Sport and Exercise Psychology BSc (Hons)

Course overview

This degree is designed to bring a holistic understanding of psychological perspectives and their real-life application to sport and exercise environments.

The course includes theory, research, and application of practice methods, supplemented by the development of professional levels of transferable, practical and cognitive skills. The aim is to enable graduates to attain the skills and knowledge to confidently progress to their chosen career path in an international arena.

• You will develop critical awareness and understanding of the core British Psychological Society (BPS) curriculum including a range of specialised and contemporary content.
• Topics may include perspectives in sport and exercise, origins to the future of sport and exercise psychology, multi-agency sport and exercise psychology, applied sport and exercise psychology, neuropsychology in sport and exercise, mental health and wellbeing, psychology of popular culture, and professional practice.
• The course provides a broad and varied educational experience to optimise learning and engage you in experiential learning across a range of international contexts.
• On successful completion of the course you should have developed methodological and analytical research skills to conduct ethical scientific investigations in psychology.

The January start for this course is condensed in the first year. Please see the ‘How you’ll learn’ section below for more details.

Why you should study this course

• You will have the opportunity to gain a critical appreciation of how psychology can be applied to real-world questions, and cross-cultural and diverse situations across global contexts within the world of sport and exercise.
• Develop transferable, practical and cognitive employability skills (e.g. critical analysis, problem solving, and leadership) with the aim of putting you in an excellent position to secure competitive postgraduate education or employment.
• Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) projects enhances international awareness through multi-cultural communication and peer interaction at participating institutions (subject to availability).

If you choose to start this course in January you will study exactly the same course but over a slightly shorter timescale in your first year. This is ideal if you missed the September start, want to transfer from a different university or course or just need a bit more time to prepare for life at university.

Careers and opportunities

Our courses equip you with a range of skills and competencies that could set you apart from other graduates and make you attractive to potential employers (e.g. critical thinking, communication skills, leadership and creativity).

This course provides the necessary grounding to enable you to progress and be eligible to undertake further training to become a qualified psychologist. In doing so you may be able to pursue a rewarding career in the community, for example, as an occupational, forensic or social psychologist, in mental wellbeing as a clinical or counselling psychologist, in physical wellbeing as a health, sport or neuropsychologist or working with children as a developmental or educational psychologist.

We aim to equip our graduates with highly sought-after employability skills (e.g. transferable skills, analytical thinking, presentation skills) to embark on a career in applied psychological settings (e.g., mental health secure settings, rehabilitation centres); or complete one of our postgraduate degrees. However, the transferable skills you gain from your degree opens several options for career pathways. Our students have also become researchers, lecturers, teachers, administrators, managers and health and care professionals.