Real Estate including Foundation Year

BSc (Hons) How to apply Apply Through UCAS Book an Open Day Chat to Us

UCAS Code

K44F
Start Date

September
Location

Pontypridd
Campus Code

A

Fees

Home students

£9,535*
International students

£16,200*
Full-time fees are per year. Part-time fees are per 20 credits.

Overview
Module Overview
Course Highlights
Entry Requirements
Fees and Funding
How to Apply

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.

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 the first year, the thematic pillars of the Built Environment are introduced. These themes relate to Law, Cost and Value Theory, Construction Technologies, Management, Digital Technologies, Sustainability, Development and Ethics. The first year is generic across each of the undergraduate degree courses within the Built Environment portfolio, allowing for seamless movement across the portfolio at this point if students wish to focus on an alternative degree.

Built Environment Law (20 credits)

Built Environment Economics (20 credits)

Built Environment Principles (20 credits)

Digital Technologies (20 credits)

Development & Society (20 credits)

Construction Technology (20 credits)

In the second year, thematic pillars continue, but are explored at an intermediate level, with the addition of Project Management, Commercial Law and Housing, Planning and Communities. Specialist modules are introduced in Property Valuation, Management of Buildings and Investment Appraisal & Property Management. These combine to further the knowledge and application requires by students as they progress into their final year.

Management of Buildings (20 credits)

Property Valuation (20 credits)

Housing, Planning & Communities (20 credits)

Investment Appraisal & Property Management (20 credits)

Project Management & Professional Practice (20 credits)

Commercial Law (20 credits)

By the final year, students hone professional skills, study advanced topics like Property Valuation, Property Law, and Commercial Management. They delve into the industry's sustainability challenges and enhance graduate attributes for employment in the Built Environment. A dissertation offers personalized research, emphasizing critical analysis.

Built Environment Dissertation (40 credits)

Commercial Management & Enterprise (20 credits)

Sustainability & Decarbonisation in the Built Environment (20 credits)

Advanced Property Valuation (20 credits)

Property Law in Practice (20 credits)

Supervised Work Experience (SWE)

Course Highlights

How you’ll learn

This course uses block mode delivery, with 6 modules across 12 weeks for full-time students, and 3-4 modules for part-timers. Full-time study requires two days a week, while part-time is one day.

The program emphasizes employer and industry engagement through real project case studies and guest lectures. Over one-third of the course can be undertaken in Welsh, with dedicated scholarships available.

Diverse assessment methods, including reports, essays, exams, and projects, allow students to showcase their knowledge. Some assessments offer student choice from a set list, and external stakeholders contribute to assessment design and evaluation through visits and lectures.

Teaching staff

The subject offers an Open-Door policy, whereby students have access to staff at all times. We also offer a Personal Academic Coach for each of our students for the duration of their studies.

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.

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

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)

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.

How to apply

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.

Contextual Admissions Policy

Fees and Funding

UK Full-time Fee

£9,535

per year*

International Full-time Fee

£16,200

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.

Read about campus developmentsOur new STEM Hub

Introducing Calon

We are investing in the future of STEM at USW with an exciting new Computing, Engineering and Technology building at our Pontypridd Campus.

STEM Hub Pontypridd Campus

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.

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.