About postgraduate study

There are two main types of postgraduate courses - taught courses and research degrees. Here we explain what you study, and how and what you'll learn.

We place emphasis on projects and assignments which are relevant to work. You're particularly encouraged to undertake projects that involve an industrial or commercial partner. And clinical practice placements are important in many of our health-related courses.

Postgraduate courses, such as master of science (MSc) and master of arts (MA) courses, cover more advanced aspects of subjects studied at undergraduate level. You receive credit for each module you pass.

Master's degrees often include intermediate awards such as a postgraduate certificate (60 credits) and a postgraduate diploma (120 credits). For a full master's degree award, you need to complete 180 credits successfully. This includes the core element of advanced independent work, such as a research project or dissertation.

We offer other full-time taught postgraduate courses including:

• postgraduate certificates (PgCert)
• postgraduate diplomas (PgDip)
• master of business administration (MBA)
• master of laws (LLM)
• doctor of clinical psychology (DClinPsy)
• doctor of counselling psychology (DCounPsy).

More information

If you need more information about a course, call the relevant admissions enquiries number.

Duration

A full-time master's degree normally lasts for one year with 25-35 contact hours each week. You will also need to do private study throughout. Doctorates usually last for two to three years.

Assessments

Methods vary but you'll find emphasis is placed on assignments, essays, case studies and project work and less on formal exams. The final part is usually an advanced independent dissertation or project.

Research degrees involve supervised individual investigation of a subject area culminating in a thesis. Full-time students is about 35 hours a week on research, part-time around 12.
More about research degrees

Duration

A full-time MPhil or MProf is between 18 and 36 months. A full-time PhD or DProf is between 24 and 60 months. In most cases, you can only study a DProf award part time and relate it to your job.

As a research student you're expected to spend approximately 35 hours a week on your studies which includes attending induction and research skills.

Studying part time

We also offer a wide range of part-time postgraduate courses. Some are run on both a full- and part-time basis - this is indicated in the course entries here. Others are solely run on a part-time basis.
More about part-time study