Program Overview

The University of Bolton was one of the first to establish a degree course in the subject of psychology, and our department has a well-respected, vibrant learning and research culture. Our MSc Psychology offers you the opportunity to build on the knowledge and understanding you gained during your undergraduate studies, developing your intellectual and thinking skills to a very high standard and enhancing your independent research abilities.

Our highly skilled and experienced staff will focus on maximising your potential. We'll guide and encourage you to develop an advanced critical appreciation of contemporary methods, theories and issues in psychology, highlighting the links between your research and clinical practice. You'll apply your research and analysis skills to a substantial piece of independent research, demonstrating your understanding of relevant ethical issues in context.

The course is also designed to enhance your psychological practice, opening employment and career progression opportunities in a diverse range of careers, including psychology and therapy, the helping or health professions, social work, education, private practice, human resources and retail management.

Highlights

• You'll have the opportunity to develop and master a high level of complex specialist knowledge and skills in psychology. You'll also have the chance to employ these skills to conduct research or advanced technical and professional activity.
• Our psychology department operates an effective academic personal tuition system providing encouragement and support to students at all levels to ensure they achieve their highest potential. Graduates are welcome to attend the research seminar programme and become active postgraduates within the University.
• Tutors may also introduce techniques which they view as especially suitable in aiding learning in their specialist area. Areas of study are regularly updated to reflect the research activity within the department. The department employs a clinical psychologist and a forensic psychologist, offering you the opportunity to work with practising psychologists and academics.
• Your working environment will include an observation laboratory that contains two ceiling-mounted video cameras and boundary microphones, controlled by video editing hardware and software that can be used for student dissertation data collection. There is also a Psychophysiology laboratory for work of an experimental nature that contains a Bio-pac system, a Neuroscan and Stim3.
• A breadth of multimedia e-learning resources is available. All the lecture materials and additional resources for your modules will be available on Moodle, our virtual learning environment.

Key Features

• Our teaching staff hold postgraduate qualifications in research and have experience publishing in peer-reviewed journals. We prefer to keep teaching groups fairly small to encourage interaction and in-depth discussion of ideas and specialist knowledge. Some academic supervision is one-to-one, ensuring close contact between tutor and student.
• The degree is very flexible with options for independent study to meet your interests, career development needs or personal circumstances. You can study any module offered independently or study in an area of personal interest, for instance, in a job-related field.
• Our expert team will encourage you to develop your intellectual and thinking skills to a very high academic standard. This will be reflected in your studies, in particular your dissertation. The course can also support the development of your personal and transferable skills commensurate with postgraduate study, a practitioner doctorate or an academic career.
• Some of our past students have successfully gained places on clinical and educational psychology programmes or remained at the University to pursue MPhil and PhD research. At the MSc stage, you'll have the option of developing your research as part of a research team within our department.
• This course is suitable for a variety of career development requirements in psychology and therapy, research and teaching, the helping or health professions, social work, education, private practice and management roles where working with people is the prime focus.
• By choosing to study with us, you'll have the chance to enjoy Bolton's many shops, bars, restaurants and leisure facilities. Manchester, one of the UK's most multicultural and lively cities, is less than 20 minutes away by train. Not forgetting, the North West of England is renowned for its beautiful countryside, coastline and heritage. This makes Bolton an ideal base from which to explore some of the best cultural and outdoor activities the UK offers.