Physical Activity, Exercise and Health Promotion
Entry requirements
UCAS Tariff
GCSE in English Language, Maths and Science at grade C or 4 (or higher) will be required
About this course
Do you want to gain the skills and experience needed for a career as a health and exercise professional? Would you like to learn how health promotion and physical activity interventions can be used to help address the health challenges faced by society?
The health and fitness industry is seeing significant growth as an increasing number of people recognise the importance of physical activity and exercise.
This degree will prepare you to become a confident and efficient health and exercise professional ready for a career in public health and health promotion or within the growing number of jobs in the exercise and health sector that focus on promoting active and healthy lifestyles.
You’ll develop your knowledge of exercise science, social science and health promotion, studying anatomy to learn how the body functions and how physical activity and other lifestyle behaviours impact our health and wellbeing.
You’ll explore the sociological and psychological complexity of human behaviour as well as gain an understanding of the wide range of factors that may influence health behaviours and develop behaviour change skills, to consider how you can effectively promote health, or prevent and manage disease.
Putting theory into practice, you’ll complete professional work placements as part of your degree, and you’ll have the opportunity to study, work or volunteer abroad.
Throughout your degree, we’ll help you develop the confidence to support clients from a range of population groups, both physically and psychologically, and to design and implement evidence-based interventions at individual and population level across a variety of health and exercise settings.This degree has a strong applied focus and offers the chance to gain professional qualifications in gym instruction and personal training while you study.
**Professional work placements**
You’ll undertake placements that are relevant to potential future careers in the growing exercise and health sector, including roles that promote the use of physical activity and exercise to prevent and manage disease or long-term health conditions, or that can improve health within the community, such as providing sports coaching to children or working alongside personal trainers in gyms. You could also complete your placement overseas with international charities supporting educational projects in countries including Rwanda and Cameroon.
**Graduate opportunities**
You’ll have the opportunity to graduate with the experience and knowledge needed for a range of careers in public health, health promotion in the NHS or local authorities, and roles in the sport, fitness and leisure industries that focus on promoting active and healthy lifestyles. A strength of this degree is its diversity – graduates can gain employment in roles across each of the three areas, e.g., as an exercise referral specialist, physical activity development officer, health improvement coordinator or health ambassador.
Modules
On this course you will study a selection of modules, which may include: Introduction to Anatomy and Physiology; Professional Skills in Sport, Exercise and Health; Public Health Promotion and Interventions; Nutrition and Exercise Prescription; Applying Professional Skills in Sport, Exercise and Health; Health Promotion across the Lifecourse; Physical Activity and Exercise Prescription in Health and Disease.
Tuition fees
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What students say
We've crunched the numbers to see if overall student satisfaction here is high, medium or low compared to students studying this subject(s) at other universities.
How do students rate their degree experience?
The stats below relate to the general subject area/s at this university, not this specific course. We show this where there isn’t enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.
Nutrition
Sorry, no information to show
This is usually because there were too few respondents in the data we receive to be able to provide results about the subject at this university.
Who studies this subject and how do they get on?
Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)
Sport and exercise sciences
Teaching and learning
Assessment and feedback
Resources and organisation
Student voice
Who studies this subject and how do they get on?
Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)
Health studies
Teaching and learning
Assessment and feedback
Resources and organisation
Student voice
Who studies this subject and how do they get on?
Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)
After graduation
The stats in this section relate to the general subject area/s at this university – not this specific course. We show this where there isn't enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.
Nutrition and dietetics
What are graduates doing after six months?
This is what graduates told us they were doing (and earning), shortly after completing their course. We've crunched the numbers to show you if these immediate prospects are high, medium or low, compared to those studying this subject/s at other universities.
Top job areas of graduates
This is the subject you need to study if you want to become a dietician — an important job in the country’s healthcare sector, and the single most common job for nutrition graduates. We don’t have many graduates in nutrition every year and with the population becoming more aware of health and well-being and with many medical needs being addressed by the application of specific diets, this is likely to be an area of increasing demand in the future.
Sport and exercise sciences
What are graduates doing after six months?
This is what graduates told us they were doing (and earning), shortly after completing their course. We've crunched the numbers to show you if these immediate prospects are high, medium or low, compared to those studying this subject/s at other universities.
Top job areas of graduates
One of the fastest growing subjects in the country, the number of sports science graduates went from under 3,000 in 2003 to over 10,000 in 2013. Numbers have fallen slightly since 2015, but we still have over 9,000 graduates in the subject. However, the good news is the country's appetite for good health and fitness - and the adaptability of graduates in the subject - means that sports science grads are less likely than average to be out of work. Sports science graduates, not surprisingly, tend to get jobs in sport, fitness and health - coaching and teaching especially - but they're found all over the economy. Management and business are also popular options for graduates from this subject — and sports science graduates are particularly found where drive, determination and physical fitness are an advantage.
Health studies
What are graduates doing after six months?
This is what graduates told us they were doing (and earning), shortly after completing their course. We've crunched the numbers to show you if these immediate prospects are high, medium or low, compared to those studying this subject/s at other universities.
Top job areas of graduates
What about your long term prospects?
Looking further ahead, below is a rough guide for what graduates went on to earn.
Nutrition and dietetics
The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.
£16k
£23k
Note: this data only looks at employees (and not those who are self-employed or also studying) and covers a broad sample of graduates and the various paths they've taken, which might not always be a direct result of their degree.
Sport and exercise sciences
The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.
£16k
£22k
£25k
Note: this data only looks at employees (and not those who are self-employed or also studying) and covers a broad sample of graduates and the various paths they've taken, which might not always be a direct result of their degree.
Health studies
The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.
£20k
£22k
Note: this data only looks at employees (and not those who are self-employed or also studying) and covers a broad sample of graduates and the various paths they've taken, which might not always be a direct result of their degree.
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Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF):
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This information comes from the National Student Survey, an annual student survey of final-year students. You can use this to see how satisfied students studying this subject area at this university, are (not the individual course).
This is the percentage of final-year students at this university who were "definitely" or "mostly" satisfied with their course. We've analysed this figure against other universities so you can see whether this is high, medium or low.
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This information is from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), for undergraduate students only.
You can use this to get an idea of who you might share a lecture with and how they progressed in this subject, here. It's also worth comparing typical A-level subjects and grades students achieved with the current course entry requirements; similarities or differences here could indicate how flexible (or not) a university might be.
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Post-six month graduation stats:
This is from the Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education Survey, based on responses from graduates who studied the same subject area here.
It offers a snapshot of what grads went on to do six months later, what they were earning on average, and whether they felt their degree helped them obtain a 'graduate role'. We calculate a mean rating to indicate if this is high, medium or low compared to other universities.
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Graduate field commentary:
The Higher Education Careers Services Unit have provided some further context for all graduates in this subject area, including details that numbers alone might not show
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The Longitudinal Educational Outcomes dataset combines HRMC earnings data with student records from the Higher Education Statistics Agency.
While there are lots of factors at play when it comes to your future earnings, use this as a rough timeline of what graduates in this subject area were earning on average one, three and five years later. Can you see a steady increase in salary, or did grads need some experience under their belt before seeing a nice bump up in their pay packet?
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