BSc (Hons) Psychology with Foundation Year

Why study this subject?

Whether you’re simply fascinated by Psychology, or you have your sights set on becoming a Psychologist, gaining a psychology degree is a great choice. A Psychology degree gives you a strong foundation for a variety of careers, utilising your knowledge of human behaviour and trends.   

A Psychology degree helps you gain an understanding of the root cause of behaviours, thoughts and emotions and explain them within the scope of scientific theory. A psychologist is not only interested in personal development but brings out the potential in others too.  

You can expect to build a deep understanding of yourself and our societies, develop your analytical mind, nurture your curiosity and understand communication and relationships. You can also help lift the veil on mental health, the mind and the brain through active research.

If you choose to become chartered with the British Psychological Society (BPS) you can go on to practice Psychology as a scientist, analyst, researcher, commentator, advisor or as a clinician. Psychology is a wide field, and there is a lot of paths to choose from. Psychology crosses over with medical science, clinical practice, business and more.

Why study at Buckinghamshire New University?

At Buckinghamshire New University (BNU) you’ll know what it means to improve the mental health, wellbeing and performance of those around you. We want you to ask questions of us, develop your core skills, build your analytical mind, and take advantage of our professional experience. You never stop learning, and BNU teaches you how to learn well. 

When you graduate from Buckinghamshire New University you will be inspired, empowered, confident. You will have gained a good grounding in those fields of Psychology which excite you, inspire you, and motivate you to push boundaries.

Grow organically and authentically as a professional, discover how inclusivity informs teaching regardless of your academic background. Choosing to study at BNU means gaining a welcoming community, lifelong friends and expert tutors who are actively engaged in your needs. We are home to an incredibly passionate community of Psychology lecturers and Social Science students, and it shows.

In addition to the amazing lecturers and students, Our BSc (Hons) Psychology course is accredited by The British Psychological Society (BPS) and is a recognised accreditation by employers throughout the country. Upon graduation, you’ll be eligible for the Graduate Basis for Chartered Membership (GBC) and from there you can take steps towards becoming a Chartered Psychologist, which is a highly desired accreditation.

Studying at BNU means you can take advantage of the specialist facilities our professional psychologists use day to day, including virtual reality facilities, laboratory facilities containing equipment that tracks eye movement, emotions and communication, brain activity and more.

Our hands-on pragmatic approach to learning is designed to impart onto you the practical skills to excel and experiment, developing your own theories and knowledge of what it’s like to push the boundaries of Psychological research, whether this is based within the fields of medical science, business or society.

Our students can go on to take roles such as: clinical psychologist, psychotherapist, counsellor, therapist, nurse and other mental health professions, as well as careers in marketing and advertisement.

What facilities can I use?

On our BSc (Hons) Psychology degree, you will benefit from hands-on learning, using our state-of-the-art facilities.

In our laboratory and computing workshops, you’ll use software and equipment that social scientists use in the field to present research data. You will use industry standard equipment as part of this course to build your own experience on a range of recognisable equipment.

• Use our observation laboratory for the measurement of psycho-physiological responses using Biopac© as well as the activity of the cardiovascular system, brain, autonomic nervous system and more.
• Use our Tobii eye tracking equipment and HTC Vive, a virtual reality software, to test what happens when conditions change and the brain reacts.

The facilities at BNU are always here for the student first, and we have heavily invested in them with the goal of providing the best space for your own theories, ideas and experiments. We want you to use them to push your boundaries, as we use them to push ours during lessons.

We’ll also sign you up to our Virtual Learning Environment which means you’ll have access to lots of online resources wherever you are! The VLE is an additional online learning platform that supplements your core degree content.

What will I study?

As part of BPS accreditation, you will study a core of psychology which is designed to set you up with the foundational knowledge needed in the profession. Some of the optional modules we provide in the course are tailored to give you a pathway into several popular psychology careers.

You can approach this course with the intention of specialising in a specific career or to get a general feel and choose to specialise with postgraduate study or go straight into work with the knowledge you gained on this degree course.

The course covers many aspects of psychology and explores the complex interactions between individuals, society and biology. The factors that influence our psychological understanding are best explored through analytical research, scientific experimentation, data analysis and lab work, which you’ll undertake with the guidance of our experienced lecturers.

During your time at BNU, you get to study fascinating subjects like developmental psychology, cognitive processes, biological psychology, positive psychology, business psychology, social psychology, criminological and forensic psychology and the historical issues which have helped or hindered the progress of psychology.

Our course will also give you the skills and awareness to tackle the issue of mental health and wellbeing within society. We’ll give you the opportunity to discuss the place of psychologists in our world and explore our ethical and social responsibilities. You will get to grips with how to run your own experiments through our research skills and methodology modules, and the process of implanting and applying these theories within psychology.

You will get the chance to study modules which give you an introduction to personality, research methods, developmental psychology and cross disciplinary psychology. You’ll get the chance to understand your personality and how learning can be applied for beneficial effects. You’ll get to grips with the necessary framework needed to practice psychology at a higher and more professional level.  

You’ll continue to develop your understanding of personality, and dive into the complexities of human behaviour as you progress in the course. In addition, there will be modules exploring cognitive processes, conceptual problems, biopsychology and developmental psychology at a higher level.

In your final year, you’ll have the opportunity to deep dive into a specialist area you’re passionate about by completing an empirical dissertation. With the support and guidance of your personal tutor, along with the facilities available to you here at BNU, the possibilities for this project are endless – this is your time to shine and show off what you know to prospective employers.

How will I be taught and assessed?

Assessments are designed to test the achievement of the learning outcomes. Some modules include formative assessments. While formative assessments do not give marks towards the final module grade, they offer you valuable learning through feedback from the tutors, which can offer direction for improved performance on the final summative assignments.

Assessments include:

• essays
• examinations
• time controlled assignments
• presentations
• laboratory/research reports
• empirical dissertations.

Placements Plus

BNU is a Placements Plus university. So, whatever degree you do, you can be sure there’ll be plenty of industry-relevant opportunities on offer, to help you get into your chosen field.

We’ll also prepare you for work beforehand, with special skills for work training, further boosting your CV, and building skills employers will value. In recognition of the value we place on these skills we have incorporated this experience into your study time.

Placements Plus is all about helping you get some valuable experience under your belt while you’re a student, to increase your choices later, and help you get the graduate-level job you want.