September 2024

Applied Health and Social Care Top-Up Degree BSc (Hons)

Top-up Degree, Undergraduate, September 2024

Key Details

  • L500 Course Code
  • 1-2 Years
Students working

The BSc (Hons) Applied Health and Social Care Top-Up award is designed to take students who have completed a range of level 5 qualifications to progression to an honours degree. It helps students to apply theory and practice in both health and social care settings and offers a platform for employment in health or social care.

The course is rooted in the theory and the links to practice. It is suitable for those who wish to pursue a career in the Health and Social Care sector or for those who wish to progress into postgraduate study or research.

Full time applications for this top-up award are made via UCAS and part-time applications are made directly to Newman University. 

We continue to accept applications for September 2023. Applications to join us in 2024 can be submitted from this September.

This course is specifically designed for level 6 students. It builds upon existing skills developed at levels 4 and 5 and enables students to progress their qualification to BSc (Hons) Applied Health and Social Care.

The course intends to develop in students the appropriate knowledge, understandings, skills and values required of them to work, research and continue their studies in health and social care.

It will provide a range of educational experiences that enable students to work in dynamic multi agency environments. It will enable students to develop a professional and insightful approaches to their work with individuals and communities with the aim of improving outcomes for all. Topics covered include safeguarding, healthy communities, leadership and management in health and social care, study skills and research, in addition to including an exciting research dissertation project on a topic chosen by the student.

The course uses a variety of assessments to help develop a range of different skills from traditional essay and report writing to presentations, case study analysis tasks and research projects.

Your assessments serve a vital role in helping you gain the skills that you will need in post graduate employment or study.

A wide range of careers are available across several environments such as health and social care in the public, private and third sectors.

This qualification would be suitable for people considering moving on to gain postgraduate qualifications in nursing, midwifery, social work and occupational therapy.

Graduates from this course could take on leadership and management roles in health or social care and would be capable of working within a multi-agency environment nationally and globally.

The skills and knowledge gained from this course are also transferable to a range of disciplines or employment opportunities.

Newman University is located in Britain’s second city – Birmingham. With one of the youngest city populations in Europe, it is a vibrant and dynamic place to study.

Studying at Newman University, you have the advantage of being near to the city, but living in, or commuting to peaceful and comfortable surroundings on campus.

Dining out

Birmingham has lots of wonderful places to dine out with a range of different cuisines. Places where you can dine out include; Brindley Place, Mailbox and Hagley Road (just 10 minutes’ from Newman).

Entertainment

Whether you like to go to; the theatre, gigs or clubs, or enjoy: sports, shopping visiting art galleries or exhibitions – Birmingham will not disappoint and you will be spoilt for choice!

Location

Getting around Birmingham is easy via train, bus or by car. Birmingham has excellent transport links to the rest of Britain, making it easy for those weekend getaways!

Why not explore the city for yourself by visiting one of our Open Days?

Want to find out more about Birmingham? Then take a look at some Birmingham City Secrets.

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Entry Requirements

Entry requirements are flexible and recognize a range of academic qualifications. All applicants will need to have 120 credits at level 4 and 120 credits at level 5. For example a relevant HND or Foundation degree qualification.

International Students
The University is not licensed by the UK Government to sponsor migrant students under the Student route and is therefore unable to accept applications from international students at present.

Applying Direct Option

You can apply direct to Newman University for the full-time route for this course if you have not previously applied to Newman University through UCAS and you are not applying to any other universities.

For September 2024 Full Time: Direct Application 

For September 2024 Part Time: Direct Application 

N.B. will need to enter ‘New User’ account details when first accessing this portal.

Course Fees

The full-time course fee for September 2024 is £9,250.

For internal Newman foundation degree students choosing to study the top-up degree part-time the course fee is £7,200 for September 2024.

The University will review tuition fees and increase fees in line with any inflationary uplift as determined by the UK Government, if permitted by law or government policy, in subsequent years of your course. It is anticipated that such increases would be linked to RPI (the Retail Price Index excluding mortgage interest payments).

Modules

Please be aware that, as with any course, there may be changes to the modules delivered, for information view our Changes to Programmes or Module Changes page.

Timetables: find out when information is available to students

  1. This module is designed to equip students with the necessary research and academic skills to achieve in the final year of their degree.  They will critically reflect on their own capabilities and needs as independent learners in higher education, be supported in the use of academic language and communication to produce clear, critical written work, with skills in referencing a variety of academic sources appropriate to the level of study.  They will also develop a greater understanding and appreciation of research towards the development of their own piece of independent research, including search, retrieving and using academic sources and skills for undertaking quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods research.
  2. This module will explore and examine a range of health interventions designed to improve overall human health across the lifespan (children, adults and older people). Interventions to prevent disease, treat or reduce the impact of disease and improve the functional movement during recovery from illness/disease will be explored and critically examined. Focus will be on current interventions that have been developed to improve or change one or more major health behaviours (e.g. physical inactivity, poor nutrition, stress, smoking etc). The clustered effects of these behaviours directly account for almost half of overall premature deaths in the UK, therefore, the understanding and application of preventive and therapeutic interventions in Health and Social Care practice is important for practitioners to understand.
  3. This module will set in context the issue of safeguarding vulnerable adults and children.  Exploring the history and social policy of safeguarding adults and children, offering classifications of abuse, providing definitions of who might become a vulnerable adult, exploring types of abuse, how to recognise abuse, reporting and monitoring abuse in various settings. The module will offer opportunities to critically debate and discuss issues such as risk and resilience, mental health, disability and aging, record keeping and confidentiality.
  4. This course will provide students with the skills to manage and lead effectively in complex, dynamic and interprofessional/multidisciplinary organisations. It will develop students both personally and professionally ensuring they have the tools they need to support future development and empower them to achieve their potential for career progression. Students will advance their knowledge of recent health and social care policy developments and consider the current and future health and social care needs of clients in order to ensure that the views of service users and carers are fully represented in the management of care processes.
  5. This module builds on prior learning and offers students the opportunity for further development of skills and knowledge learnt throughout the course with the opportunity to further develop a topic in health and social care that has been of particular interest. The dissertation involves the development of an independent research project.  There are two ways of conducting the project: a piece of primary research involving the collection of data and analysis of a specific topic in health and social care or a literature based project involving the analysis of secondary data. The project must include the critical analysis of relevant literature, the application of theoretical principles and must have include research appropriate for a science based degree, with the use of quantitative or mixed methods research.
  6. At level 4, students were introduced to the socio-political and legislative perspectives of social policy at national, regional and local levels. This module advances students’ knowledge and understanding of social policy through exploring current perspectives, and through examining contemporary processes in the commissioning of health and social care services within a mixed economy and the implications for service provision.