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MSc

Sport, Health and Exercise Science

The MSc Sport, Health and Exercise Science course allows you to develop your theoretical understanding of the subject area, advance your measurement capabilities and ultimately help you specialise in your area of interest.

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Key Course Details

  • Start Date

    September

  • Location

    Pontypridd

  • Campus Code

    A

Fees

  • Home students

    £10,800*

  • International students

    £16,900*

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

  • Start Date

    September

  • Location

    Pontypridd

  • Campus Code

    A

Fees

  • Home students

    £1,200*

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

This course utilises our British Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences (BASES) approved laboratories at our Glyntaff Campus and our state-of-the-art strength and conditioning and performance analysis suites at our Sport Park.

DESIGNED FOR

This course is designed for those who would like to further their career in sport, health and/or exercise science. It caters for those who are interested in elite sporting performance or exercise for health.

Career Paths

  • Physiologist (Exercise/Clinical)
  • Academia (Research/Training)
  • Performance Sport 
  • Emergency Services 
  • Teaching

Skills taught

  • Fitness Testing
  • Health Screening
  • Nutritional Analysis
  • Conducting Research
  • Data Collection/Analysis

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.

video-course-msc-health-sports-and-exercise.jpg
An academic dressed in a black shirt speaks to a postgraduate student dressed in a red and black USW shirt as they take part in a fitness and health test by walking on a treadmill with an incline while they wearing a mask attached to a computer in a sports and exercise laboratory at the Glyntaff campus
Sport student taking part in a respiratory experiment

Course Highlights

State-of-the-art Facilities

Develop your knowledge and skills using our state-of-the-art facilities, including our BASES approved laboratories, environmental chamber and strength and conditioning suite.

Valued Work Experience

Utilise our networks and collaborators to gain valued industry-relevant work experience to help make you more employable.

World Leading Research

Staff that deliver the course conduct research that is recognised as internationally excellent and world-leading. 

Module Overview

You will complete the course across a 12-month period. During this time, you will study 5 specified modules to develop your core understanding of the subject area, alongside 3 optional modules allowing you to tailor the course to your specific interests. 

Research Project
This module aims to enable you to demonstrate the skills necessary to produce a scholarly, in-depth, empirical research study, resource or report. Choose your own supervisor to ensure you have the necessary support. 

Research Process
This module will develop your ability to design and statistically analyse research, appreciate the strengths and limitations of different research designs, and provide you with the skills required to produce a in-depth review and proposal for a research study.

Professional Work-Based Development
This module provides an opportunity for you to gain valued work experience to help make you more employable.

Exercise Physiology
This module aims to enhance your understanding of exercise physiology, with a specific focus on what limits exercise performance. You will also develop technical skills used to assess exercise performance and health.

Strength and Conditioning
This module aims to develop your ability to implement effective strength and conditioning programmes into a range of performance environments. It is closely linked to the professional standards required for accreditation by both the NSCA and the UKSCA.

Nutrition for Health and Performance
You will develop advanced skills essential for understanding the nutritional requirements to maximise exercise performance and promote health.

Movement Analysis
This module aims to develop your awareness of the analysis of sports performance, with particular emphasis on technique analysis and notational analysis.  

Physical Activity and Health
This module aims to enhance your understanding of the relationship between physical activity and the prevention, treatment and management of chronic diseases.

Epidemiology and Biostatistics for Public Health
This module aims to introduce you to both fundamental and advanced concepts in epidemiology and the application of these concepts within the study of public health.

Psychology for the Sports Coach/Practitioner
This module aims to provide students with knowledge of how psychology may impact on the ability of key stakeholders in sport to perform, thrive and experience mental well-being in sport.

Course Highlights

How you’ll learn

The course is delivered via lectures, practicals and small group workshops; some of which will be student-led. All teaching material is supported by the latest research, as well as national and local policy drivers. Interactive e-learning platforms are used to support your learning throughout the course. A wide variety of applied, academic and vocational assessments are used on this modern and innovative course. You will be assessed by oral presentations, laboratory reports, case studies, critical essays and in one module (Epidemiology and Biostatistics for Public Health) an exam.

Teaching Staff

Your course leader will be Dr Chris Marley who is an alumnus of the university. His research focuses on factors that influence brain health such as exercise, nutrition, hypoxia and concussion. Chris’ recent research has focused on the effect heading the ball in football has on brain health and has supervised work that has gained widespread media interest. The course team have a wealth of experience in the field of sport, health and exercise science, which includes Dr Lee Baldock, a UEFA B-License holder and Sport Psychology practitioner; Nathan Evans, a UKSCA accredited strength and conditioning coach who has experience coaching international athletes; and Mel Tuckwell, former Technical Advisor to Welsh Netball and Assistant Coach.

Placements

The course requires you to complete a work placement as part of our professional work placement module. This ensures that you do not only have the opportunity to graduate with an internationally recognised qualification, but you also have industry-relevant experience, which is essential for the modern graduate. Utilising our Centre of Employability, Enterprise and Leadership in Sport (CEELS), we will work with you to secure the most relevant placement for your future career aspirations. A few examples of placements that our students have recently undertaken include The Football Association of Wales, Cardiff City FC Academy, NHS, technical demonstrating positions within HE institutions, as well as in gyms and exercise referral schemes within local authorities.

Facilities

You will have access to our purpose-built BASES approved laboratories that are full of specialist equipment. These laboratories and some examples of the equipment they house are summarised below: 

-Exercise Physiology Lab: Ergometers, methods of assessing aerobic/anaerobic fitness, blood/urine sampling, lung function testing. 

-Body Composition Lab: Under water weighing system, bioelectrical impedance analysis, skin-fold callipers. 

-Biomechanics Lab: Force platform, isokinetic dynamometer, gait analysis, video analysis software. 

-Environmental Lab: Normobaric environmental chamber that can simulate different environments from across the world, ultrasound units.

Careers and Employability

Graduate Careers

Our graduates have been successful in gaining employment within a range of different roles within the industry including, but not limited to: Exercise/clinical physiologist, clinical research officers and epidemiologists within both the NHS and clinical research organisations, progression to PhD and PGCE study, lecturer in higher and further education, coaches, as well as nutritional/fitness advisors. 

Possible career paths

The course provides you with a wide range of career prospects including roles as an exercise/clinical physiologist, sport scientist, lecturer/teacher, research officer, performance analysist, technical demonstrator/laboratory technician, sports coach and personal trainer, as well as progression to PhD study.  

Careers Support

To help support you in the pursual of your dream career in sport, health and/or exercise science, the Careers and Employability Team will prepare a bespoke package of development sessions alongside your studies This includes: one-to-one appointments from faculty based Career Advisers, in person, over the phone or even on Skype and through email via the "Ask a Question" service. We also have extensive online resources for help with considering your career options and presenting yourself well to employers.

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS

Typical qualification requirements:

Usually an Honours degree at class 2:2 or above in a relevant science subject such as Sports Science, Biomedical Science or Physiotherapy, although experience can sometimes be taken into account.

International applications welcomed:

Equivalent international qualifications are acceptable. Those without such qualifications will be considered on an individual basis and a wide range of prior professional experience may be considered.

English language requirements

The course welcomes international applicants and requires an English level of IELTS 6.0 with a minimum of 5.5 in each component or equivalent.

Equivalents can be located on our country.

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 English Language pages 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

£10,800

per year*
International Full-time Fee

£16,900

per year*
UK Part-time Fee

£1,200

per 20 credits*

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 Busaries Alumni Discount

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.

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.

Studying at USW

Our courses are designed with industry leaders and provide the practical skills and experiences industry demands. Our flexible courses reflect the need for life-long learning. If you value education in practice, not just in theory, then USW is for you.

Two people studying together at a table, surrounded by books and papers.
Postgraduate fees and funding
Close up shot of the front of the Alfred Russell wallace building.
Pontypridd Campus, Glyntaff
A member of staff is smiling and chatting with an open evening visitor.
Postgraduate Open Events

How to apply

There is an online application process for this course. Please choose the application form for your preferred start date and mode of study (i.e. full-time or part-time).

International admissions

Please see our international admissions advice for further information about how to apply as a prospective international student.

Related Courses

Advanced Performance Football Coaching - MSc Learn more
Leadership in Sport - MA Learn more

Next Steps

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