BSc (Hons) Adult Nursing

Course Overview

Adult nursing is a fantastic career choice if you are committed, compassionate and keen to work with adults of all ages. Your adult nursing career can be as varied or as specialised as you choose. Whichever career route you follow, at UEA you’ll receive the very best education so that you can go on to provide high-quality adult nursing care.

On the BSc (Hons) Adult Nursing programme at UEA, you’ll combine first-hand clinical experience with academic study. You’ll join a supportive and dynamic community of students, who will go on to become sought-after healthcare professionals.

You’ll gain the skills, experience and knowledge required to prepare you to provide expert care as a qualified nurse. You’ll learn to provide nursing care for adults who have acute and long-term health conditions. At UEA we take an inclusive approach to adult nursing to ensure that you can help meet the needs of the UK’s diverse adult population, including caring for people with mental health needs and people with learning disabilities who use adult health services. In addition to learning how to look after adults who are unwell, you’ll also learn about your own health and wellbeing and how to support people to develop and maintain healthy behaviours, contributing to their health and wellbeing throughout adulthood.

UEA’s comprehensive programme includes working in partnership with other healthcare professional students, gaining a unique insight into a range of perspectives and approaches. This will enable you to develop the collaborative and adaptable approach that is essential to a successful nursing career. We also offer a wide range of placements including hospitals, community, public health and specialist units. Additionally, you’ll have access to our excellent facilities including an anatomy suite, up to date simulation skills rooms, technology and equipment.

Our adult nursing students graduate able to meet the physical, cognitive, emotional and social needs of adults, with a variety of clinical conditions and complex health challenges, in a wide range of healthcare settings. With the NHS Constitution at its core, the Adult Nursing degree provides rigorous education, varied placement opportunities and is approved by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC).

Follow UEA adult nursing:

X - @ueaadult

TikTok - @uea_adult-nursing

Instagram - @uea_adult_nursing

This course is open to

UK and International fee-paying students. Choose UK or International above to see relevant information. The entry point is in September each year.

We welcome and value a wide range of qualifications, and we recognise that some students might take a mixture of different qualifications. We have listed typical examples that we accept for entry.

You should hold or be working towards the specified English and Mathematics requirements and one of the examples of typical entry qualifications listed below. If your qualifications aren’t listed, or if you are taking a combination of qualifications that isn’t specified, please contact Admissions.

English and Mathematics

All applicants must hold or be working towards GCSEs in English Language and Mathematics at minimum grade 4 or grade C.

In place of Mathematics GCSE we can also consider:

• Functional Skills Level 2 Mathematics
• Essential Skills Wales L2 Application of Number
• Essential Skills Northern Ireland L2 Application of Number

In place of English Language GCSE we can also consider:

• Functional Skills Level 2 English
• Essential Skills Wales L2 Communication
• Essential Skills Northern Ireland L2 Communication

We accept a wide range of English Language qualifications, please see our English Language equivalencies page.

Typical International Entry Requirements

A levels

BBC.

Not accepted: Critical Thinking and General Studies.

International Baccalaureate

30 points overall.

We accept many international qualifications for entry to this course. For specific details about your country, view our information for International Students.

INTO UEA

If you do not meet the academic and/or English language requirements for direct entry our partner, INTO UEA offers progression on to this undergraduate degree upon successful completion of a preparation programme.

English Foreign Language

Applications from students whose first language is not English are welcome. We require evidence of proficiency in English (including writing, speaking, listening and reading): 

• IELTS: 7.0 overall (minimum 7.0 in reading, speaking and listening, and 6.5 in writing) 

We also accept a number of other English language tests. Review our English Language Equivalencies for a list of example qualifications that we may accept to meet this requirement.

Test dates should be within two years of the course start date.

 If you do not yet meet the English language requirements for this course, INTO UEA offer a variety of English language programmes which are designed to help you develop the English skills necessary for successful undergraduate study:

Pre-sessional English at INTO UEA

Academic English at INTO UEA

Non-Academic Entry Requirements

Offers will be made to applicants after completion of successful interviews, and will be subject to a satisfactory occupational health check (including evidence of appropriate immunisations), an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check and two satisfactory references. Where applicable, an Overseas Police Check may be required. We will let you know what you need to do (and when) to meet these conditions if you are successful in gaining an offer.

If you have previously studied at degree level in a health based subject, we will want to see that you have passed all of the study that you have undertaken. We’ll be unable to consider you for this course if you’ve obtained an academic fail from a previous health based degree programme, including where an exit award has been achieved.

Interviews

The strongest applicants will be invited to interview. Please note that meeting (or being predicted to meet) the minimum academic entry requirements will not guarantee that you will be selected for interview.

Interview invitations will be sent by email. Please keep a close eye on all emails from UEA after you submit your UCAS application. For more information on the application process and what to expect at each step, take a look at our handy Applying to HSC infographic, which explains the application journey from start to finish.

Interview format

Our interviews for 2025 will take place on our campus. The format will match the process outlined in our animation: What to expect from a Health Science interview at UEA, as closely as possible. You will be invited to book your interview for a morning or afternoon session by email. The email will include the arrival time and building location. We use a variety of the buildings on our campus for interviews, but they will either be on our Main Campus or on our West Campus (which is around a 20-minute walk from the centre of the Main Campus, near the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital). The session will last no longer than 3 hours in total.  Applicants who are based outside of England at the point of applying will be offered an online interview. 

As part of the session, you will take part in ‘multiple mini-interviews’ with academic members of staff from the School of Health Sciences at UEA, clinicians from the profession, service users* and/or current UEA students from the course.

*A ‘service user’ is someone who has access to use health or social care services or could be affected by the services of health and social care professionals.

You will undertake your ‘multiple mini-interview’ alongside 1 or 2 other applicants for the course. Together, you will be taken to your interview room, which will be furnished with three interview stations. You will attend each interview station in turn, rotating with the other applicants you have been grouped with.

Before you visit each interview station, you will be given time to read some information. The information will include the interview questions or topics that you will be asked about. You will then be given a set amount of time with the interviewer(s), who will ask you the questions verbally.

The other applicants who you have been grouped together with will be following the same process as you at the same time. They will be speaking to alternate interviewer(s) to you simultaneously. You will all continue the process above until you have been interviewed at all three interview stations.

As part of your interview day, you will also have an opportunity to join some other sessions, for which you will not be assessed. The sessions are an opportunity for you to learn more about the course, the university, the students that study here, and for you to ask questions of current students and teaching staff. There may be an opportunity to undertake some practical skills during some of these sessions, if possible. There may also be an opportunity to tour the teaching facilities. These parts of your interview day are not compulsory, and do not form part of the assessment.

Interview questions

At each interview station you will be asked questions that focus on a particular domain. The order in which you are asked about these domains will be variable. The domains are:

• Your knowledge of the professional field for which you are applying.
• Your personal qualities and suitability for the profession. To help with discussion around this domain, you may be asked to consider a scenario and asked questions about how you would respond to it. You will be given time to read the scenario before you approach the interview station, and it will also be read to you by the interviewer(s).
• Your understanding of and suitability for the course at UEA.

On all interview stations, interviewers will also consider your ability to clearly present information and communicate your responses effectively.

Interview Skills for Nursing Applicants - Free Course

Take advantage of our free course through Future Learn: Interview Skills for University Nursing Programme Applicants

This free one-week course aims to increase your chances of being accepted onto a UK Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) approved Nursing programme in the UK. You’ll be guided through the interview process to help you understand the purpose of the interviews and how they’re conducted. We introduce a range of resources, which will help you develop your knowledge of the Nursing profession and potential career pathways. Through information, guidance, and activities, you’ll learn how to identify transferable skills and relevant experiences that you can draw upon during your Nursing course interview, giving you the best chance of success.

Experience of healthcare

We are aware that it is a difficult time to try to gain relevant experience in healthcare. First time applicants to Nursing, Midwifery and the Allied Health Professions will all be in a similar situation.

Clinical work experience will not generally be a requirement for applying to train in healthcare. We will be looking for you to show that you are able to work with people, that you appreciate the health and social care setting, and that you understand what a career in health will involve. While we will expect you to show some understanding of what it is like to be the professional of your choice, part of this involves demonstrating that you know what it is like to work in a responsible role, particularly with the public.

Note that your experiences are only as valuable as the way you talk about them and what understanding you take from them. It is important that you think about how you might be able to demonstrate your understanding of healthcare, that you can relate this to experience or research, and that you can explain what you have learned.

What type of experience or research do you need?

Any activity, life experience or research that helps you to prepare for training to be a healthcare professional will help. This means any activity that allows you to demonstrate that you have:

• Had people-focused experience of providing a service, care, support or help to others, and that you understand the realities of working in a caring profession.
• Developed some of the values, attitudes and behaviours essential to being a Nurse, Midwife or Allied Health professional such as conscientiousness, effective communication and the ability to interact with a wide variety of people. The values that we are looking for are set out in the NHS Constitution.
• A realistic understanding of Health and Social Care and in particular, the physical, organisational and emotional demands of the career.

Practical ways to gain experience

Keep a reflective diary on what is happening in the news and online. Listen to what healthcare professionals have to say and reflect on this. All healthcare professionals can be a valuable source of information and experience, not just those that work in the specific profession that you are applying for. Demonstrating that you have a sense of all healthcare professions (and how they work together) will help you in both your personal statement and interview.

Volunteer in your spare time if you can, all forms of voluntary work can provide helpful work experience. If volunteer work in the NHS isn’t something that is available to you, think about what else you could explore i.e. working with other people in a caring or service role. Voluntary commitments to community groups (for example groups related to the work of churches, mosques and temples, or other groups such as Scouts or Guides) and online community support groups may also provide valuable experience of taking on responsibility, dealing with people and communicating effectively.

Remember: what is important is what you learn about yourself and about other people, and what you learn about how effective care is delivered and received. How you learn these things is only a small part of the story; it is how you communicate what you learnt that matters.

Placements

During the course, no less than 50% of your time will be spent on practice placement. This might be in a variety of settings that include hospitals, community services, general practice, social services and voluntary or private organisations. Placement allocation occurs throughout the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex and Cambridgeshire.

As this course includes patient facing placements in health or social care settings, and these are a mandatory component of the course, you will need to comply with the placement vaccination policy. Failure to meet the placement vaccination policy may prevent you from joining the course or may lead to your withdrawal from the course in the future. Future employment may also be subject to this condition.

Assessing your fitness to become a registered healthcare professional

Please see our guidance on assessing your fitness.

Deferred Entry

We welcome applications from students who have already taken or intend to take a gap year.  We believe that a year between school and university can be of substantial benefit. You are advised to indicate your reason for wishing to defer entry on your UCAS application.

Admissions Policy

Our Admissions Policy applies to the admissions of all undergraduate applicants.

Recent Study

We would prefer you to be able to demonstrate evidence of recent academic study within 5 years of the start of the course. If your last qualification will have been completed more than 5 years ago by the time the course starts, please contact Admissions.

Age on Entry

Applicants for this course need to be aged 18 or over by 31 December 2025. This is owing to the integrated nature of placements within the first year of the course and safeguarding implications. In view of this, applicants who will not be 18 years old or over by this date, should consider applying for deferred entry.

Employability

As a UEA Adult Nursing graduate, you’ll be a highly sought-after healthcare professional. On graduation and subsequent registration with the Nursing and Midwifery Council, you’ll be ready to start your career in a series of demanding yet rewarding environments, such as community and residential settings, traditional healthcare settings such as primary care and emergency, specialist nursing roles, outpatient clinics, the Armed Forces, or public health. No matter where your future takes you, you’ll graduate with the requisite knowledge, experience, and personal qualities necessary to have an exciting and fulfilling career.

Examples of careers that you could enter include:

• UK NHS or private healthcare providers
• Community settings
• Nursing homes and hospices
• Schools and higher education
• Nursing Research
• International nursing

Discover more on our Careers webpages.