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What makes Healthcare at the University of Worcester special?

There is an every-growing need for versatile, adaptable and skilled health and social care professionals. An ageing population with evolving needs, coupled with an expanding range of services being provided in the community and people’s homes, means that roles and practices within health and social care are undergoing rapid change. 

This course has been carefully designed to equip you with the necessary skills, abilities and knowledge to thrive in health and social care and make a positive change for good.

You’ll study all aspects of the profession from a holistic standpoint, including critical issues in the care of people at every stage of life, as well as covering policies and trends, and social and psychological approaches to care.

You will graduate with the knowledge, understanding and core skills to pursue a wide range of careers in a variety of health and social care settings.

Overview

Overview

Key features

  • Solid preparation for a career in the modern health and social care sector, as well as the ability to adapt in the future
  • Become a reflective practitioner by working with diverse groups, exploring and challenging your own values
  • Study in exceptional learning facilities alongside students on a wide range of healthcare courses
  • Bring your studies to life and put theory into practice with work placements at every level of the course
  • Learn with inspirational, friendly and supportive teaching staff with years of experience in all areas of health and social care
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It’s not too late to apply!

You can still apply to study with us after the January UCAS deadline. Don’t be tempted to rush an application together as fast as you can, you still want to make sure your application and personal statement are as good as possible.

Your teachers can still write you a reference after the January deadline so make sure to let them know you’re applying to university

Register your interest

Enter your details below and we will keep you up to date with useful information about studying at the University of Worcester.


Entry requirements

What qualifications will you need?

112
UCAS tariff points

Entry requirements

112 UCAS Tariff points 

Including a minimum of 4 GCSEs (Grade C/4 or above) and a minimum of 2 A-levels (or equivalent Level 3 qualifications). Or have completed the Healthcare Foundation Year.

Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) requirements

Students are required to demonstrate health and character sufficient to ensure safe and effective healthcare practice. This includes a satisfactory Enhanced DBS.

Don't quite meet the entry requirements or returning to education? Consider studying a Healthcare Foundation Year.

Mature applicants

As an inclusive university, we recognise that applicants who have been out of education for some time may not have the formal qualifications usually required for entry to a course. We welcome applications from those who can demonstrate their enthusiasm and commitment to study and have the relevant life/work experience that equips them to succeed on the course. We will assess this from the information provided in your application – in particular your personal statement - to help us decide on your eligibility for the course.

If you have any questions about entry requirements please contact our Admissions Office for advice on 01905 855111 or email admissions@worc.ac.uk.

Further information about the UCAS Tariff can be obtained from the UCAS Website.

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Course content

What will you study

Our courses are informed by research and current developments in the discipline and feedback from students, external examiners and employers. Modules do therefore change periodically in the interests of keeping the course relevant and reflecting best practice. The most up-to-date information will be available to you once you have accepted a place and registered for the course. If there are insufficient numbers of students interested in an optional module, this might not be offered, but we will advise you as soon as possible and help you choose an alternative. 

Year 1

Mandatory

  • Understanding the personal journey in integrated healthcare systems
  • Introduction to evidence based-practice (EBP)
  • Bio-Psycho-social approaches to health and well-being- across the life course
  • Professionalism- the importance of governance, policy and law

Optional

Year 2

Mandatory

  • Applied research in integrated care systems
  • Inequalities and social justice in integrated care systems
  • The impact of Teamwork, Leadership and Quality Assurance
  • Placement Learning in the Community 2

Optional

Year 3

Mandatory

  • Quality improvement and change management
  • Leading and entrepreneurship in Integrated Care Systems (ICS)
  • Independent project within the workplace
  • Empowering communities for change

Optional

  • Understanding conditions that affect healthcare provision across the life-course
  • Substance misuse
  • Understanding domestic abuse
  • Contemporary issues in mental health

Placements

Placement learning within the BSc Healthcare with Foundation Year course takes a progressive, structured approach built around the needs of the individual student and enables you to actively engage with areas of integrated care systems that are of interest to you and to move beyond what you know - to create new knowledge and skills - to the application of these in real world contexts. It will allow you to explore the role of leadership and management within an integrated care system. Through authentic placement learning, you are prepared for work-readiness through personal and professional reflection and development.  

At level 4 (year 1), you are supported to complete an optional short 2 week placement within an integrated care system and undertake a small practice focussed activity on an aspect of leadership and management that enables you to apply theory to practice and practice to theory. This will provide you with insight into the role of leadership within an integrated care system and give you the opportunity to make sense of the operational aspects of the placement. You will shadow a person with responsibility for leading and managing teams. With support, you will create a series of blogs/video logs to capture your learning in placement. The placement module provides you with practice focussed experience in relation to leadership and management in practice.

Where possible this will be supported through links with the local employing organisations including Council Social Care teams, local health care Trusts and organisations in the Private, Voluntary and Independent (PIV) organisations.   

At Level 5 (year 2) you will be supported to undertake a 2-week block of placement. You will once again, shadow a person in a senior role with responsibility for leading and managing teams. Alongside this, you will consider how decisions are made involving service users and how these decisions may impact them. Drawing on learning across modules, you will build on the PDP and write an individual account that critically explores your understanding of leading and managing in an integrated care team. It will also explore the place of Self as leader. 

Placement learning culminates at level 6 (year 3) as students complete a project to support development of previous placement experiences. Academic and research skills and knowledge and professionalism are applied to a real-life practice setting as they undertake an independent project focusing on an area of change management or a research project. You will be supported by your module leader to identify an appropriate project. 

Teaching and assessment

How will you be taught?

The University places emphasis on enabling students to develop the independent learning capabilities that will equip you for academic achievement, lifelong learning and future employment. A mixture of independent study, teaching and academic support through the personal academic tutoring system enables you to reflect on progress and build up a profile of skills, achievements and experiences that will enable you to flourish and be successful.

Teaching

The majority of teaching sessions are face to face on campus. Lectures or lecture workshops for some modules will be delivered online either ‘live’ or pre-recorded. Individual and small group tutorials will be arranged online as this has proven to be convenient and popular with students.

The learning and teaching strategies of this creative and exciting healthcare course promote active student engagement. The Inclusion Toolkit is used to develop accessible, flexible and inclusive approaches that empower you to engage with self-directed learning. Blended and inclusive teaching and assessment occurs across all academic modules.  The course is challenging and student-focused, utilising scenario-based and e-learning strategies, rooted in the real world of contemporary integrated care systems, allowing you to build knowledge, solve problems and make decisions as you become a reflective practitioner and leader. 

You will learn through a combination of face-to-face taught sessions in lectures, on-line and in practical skills sessions, seminars and tutorials. Workshops, group projects, placement visits, work-related case studies, role playing, and a research project offer experiential learning opportunities including contributions from service users and providers providing authentic interactions.  Further, needs analysis, problem-solving and decision making are key elements of the course.  

Seminars enable rich discussion and development of understanding of topics covered in lectures, and practical sessions are focused on developing subject specific skills and applied individual and group project work.  In addition, a strength of the course is that many modules are informed by staff whose research and professional practice are in specific areas such as Occupational Therapy, Physiotherapy, Paramedic Science, Nursing, Social work. 

You are given detailed module outlines, which include planned teaching activity, attendance requirements, assessment brief, assessment criteria and reading lists. You will be expected to attend all taught sessions, some of which maybe online whilst others may be face-to-face. You are expected to complete all assessments unless mitigating circumstances prevail. Taught sessions will include activities that depend on your participation and collaboration. Work-related case studies, role play and discussion, for instance, depend on participants’ attendance and regard for the learning of others for their value as well as for your own learning. You will also be expected to read around the subject areas you are studying. In addition, meetings with Personal Academic Tutors (PATs) are scheduled on at least four occasions during the first year with an additional three occasions in the second and third years.  As part of this course, you are required to complete a Personal Development Plan (PDP) to support their future employability. 

The Blackboard Learning System, the University’s Virtual Learning Environment (VLE), is used to provide module-specific learning resources. These include, but are not limited to, module outlines and handouts, lecture material, videos, various documents, reading lists, formative assessments and feedback/feedforward on summative assessments. 

Contact time

Contact time is likely to be a maximum of 15 hours per week. The precise contact hours will depend on the optional modules selected and in the final year you will normally have slightly less contact time in order to do more independent study. Typically contact time will be structured around:

  • Lectures and seminars (face to face and online)
  • Interactive workshops
  • Group work (problem and enquiry-based learning) 

Independent self-study

In addition to the contact time, you are expected to undertake around 22 hours of personal self-study per week. Typically, this will involve completing online activities, reading journal articles and books, working on individual and group projects, undertaking research in the library and online, preparing coursework assignments and presentations, and preparing for examinations.

Independent learning is supported by a range of excellent learning facilities, including The Hive and library resources, the virtual learning environment, and extensive electronic learning resources.

Timetables

Timetables are normally available one month before registration. Please note that whilst we try to be as student-friendly as possible, scheduled teaching can take place on any day of the week; and some classes can be scheduled in the evenings.

Teaching staff

You will be taught by a teaching team whose expertise and knowledge are closely matched to the content of the modules on the course. The team includes senior academics, professional practitioners and work-based learning tutors all with industry experience.

Teaching is informed by the research and consultancy, and (as at March 2019) 100% per cent of lecturers have a higher education teaching qualification or are Fellows of the Higher Education Academy.

You can learn more about the staff by visiting our staff profiles.

Assessment

The course provides opportunities to test understanding and learning informally through the completion of practice or ‘formative’ assignments. Each module has one or more formal or ‘summative’ assessments which are graded and count towards the overall module grade. 

The precise assessment requirements for an individual student in an academic year will include:

Year 1

  • Case study
  • Presentations
  • Essay
  • Literature review
  • Resource
  • Reflective Log
  • Personal Development Plan
  • Reports

Year 2

  • Research Proposal
  • Exam
  • Presentations
  • Debate
  • Reflective Portfolio
  • Essay
  • Design Learning Materials
  • Report

Year 3

  • Essays
  • Presentations
  • Needs Assessment and Gap Analysis
  • Reports
  • Viva voce
  • Work Based Project

Feedback

You will receive feedback on practice assessments and on formal assessments undertaken by coursework. Feedback is intended to support learning and you are encouraged to discuss it with personal academic tutors and module tutors as appropriate.

We aim to provide you with feedback on formal course work assessments within 20 working days of hand-in.

Programme specification

For comprehensive details on the aims and intended learning outcomes of the course, and the means by which these are achieved through learning, teaching and assessment, please download the latest programme specification document.

Careers

Where could it take you?

Health and Social Care practitioners are employed in a wide range of organisations and specialities.  Many work for the National Health Service and Social Care organisations but there is a growing number of opportunities in the private sector as well as the Independent sector.

Professionals work with people of all ages from childhood through to the end of life and support people with physical or mental health needs, learning disabilities and those whose opportunities are restricted by circumstance.

Practical interview and self-development skills are taught and practiced and students have opportunities to meet with local employers to develop an understanding of what makes a successful candidate for a specific job role. 

Opportunities are provided for students to explore the employment possibilities of the NHS, Social Care, Private Sector and Voluntary Organisations. In addition, the course acts to support the development of key transferable skills required by different settings, enabling students to apply for such jobs within the voluntary sector, private sector, public sector or NHS.

Graduates from this course will also be highly competitive candidates for further postgraduate study at MSc, MPhil and PhD level.

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Careers and Employability

Our Graduates pursue exciting and diverse careers in a wide variety of employment sectors.

Find out how we can support you to achieve your potential.
Costs

How much will it cost?

Full-time tuition fees

UK and EU students

The standard fee for full-time home and EU undergraduate students enrolling on BA/BSc/LLB degrees and FdA/FdSc degrees in the 2023/24 academic year is £9,250 per year.

For more details, please visit our course fees page.

International students

The standard tuition fee for full-time international students enrolling on BA/BSc/LLB degrees and FdA/FdSc degrees in the 2023/24 academic year is £14,700 per year.

For more details, please visit our course fees page.

Part-time tuition fees

UK and EU students

The standard tuition fees for part-time UK and EU students registering on this course in the academic year 2023/24 are £1,156 per 15-credit module, £1,542 per 20-credit module, £2,312 per 30-credit module, £3,083 per 40-credit module, £3,469 per 45-credit module and £4,625 per 60 credit module.

For more details, please visit our course fees page.

Additional costs

Every course has day-to-day costs for basic books, stationery, printing and photocopying. The amounts vary between courses.

If your course offers a placement opportunity, you may need to pay for an Enhanced Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) check.

Accommodation

Finding the right accommodation is paramount to your university experience. Our halls of residence are home to friendly student communities, making them great places to live and study.

We have over 1,000 rooms across our range of student halls. With rooms to suit every budget and need, from our 'Traditional Hall' at £122 per week to 'En-suite Premium' at £207 per week (2023/24 prices).

For full details visit our accommodation page.

How to apply