MSc Psychology Conversion

Course Overview

The MSc Psychology is a programme that offers you the opportunity to convert your existing qualifications and learning to an award that meets the requirements for the Graduate Basis for Chartered Membership and the starting point to becoming a Chartered Psychologist.

In order to enrol on this conversion course you will need to have already have passed an undergraduate degree in psychology or achieved at least a 2:1 in a non-psychology degree.

What will this course cover?

You will cover all the core areas of psychology such as; personality, social, cognitive, developmental, biopsychology. In addition you will learn in detail about applying various research methods to an empirical project. In your second semester, you will also have a single option to allow specialisation in one of a number of sub-disciplines of psychology.

The Psychology Department at Bucks New University actively promotes the involvement of local agencies, companies and individuals in delivering sessions to all our students. These exciting opportunities to hear from, and liaise with, external experts include HM Prison and Probation Staff, Counselling Psychologists, Senior Police Officers, Neuropsychologists, Occupational Psychologists etc. There are also frequently external visits to relevant museums, prisons, courts and sports venues to see psychology in an applied context.

Course Details

The course can either be taken full-time over one year or part-time over two years. The structure of the course allows you to specialise in a psychology sub-discipline in the second semester by taking an optional component taught by one of our departmental experts. For example: Investigative and Forensic Psychology; Counselling Psychology; Evolutionary Psychology; Business and Organisational Psychology. This could also form the basis of the Dissertation. In addition, the Applied Research Skillsmodule provides a substantive amount of online material throughout the year, to further support the research methods component of the course.

In workshops and lectures, we’ll take you through the various techniques you need to analyse data. You’ll focus on the practical use of the statistics software package SPSS, used by social scientists to analyse and present quantitative data. And you’ll have the opportunity to use the observation laboratory and to use specialist equipment such as Biopac©, allowing measurement of the activity of the cariovascular system, brain, autonomic nervous system and more, Tobii eye tracking equipment and HTC Vive, virtual reality software.

Teaching and Assessment

A variety of assessments are incorporated into the course such as essays, exams, reflective reports, group and individual presentations, risk assessment and portfolio work.

Although MSc students complete Level 7 assignments and are working with a more intensive timetable, you will also sit in lectures with second and third year students and may also work in group settings with such students.

What are my career prospects

The MSc Psychology will enable you to embark upon a variety of careers in psychology by providing you with the necessary qualification for entering Master’s and Doctoral programmes that fulfil the criteria (Stage One in the case of Master’s) for Chartered Status. Thus, the programme is suitable for both recent graduates and individuals wishing to pursue a career change.

The MSc is also an ideal programme for teachers in pre-tertiary education who are currently teaching Psychology A-level, without a formal academic qualification in the subject.