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BA (Hons)

Public Services

Become the compassionate, visionary, and dedicated leader our public services need now more than ever.

How to apply Apply Through UCAS Book an Open Day Chat to Us

Key Course Details

  • UCAS Code

    L430

  • Start Date

    September

  • Location

    Pontypridd

  • Campus Code

    A

Fees

  • Home students

    £9,535*

  • International students

    £15,850*

  • Full-time fees are per year. Part-time fees are per 20 credits.

Build the knowledge, skills, and values needed to make a real difference to people and communities. This flexible and practical course prepares you for leadership roles in public organisations, from emergency response to policy design and everything in between. 

DESIGNED FOR

If you're ready to start a rewarding and fulfilling journey that empowers you to discover your strengths and contribute meaningfully to society, then our public services undergraduate course is for you. Become the catalyst for change that our world needs today. 

Career Paths

  • Civil service and local government   
  • Uniformed public services: Policing, fire and rescue services, ambulance services, armed forces  
  • Policy development and design   
  • Charitable and voluntary organisations   
  • Social and academic research  

Skills taught

  • Leadership and management   
  • Crisis response, ethical decision-making, and adaptability   
  • Critical thinking and problem-solving   
  • Communication, advocacy and public speaking   
  • Project management  

We make a difference in practice, not just on paper. Our courses are designed by people who offer jobs - and taught by people who have real work experience.

A blue police sign on the side of the road with a police car and police officer in the distance
public services graduates john and gareth standing in front of a fire engine in fire fighter uniform

Course Highlights

Cutting-edge curriculum 

Stay ahead with our ever-evolving courses, shaped by the latest industry trends and real-world challenges.

Hands-on experience

Get real-world experience through internships and live projects that sharpen your skills and grow your network.

Global perspectives

Develop a global outlook, preparing you to tackle cross-cultural challenges and become a true global citizen.

Career opportunities

Open doors to careers in diverse fields, from government and healthcare to education, environment, and beyond.

Module Overview

Start with a strong foundation in public services and their societal impact. Build your skills through hands-on projects and placements, then delve into specialized research as you prepare for your future career.

Explore the law, different public services, and their influence on society. Establish a solid academic base through intelligence-led responses to critical and contemporary social issues. Test your teamwork and leadership skills during outdoor search and rescue operations. 

Understanding Communities and Data  
Understand why and how public services use data to improve lives as you examine the key challenges and strengths of an identified community.    

Democracy, Campaigns and Change  
Understand political ideologies and the political and democratic processes guiding UK governance, applying this understanding through stakeholder mapping and analysis.  

Exploring Crime and Deviance*  
Explore how notions of crime have been constructed and why people offend, considering criminological, sociological, developmental, biological and psycho-social theories. 

*This module can be studied 100% through the medium of Welsh

Public Services and the Law  
Examine the English Legal System, taking a close look at how certain key procedures and legislation affect public services.   

Outdoor Leadership, Search and Rescue  
Traverse gorges and mountains as you get to grips with the planning, risk assessment, leadership and technical skills required in search and rescue activities.    

Professional Skills for the 21st Century Public Servant  
Develop the professional practices and values required of public servants, as well as the academic skills that ensure you thrive on the course.  

Deepen your knowledge of social policy, welfare, equality, and human rights. Experience how public services handle emergencies through simulations. Complete a focused 10-week internship in a public service organisation to gain real-world experience.

Human Rights, Equality and Social Justice  
Study key human rights legislation and examine how well states are upholding their obligations. Apply your knowledge to policy development.  

Politics, Public Services and the Welfare State  
Critically analyse the UK Welfare State. Explore key issues such as poverty, education and health inequalities, and identify potential policy solutions.  

Disaster and Emergencies: Resilience, Response, Rescue and Recovery
Experience emergency response situations through simulations, field visits, and hands-on practice, exploring risk management.  
  

Public Services Placement and Professional Skills  
Undertake a major placement based on your aspirations, where you’ll develop critical skills and identify gaps in your development.  

Research Methods in Policing and Security*  
Refine your academic research skills as you examine the links between policing and evidence-based research (the ‘what works’ debate). 

*This module can be studied 100% through the medium of Welsh

Grow into public service leadership, exploring new technologies and embracing innovation. Conduct a major research dissertation aligned with your career goals and choose optional modules to further specialise in your areas of interest.

Leadership and Professional Skills  
Explore leadership theory and practice about public services and begin to develop your own methods of leadership.   

Technology, Innovation and Change  
Analyse different approaches used to identify areas for change and innovation and examine how tech and innovation impact public service stakeholders.    

Dissertation / Social Impact Project  
Finalise your project proposal from year two and produce a coherent and in-depth analysis of an issue of contemporary relevance to sociology and/or public services.   

Geopolitics: Understanding Conflict, War and Peace   
Examine different types of conflict and their impact from historical and contemporary perspectives and look at how current conflicts may be resolved.  

You will also be able to choose one optional module:

Introduction to Disaster Healthcare (optional)  
Investigate the risks associated with natural and man-made disasters and the role health and social care interventions play across the disaster cycle.  

Investigation of Serious and Organised Crime (optional)  
Evaluate the impact of serious and organised crime in the UK and explore legislation, policies and processes for policing and investigating it.  

Civil Society and Community Activism (optional)  
Explore how civil society and community activism have changed the world at local and global levels, looking at their complex relationships with the state. 

Society and the Environment (optional)  
Understand a range of environmental issues and examine sustainable policy development in Wales and around the world.  

Course Highlights

How you’ll learn

This course offers a dynamic blend of hands-on and theoretical learning to prepare you for a variety of roles.

You'll engage in practical workshops, real-world challenges, and a year-two placement that will push your skills and test your abilities. Reflection on these experiences is a crucial part of your assessments.

Theories are tied to real-world applications through case studies and policy reviews in interactive lectures and seminars, where discussion is encouraged. Assessments are flexible, letting you showcase your unique perspective, and best of all, there are no exams!  

Teaching Staff

Our team is packed with real-world experts from both uniformed and non-uniformed public services. Whether it’s veterans from the police, army, or RAF, or professionals who’ve shaped policy and equality in local government, their experiences enrich your learning. They bring practical insights into what employers are looking for and are dedicated to helping you navigate your career path, discover your strengths, and achieve your goals. 

Placements and work experience

In your second year, you’ll complete a ten-week placement that aligns with your career goals and interests.

You’ll collaborate with the university’s placement officer and your host organisation to tailor your experience to suit your needs.

This hands-on opportunity helps you build valuable contacts, gain real industry insights, and showcase your experience to future employers. You could find yourself working with local authorities, South Wales Fire and Rescue, NHS, Citizen’s Advice, police forces, or even HM Prison Parc in Bridgend, gaining unique experience in various settings.  

Facilities

There’s no classroom quite like the real world.

Throughout the course, you’ll step out into various environments to hone your practical skills, leadership, and decision-making under pressure.

Experience simulations with our Hydra suite and VR headsets on campus, tackling diverse scenarios.

Enhance your learning with trips to places like the Senedd, Welsh Ambulance Service, South Wales Fire & Rescue, and even Parliament and the Royal Court of Justice in London.

Combine this with modern classrooms, IT support, and collaborative workspaces to round out your education. 

Careers and Employability

Graduate Careers

This course sets you up for diverse careers across the public sector, a key area for graduate employment throughout the UK.

Recent graduates have landed roles as prison officers, trainee paramedics, firefighters, police officers, and call handlers, as well as positions in rescue services and the armed forces. You can also explore non-uniformed roles like civil service, local government, housing, youth work, policy development, social research, and charitable work.

With such a broad curriculum, you'll have countless career paths to choose from.  

Careers Support

This course is designed to launch your career by shaping you into a leader and problem-solver that public organisations actively seek.

We stay in close touch with these organisations to understand exactly what they’re looking for. Our experienced staff and careers team are here to guide you in identifying and chasing your career goals.

You’ll also have opportunities to connect with employers through placements, visits, and our careers fair. Plus, our careers team will assist with CV writing, job searches, and interview preparation to ensure you're ready for success.  

Industry partners

We team up with top organisations to make sure your course is always in tune with what employers need.

Each year, we work with big names like the National Crime Agency, the Office of the Future Generations Commissioner, and the Welsh Government to keep our curriculum cutting-edge.

You’ll also benefit from our connections with emergency services, local authorities, and charities, who offer placements, practical projects, and guest speakers. This means you'll get hands-on experience and insider knowledge that will set you apart in the job market.  

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS

UCAS points: 80 (or above)

Typical qualification requirements:

  • A Level: CDD
  • BTEC: BTEC Extended Diploma Merit Merit Pass
  • Welsh Baccalaureate Advanced Skills Challenge Certificate: C/D in the Skills Challenge Certificate and DD - CC at A Level
  • Access to HE: Pass the Access to HE Diploma and obtain a minimum of 80 UCAS tariff points.

Additional requirements include:

The University normally requires a minimum 5 GCSEs including Mathematics/Numeracy and English at Grade C or Grade 4 or above, or their equivalent, but consideration is given to individual circumstances.

International applications welcomed:

We welcome international applications with equivalent qualifications of our entry requirements. For more details related to your country of residence, please view our dedicated country pages.

English language requirements

International applicants will need to have achieved an overall of IELTS 6.0 with a minimum of 5.5 in each component/TOEFL 72 overall and a minimum of 18 in reading, 17 in listening, 20 in speaking and 17 in writing or equivalent.

Equivalents can be located on our English Language pages.

If you have previously studied through the medium of English, IELTS might not be required, please visit our country specific page for further details. If your country is not featured, please contact us.

If you do not meet the English entry criteria, please visit our Pre-Sessional course pages.

Contextual offers

We may make you a lower offer based on a range of factors, including your background (where you live and the school or college that you attended, for example), your experiences and individual circumstances (as a care leaver, for example). This is referred to as a contextual offer, and we receive data from UCAS to support us in making these decisions.

USW prides itself on its student experience and we support our students to achieve their goals and become a successful graduate. This approach helps us to support students who have the potential to succeed and who may have faced barriers that make it more difficult to access university.

 

We're here to help

Whether you a have a question about your course, fees and funding, the application process or anything else, there are plenty of ways you can get in touch, and we'd love to talk to you. You can contact our friendly admissions team by phone, email or chat to us online.

 

Fees and Funding

UK Full-time Fee

£9,535

per year*
International Full-time Fee

£15,850

per year*

Further Information

Studying at university is one of the most significant investments you'll ever make. Whilst you’re studying, you’ll have two main financial obligations – tuition fees and living costs. There’s lots of financial help available from the University of South Wales and external funding sources, that may provide loans (which have to be paid back) and grants, scholarships and bursaries (that don't).

*Full-time fees are per year. Part-time fees are per 20 credits. Once enrolled, the fee is anticipated to remain at the same rate throughout the duration of your study on this course except as described below.

Please be aware that we may increase the maximum fee for home students on full-time undergraduate courses only where the Welsh Government increases the permitted level of inflation of fees. Fees for all students (including part-time, postgraduate and international students) may be amended in accordance with our applicable Fees and Debt Management Policy.  We will ensure that students are given clear, intelligible, unambiguous and timely information about our courses and costs in good time, ahead of the next academic year.

 

Fees and Funding Scholarships and Bursaries Cost of Living Support

Additional Costs

As a student of USW, you’ll have access to lots of free resources to support your study and learning, such as textbooks, publications, online journals, laptops, and plenty of remote-access resources. Whilst in most cases these resources are more than sufficient in supporting you with completing your course, additional costs, both obligatory and optional, may be required or requested for the likes of travel, memberships, experience days, stationery, printing, or equipment.

*Obligatory

We go on an outdoor expedition in one of the options and if you choose this, you will need suitable clothes and walking boots.

Cost: Up to £40

In some cases, your placement will require a DBS check. The DBS fee includes £49.50 for the enhanced DBS certificate, the Post Office Administration fee and the online administration fee

Cost: £64.74 annually

Students are required to undertake a period of work placement in year 2 and may choose to do one in year 3. Students undertaking placement may incur costs associated with travel and expected workplace attire will vary according to the placement.

Cost: Up to £200

University Quality Assurance

At USW, we regularly review our courses in response to changing patterns of employment and skills demand to ensure we offer learning designed to reflect today’s student needs and tomorrow’s employer demands.

If during a review process course content is significantly changed, we’ll write to inform you and talk you through the changes for the coming year. But whatever the outcome, we aim to equip our students with the skillset and the mindset to succeed whatever tomorrow may bring. Your future, future-proofed.

Life at USW

Halls are a big part of your student experience and there’s accommodation at all three of our locations. If you don’t want to live near the campus, there are great transport links to keep you connected.

A student sat smiling and talking to friends off camera in Treforest Student's Union
Student Life
The University's Ty Crawshays building at Treforest, Pontypridd.
Pontypridd Campus, Treforest
A double room at our Pontypridd accommodation featuring a large window.
Accommodation

How to apply

All applications for full-time undergraduate courses or foundation degrees should be made via UCAS. Take the next step: Apply through UCAS. You can apply to us directly for all part-time undergraduate courses, if you’re seeking advanced entry or you’re an international student. To apply directly, please choose the application form below for your preferred start date and mode of study (full-time or part-time.)

Advanced entry

If you already have a relevant qualification or experience related to the course you're applying for, you may be eligible to start at a later stage of the course. For example, students from partner colleges can ‘top up’ their qualifications to a degree by joining us in Year Two or Year Three of a course. This process is known as ‘advanced entry’, you can apply directly to the University for 'advanced entry' using the application forms provided above.

International admissions

International applicants can apply to us directly. If the University has an in-country team in your region, your application will be assigned to them for assistance.
 

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Next Steps

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