make up your course. You can find more information about how your course is structured on our Academic Advice section.
This course has Opportunity modules.
Opportunity modules are a key part of the BNU curriculum. You’ll choose modules in both your first and second year from a broad selection in areas such as sustainability, entrepreneurship, creativity, digital skills, personal growth, civic engagement, health & wellbeing and employment. Opportunity modules are designed to enable you to develop outside the traditional boundaries of your discipline and help you to further stand out from the crowd to future employers. Find out more.
You have the option to choose 2 x 10 credit Level 5 Opportunity modules from the Opportunity module catalogue www.bnu.ac.uk/oppmodules
What are the tuition fees
Home
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Home, Academic Year 2024 - 2025: £9,250 per year
International
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Overseas/International, Academic Year 2024 - 2025: £15,150 per year
What are my career prospects?
With such a strong academic grounding, as well as the transferrable skills you’ll develop along the way, you are well-placed to succeed wherever you go. In addition, you will have chosen modules that get you the kind of career you wanted.
There are many options to explore with your Psychology degree; it’s the first step to starting postgraduate study in a more focused area.
If you’d prefer to dive right into the world of work and explore a career in health, education, local government, or the private and public sector, you could consider careers in the Civil Service, Her Majesty's Prison & Probation Service (HMPPS), local authorities and the NHS.
Graduates can choose to continue their studies at BNU and study a postgraduate programme, such as our MSc Applied Positive Psychology, MSc Mental Health and Wellbeing in Education, or even the MSc Cognitive Behavioural Therapy.
There are numerous opportunities which your degree could help to open. Our graduates have gone on to successful careers in psychology, clinical psychology, forensic psychology, therapy, nursing, and private and public businesses.
The course seemed very open and I knew it would keep my options open to then specialize later rather than specializing early and therefore restricting my options later in my career.Piers Bowden
- Associate Professor
- Course Leader for MSc Mental Health and Wellbeing in Education
- Head of the School of Human and Social Sciences
- Associate Professor of Education & Research