Health and Social Care with Foundation Year

OVERVIEW
Our BSc (Hons) Health and Social Care with Foundation Year leads to rewarding careers, making a meaningful difference to the complex needs of individuals and communities. Our friendly and supportive teaching team are experienced health and social care practitioners, putting us in a unique position to offer specialised optional modules in subjects such as neurodiversity, criminology, and substance misuse. This means you can tailor your studies to suit your particular interests or career goals. Our dedicated employability tutors will support you in completing vocational work placements one day a week throughout your studies, to boost your employability, apply your learning as a practitioner, help you discover your area of passion and give you a real edge as a graduate.

We co-deliver our programme with ‘experts by experience’; those who have used social care services, or their parents and carers. This participatory approach is best practice in the health and social care sector, and as part of your degree, leads you to an authentic understanding of the issues, powerfully boosting your skills, vocational performance and career prospects.

You will have the opportunity to progress on to a wide range of rewarding careers in areas such as family support, community mental health, care management services, alternative education provision, addiction services, domestic violence, housing, social prescribing, disability support and health education. Alternatively, you could progress to master’s level study in areas such as social work, counselling, teaching or psychology. The foundation year offers tailored support and inclusive teaching to build your academic confidence, especially if you're returning to study or come from a non-traditional background.

WHY CHOOSE THIS COURSE?

• FOUNDATION YEAR - From level 3 you will explore how to develop essential academic and learning skills, and develop a sense of belonging through teamwork and collaboration. You will identify and practice essential learning and educational skills, enhancing your ability to succeed in higher education.

• NO EXAMS - If you are not keen on exams, this course is for you. Unlike many degrees in this field, you will have no written exams during or at the end of the course and will be assessed through practical assessments and coursework only

• WORK PLACEMENTS – Gain essential, real-world work experience throughout your degree by going on placement one day per week, with opportunities in a huge variety of health and social care settings

• ENRICHMENT – Enhance your CV and professional development with further training and qualifications, including key areas for care workers such as mental health first aid, basic life support, infection prevention and control and autism awareness.

• SPECIALISE YOUR STUDIES – Pick a research topic to study in depth and choose from a wide range of optional modules, including themes such as substance misuse, mental wellbeing and criminology

• AWARD-WINNING UNIVERSITY – Study at the highest-ranking university in the region according to student choice (Whatuni Student Choice Awards 2024)

PLACEMENTS
Throughout the BSc Health and Social Care course, you will undertake a vocational placement one day per week within the health and social care sector. Our Hired team can help find the ideal placement for you.

CAREERS AND PROGRESSION
Examples of careers you could pursue following this course:

• Family support worker (graduate)

• Community education officer

• Health promotion specialist

• Community development worker

• Learning mentor

• Advice worker

You could also progress onto one of our postgraduate courses at University College Birmingham.

• Please refer to our website www.ucb.ac.uk for the latest updates to this course