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Public Sociology at Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh - UCAS

Course options

2025 - 2026
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Course summary

Please note: for September 2025 entry there is only direct entry onto Year 2 and 3 for this course. Please refer to our Sociology course (L400) if you are looking for entry into Year 1. You will embrace new ideas and schools of thought on this intellectually stimulating and personally empowering BSc/BSc (Hons) Public Sociology course. It encourages rigorous critical thinking on complex and challenging social issues, opening the door to a wide range of careers. Why QMU?

  • Unique in Scotland: Our degree continues to be the first in Scotland to have Public Sociology as our underpinning ethos and practice.
  • Learn from tutors who are actively involved in social justice campaigning: This will help you to see how Sociology can contribute to challenging inequality and improving people’s lives.
  • Dynamic learning environment: We engage our students in a wide range of learning experiences which are intellectually stimulating and personally empowering, ranging from traditional lectures, small seminar and study groups, to opportunities for work-based learning and community engagement experiences.
  • Support for students: Our class sizes are smaller compared with some universities, so you have closer and more individually tailored support and guidance from our staff.
On this course you will:
  • Engage with diverse communities and develop a sense of the ways in which a public sociological imagination can meaningfully intervene in real-world political and social events.
  • Ask, and be able to answer, critical questions such as 'What is the nature of society and how can we change it for the better? What are the root causes of social injustice and inequality? How could we change society’s perception of them, and make the actual changes themselves?
  • Reflect upon the ways in which sociological knowledge can affect real change in people’s everyday lives.
  • Learn how to critique preconceptions about social equality and justice.
  • Learn how to make sense of complex and challenging social issues, and how to provoke change.
  • Understand how the public sociologist and sociological knowledge can create radical approaches to solving social problems.
If you have an enquiring, questioning mind and you want to understand more about human societies, social problems, interactions and experiences, you will thrive on this course. It is Scotland’s first public sociology course and we continue to be pioneering in the way we think. Our students have chosen fascinating and original topics to research for their dissertations, from women’s body image on social media to a community campaign on gentrification.

Modules

Year One •Introduction to Academia and the Sociological Imagination •Foundations of Psychology •Introduction to Psychology •Diversity, Identity and Wellbeing •Methods of Investigation Year Two •Social Inquiry – Philosophy and Design •Social and Developmental Psychology •Psychological Literacy •Production and Consumption of Culture •Engaged Sociology Year Three •Current Debates in Sociology •Sociology of Liberation •Interaction and Social Order •Poverty and Social Exclusion •Social Research – Theory and Practice •Changing World: Social Movement and Global Change Year Four •Dissertation •European Social Policy and Politics •Options may include: Gender Justice and Violence: Feminist Approaches/ Queer Theory, Gender and Sexual Politics; Sociology of Scotland/ Public Sociology Education The modules listed here are correct at time of posting (Feb 2022) but may differ slightly to those offered in 2023. Please check back here for any updates.

Assessment method

You will be taught in lectures, seminars and practical workshops. Outside these timetabled sessions you will be expected to continue learning through self-study. You will be assessed by essays and a variety of other ways including written reports, presentations and groupwork.

Qualified teacher status (QTS)

To work as a teacher at a state school in England or Wales, you will need to achieve qualified teacher status (QTS). This is offered on this course for the following level:

  • Course does not award QTS

How to apply

29Jan

This is the deadline for applications to be completed and sent for this course. If the university or college still has places available you can apply after this date, but your application is not guaranteed to be considered.

Application codes

Course code:
L390
Institution code:
Q25
Campus name:
Queen Margaret University
Campus code:
-

Points of entry

The following entry points are available for this course:

  • Year 2
  • Year 3

Entry requirements for advanced entry (i.e. into Year 2 and beyond)

We can consider applications to level 2 or 3 with suitable qualifications. Agreed articulation routes from Scottish HNC and HND programmes can be found here: https://www.qmu.ac.uk/study-here/access-to-higher-education/college-leavers-and-mature-students/

Entry requirements

Standard Qualification Requirements

We accept many different qualifications, but cannot list them all here. Please contact the Admissions Team for further information or advice if you are thinking of taking a course of study. We welcome applications from international and EU applicants and you can find information on specific entry requirements by country here: https://www.qmu.ac.uk/study-here/international-students/information-for-your-country/. We also welcome applications from mature students, or people holding qualifications such as Access courses or OU modules. The Scottish Wider Access Partnership (SWAP) offers a range of local Access courses and those that are accepted for entry are listed here: https://www.qmu.ac.uk/college-qualifications

Minimum Qualification Requirements

English language requirements

IELTS with an overall score equivalent to 6.0 and with no individual component less than 5.5.

QMU English Language Requirements

https://www.qmu.ac.uk/study-here/international-students/english-language-requirements/

Student Outcomes

Operated by the Office for Students

There is no data available for this course. For further information visit the Discover Uni website.

Fees and funding

Tuition fees

Scotland £1820 Year 1
England £9250 Year 1
Northern Ireland £9250 Year 1
Wales £9250 Year 1
Channel Islands £9250 Year 1
Republic of Ireland £9250 Year 1
International £9250 Year 1

Tuition fee status depends on a number of criteria and varies according to where in the UK you will study. For further guidance on the criteria for home or overseas tuition fees, please refer to the UKCISA website .

Additional fee information

Students from England, Northern Ireland, Wales and Republic of Ireland: full-time Rest of UK fees will be charged for the first three years of study. The fourth year is free.
Public Sociology at Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh - UCAS