PGCert

Sports and Exercise Nutrition

Demand for sports and exercise nutrition expertise has never been higher. From ageing populations focused on mobility and longevity to athletes striving for peak performance, clients and patients expect safe, evidence-based guidance.

How to apply

Key Course Details

  • Start Date

    September

  • Location

    Online

Fees

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By joining this programme, you’ll not only elevate your own practice but also help meet this growing need by becoming part of a new generation of sport and exercise science nutrition professionals equipped to deliver real-world impact.

DESIGNED FOR

The Postgraduate Certificate in Sports and Exercise Nutrition is designed for healthcare professionals, personal trainers, coaches, and wellbeing specialists who want to integrate advanced, evidence-based nutrition into their practice.

In partnership with

  • Learna | Diploma MSc

Suited to

  • Healthcare Professionals
  • Personal Trainers
  • Coaches
  • Wellbeing Specialists

Module Overview

Our Postgraduate Certificate in Sports and Exercise Nutrition allows you to study for just six months and is a part-time, online course. The certificate is worth 60 credits and comprises three modules of 20 credits, each running over a period of six weeks.

Module 1: Foundations of Sports and Exercise Nutrition
This module develops advanced understanding of the fundamentals of sports and exercise nutrition in a variety of settings, enabling students to evaluate and apply evidence-based nutritional strategies for optimising athletic performance, recovery, and body composition through macro/micronutrient manipulation, hydration protocols, and strategic meal timing.

Module 2: Clinical Applications in Sports Nutrition
This module develops clinical competencies and perspectives in sports nutrition, enabling students to assess, design and implement evidence-based nutritional interventions for diverse populations, with particular focus on managing common medical conditions within specific groups of the sports/fitness subjects, and optimising nutrition across different physiological states and recovery scenarios.

Module 3: Advanced Sports Nutrition Practice
This final module develops advanced professional competencies in sports nutrition practice, enabling students to design, implement and evaluate evidence-based nutrition strategies across different sporting contexts, while critically appraising supplementation protocols and integrating contemporary nutritional approaches with athletic training cycles.

Course Highlights

How you’ll learn

This programme emphasises learning through active participation in case-based discussions, reflection, and real-life scenarios. Students engage with clinical cases that mirror everyday practice, fostering problem-solving and evidence-based application from the very beginning.

Across the modules, assessments are integrated with learning. Each week, you will work through two to three clinical cases, discussing and reflecting on them with peers under the guidance of an expert tutor. These discussions form the core of your learning and are also the basis for your assessments.

Our innovative teaching methods are designed to help you translate this learning into real-world clinical practice. You'll need to regularly log in to participate in discussions, ideally on a daily basis, and commit approximately two hours per day to your studies. Our dedicated Student Support Team is available to assist with any challenges you may encounter, from navigating our online platform to managing deadlines.

Accreditations and Partnerships

In partnership with

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS

Typical qualification requirements:

Applicants will need to possess a healthcare or sports degree or equivalent (including international qualifications) in a relevant subject.

Students who possess a good undergraduate degree in broader subject areas are encouraged to apply, provided the applicant has 2 years + experience in sport/exercise space. For example, Personal Trainers who can demonstrate relevant experience.

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

  • 6.0 (with a minimum of 5.5 in each band) including expired with a score of 72 overall and a minimum of 18 in reading, 17 in listening, 20 in speaking and 17 in writing (including Home Edition)
    English grade C or above
  • Advanced (CAE): exams taken from January 2015- overall score of 169 with at least 162 in each component; exams taken before January 2015- Grade C and no less than borderline in each skill
  • English Language qualifications: ISE II Distinction or ISE III Pass with a score of 64 overall and 59 in each component. Please note that where a UKVI SELT is not required, we can also accept the scores in the PTE Academic Online
  • B2 Communicator Exam with a high pass with a score of 33 in each component

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

Further Information

Please refer to our collaborative partner's website.

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

 

How to apply

If you're ready to apply for this course, the next step is to complete your application through our delivery partner, Learna Ltd. While this course is validated by the University of South Wales, all applications are processed directly by Learna. Please visit the Learna website, where you’ll find detailed instructions on how to apply, including the required documentation and key deadlines. By applying through Learna, you'll be taking the first step toward joining a flexible and high-quality learning experience designed to fit around your commitments.

Learna website

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.

Next Steps

Visit the Learna Website