BSc (Hons)

Real Estate including Foundation Year

Play your part in developing the buildings of tomorrow. Hone your skills and gain vital knowledge for a career in real estate.

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

Key Course Details

  • UCAS Code

    K45F

  • Start Date

    September

  • Location

    Pontypridd

  • Campus Code

    A

Fees

  • Home students

    £9,790*

  • International students

    £17,200*

  • Full-time fees are per year. Part-time fees are per 20 credits.
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The Foundation Year in Real Estate forms part of an integrated four-year degree programme, and is designed for students who do not currently meet the admissions criteria for direct entry onto a degree course in subjects including BSc (Hons) Real Estate.

DESIGNED FOR

The Real Estate degree at the University of South Wales is ideally suited for individuals aspiring to develop a career in the field. Options are open, with graduates having the choice of a variety of roles across the public sector in health, education, and housing, and in the private sector in consultancies and commercial real estate firms.

Accredited by

  • Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS)

Career paths

  • Commercial Real Estate
  • Consultancy
  • Housing
  • Education
  • Health

Skills taught

  • Communication
  • Problem Solving
  • IT Skills
  • Employability

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 surveyor wearing a blue hard hat, safety glasses and a high visibility jacket shows building plans and talks to a colleague
A Real Estate student looks intently at the camera while wearing a large brown coat inside an abandoned building that they are looking at to see how it can be developed
A student observes a robot arm with a claw on the end on a desk while sat at a computer at the Innovation Hub in an engineering workshop at the Treforest campus

Course Highlights

Focus on Employability

We engage Industry as a key stakeholder in developing our course material, inviting them in to deliver industry relevant guest lectures

Visit Industry

You will get chance to engage with industry by visiting local companies, allowing you to see how everything you have learned in the classroom plays out in the workplace environment

Desirable Skills Which Address Industry Shortages

You will develop skills in communication, problem solving, IT digital skills, and collaboration.

Professionally Accredited

The Real Estate course is accredited by the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS)

Module Overview

In your Foundation Year, you’ll explore real-world challenges, build practical, academic, and teamwork skills, and develop curiosity, confidence, and problem-solving abilities to prepare for future study and impact.

Starting your University Journey 
This module helps you develop academic, personal and professional skills for university study. You’ll reflect on your progress, build confidence, and create an evidence-based portfolio to support your future learning. 

Engineering in Action: From Theory to Practice 
Explore real-world engineering challenges as you develop your theoretical knowledge, including core mathematical and scientific principles. Learn key skills through tutorials and seminars before applying them in immersive laboratories and workshops. 

Shaping Smart, Sustainable Built Environments 
Step into the built environment and explore roles from surveying to construction management. You’ll discover how sustainability and smart tech shape decisions, while building the skills and confidence for your degree.

The Impact Challenge 
You’ll work in teams with other Foundation Year students to tackle real-world challenges, developing solutions through research, curiosity, collaboration, and responsible problem-solving while building skills that will support your future studies. 

Course Highlights

How you’ll learn

You’ll learn by doing, through real-world activities that help you understand how learning works at university. You’ll be encouraged to ask questions, explore new ideas and work with others, as well as independently. Teaching builds confidence, critical thinking and reflection, supported by digital tools. Regular feedback helps you track progress, plan next steps and build resilience and a strong sense of belonging as you prepare for higher-level study. 

How you’ll be assessed

You’ll be assessed in different ways, including short tasks, coursework, presentations, and group work. Early assessments are designed to support your learning and help you understand what is expected at university. Most assessments are coursework-based and help you develop key skills such as research, academic writing, teamwork, and communication. You’ll also reflect on your progress and use university systems and digital tools. Clear, timely feedback will help you understand how to improve and support your next steps. 

Facilities

Delivery of this course takes place on our Treforest Campus where our students have access to a dedicated Built Environment Project Room in addition to our teaching rooms, transformative learning spaces and dedicated computer labs with the latest software. We have also a variety of digital technologies such as VR equipment and drones available to support students learning.

Accreditations

Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS)
quantity surveyor Anna Chappell standing in front of a building site wearing an hi-vis jacket and hard hat

  • Building courses at USW are top in Wales for overall student satisfaction. (National Student Survey 2025)

98%

of USW Built Environment and Civil Engineering graduates are in employment and/or further study 15 months after graduation 

(Graduate Outcomes Survey 2021/22)

  • Building courses at USW are top in Wales for overall student satisfaction. (National Student Survey 2025)

Innovation Hub at USW

A photo thumbnail for the

Careers and Employability

Graduate careers

Graduates would have the choice of a variety of roles across the public sector in health, education, and housing, and in the private sector in consultancies and commercial real estate firms.

Possible career paths

 

 

Careers support

You will have access to advice from the Careers and Employability Service throughout your studies and after graduation. Built Environment has a dedicated careers advisor.

We have online resources for help with considering career options and presenting yourself well to employers. Our employer database has over 2,000 registered employers targeting USW students - you can receive weekly email alerts for jobs.

Our Careers service has dedicated teams: A central work experience team to help you find placements; an employability development team which includes an employability programme called Grad Edge; and an Enterprise team focused on new business ideas and entrepreneurship.

 

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS

48 UCAS Points (or above)

Typical qualification requirements:

  • A Level: DD
  • BTEC: BTEC Extended Diploma Pass Pass Pass or BTEC Diploma Pass Pass
  • Access to HE: Pass Access to HE Diploma with a minimum of 48 UCAS Tariff points.
  • T Level: P (D or E)

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 4 overall and a minimum of 4 in each component 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

£9,790

per year*
International Full-time Fee

£17,200

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

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 stationery, printing, or equipment during your foundation year.  For costs after you progress to year 1 of your degree programme, please see the list below.

student-25
Read about campus developmentsOur new STEM Hub

Introducing Calon

We are investing in the future of STEM with the exciting new Calon building at the heart of our Pontypridd Campus.

Introducing Calon Pontypridd Campus

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.

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.

Applicants accepted through advanced entry may study a different combination of modules to those advertised, as they will be joining a course already in progress. You will be contacted and advised about these modules once your application has been processed and an offer made.

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.
 

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

Related Courses

Real Estate - BSc (Hons) Learn more

Next Steps

How to apply
Apply Through UCAS
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