Course summary
With our flagship four year programme you'll stand out with a masters level qualification in psychology tailored to your chosen career. Building on foundations of clinical, social, developmental, and cognitive psychology, the specialist advanced modules offered in the fourth year will put you on the ladder to your chosen career in professional psychology.
- Our hands-on approach to learning embeds practical activities throughout the programme, so you can put new knowledge into practice and build the skills for future careers.
- Wide range of elective modules allows you to shape the psychologist you want to become, allowing a deep-dive on techniques in clinical practice, neuroscience and behaviour change.
- Taught lectures are concentrated on three specific days of the week (although some sessions may fall outside this pattern), allowing full or part-time study to be combined with research, work experience, or external commitments.
- Advanced instruction on all aspects of the research cycle: from the formulation of the research question, experiment design, data analysis, through to the written and oral communication of your findings and applications for further research funding.
- Work with world-leading researchers and practitioners in the exploration of a research topic of your own choosing.
- Our extensive range of specialist facilities and laboratories, including neuroimaging, observation, virtual reality, and the Plymouth Babylab, allow you to make an original contribution to your chosen area of specialism.
Modules
In your first year, modules provide a foundation of knowledge and skills across the breadth of psychology. You will learn about how we think, perceive the world, and interact with each other. You will also study key topics in clinical and developmental psychology, how we interact with our environment and how it shapes us, and how we are motivated to achieve our goals. In your second year, with a focus on developing research and practical skills, you will get additional hands-on experience in designing and testing your own experiments to explore a range of topics. You also continue to build upon your knowledge of the core areas of psychology, getting to grips with key concepts from across cognitive, developmental, social and clinical psychology. If you choose, you can take an optional work placement after your second year, expanding your knowledge of psychology in a real world context across the UK. Apply to spend a year honing your skills on a psychological professional/work placement. Gain invaluable experience, make professional contacts and receive a Certificate of Professional/Industrial Placement. Please note some placements may require Occupation Health and/or Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks. In your third year, shape the psychologist that you want to become with freedom of choice across a wide range of current psychology topics. With the study of morals, psychopharmacology, music and emotion, deception, and animal behaviour to name just a few of the topics, you are free to explore the areas of psychology that interest and benefit you the most. These studies are also augmented by a supervised research project, where you will work alongside one of our world-class research academics on a question of your own choosing. In your final year, having completed three years to at least a second-class degree standard, you will progress to the study of masters level topics in psychology. These advanced studies build upon the specialist knowledge gained in the previous year, providing a greater depth of experience designed to prepare you for a future career in professional psychology or research. Core modules provide the training on the core concepts and skills used in research and practice. This includes advanced instruction in data fluency, experiment design and the communication of research, and the role of qualitative and interpretative techniques in the application of psychology to everyday problems. A wide range of specialist techniques are offered as options, allowing you to build a suite of specific techniques required for your future career in research or practice clinical psychology, neuroscience, or behaviour change techniques. The modules shown for this course or programme are those being studied by current students, or expected new modules. Modules are subject to change depending on year of entry and up to date information can be found on our website.
Assessment method
For up to date details, please refer to our website or contact the institution directly.
Professional bodies
Professionally accredited courses provide industry-wide recognition of the quality of your qualification.
- British Psychological Society
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
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
Please select a course option – you will then see the application code you need to use to apply for the course.
Points of entry
The following entry points are available for this course:
- Year 1
- Year 2
- Year 3
- Year 4
International applicants
The University of Plymouth has a dedicated International Student Advice (ISA) service who will support you from the day you accept an offer at the University, right through to graduation. They will offer help and advice so you can get the most out of your studies, and your time in the UK, visit www.plymouth.ac.uk/student-life/services/international-students/international-student-advice for more information. Once you have applied through UCAS, your conditional offer letters will also be sent to you by email, so be sure to enter your current email address on your application and to check this email regularly. You'll need your unconditional letter, and the Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies (CAS) that we'll send you, when applying for your student visa to the UK. A tuition fee deposit will be required before we'll send you the CAS. We're a licenced Sponsor under the Points Based System. To comply with our duties as a Sponsor, we're required to check other aspects of your application in addition to your academic achievements, for example any previous studies, financial status and your immigration history in the UK. For course entry requirements (inc. English requirements) please refer to the specific page for the course you are interested in (www.plymouth.ac.uk/study). A recognised English language qualification (e.g. IELTS) would be required or successful completion of one of the University's pre-sessional English Language courses. Check our country pages to find out more about application from your specific home country www.plymouth.ac.uk/international/study/international-students-country-guides. International fees, please visit our fees and funding pages www.plymouth.ac.uk/study/fees. If you have any questions please contact [email protected].
Entry requirements
Qualification requirements
UCAS Tariff - 120 - 136 points
A level
Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Diploma (first teaching from September 2016) - DDM
Access to HE Diploma - D: 30 credits M: 15 credits P: 0 credits
Scottish Higher
Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Diploma (first teaching from September 2016)
Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Foundation Diploma (first teaching from September 2016)
Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Certificate (first teaching from September 2016)
Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Certificate (first teaching from September 2016)
Scottish Advanced Higher
International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme - 32 - 34 points
Welsh Baccalaureate - Advanced Skills Challenge Certificate (last awarded Summer 2024)
Extended Project
Leaving Certificate - Higher Level (Ireland) (first awarded in 2017)
T Level - D
5 GCSE subjects at grade C/4 or above are preferred and this does not necessarily need to be Mathematics and English subjects
Student Outcomes
The number of student respondents and response rates can be important in interpreting the data – it is important to note your experience may be different from theirs. This data will be based on the subject area rather than the specific course. Read more about this data on the Discover Uni website.
Fees and funding
Tuition fees
No fee information has been provided for this course
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
Provider information
University of Plymouth
Drake Circus
Plymouth
PL4 8AA