Psychology (with Foundation Year)
University of Northampton
UCAS Code: C801 | Bachelor of Science (with Honours) - BSc (Hons)
University of Northampton
UCAS Code: C801 | Bachelor of Science (with Honours) - BSc (Hons)
Entry requirements
A level
Accepted towards tariff/grade requirements
AQA Level 3 Technical Level (1080 glh)
Accepted towards tariff requirements
Accepted on its own at Merit Merit or towards tariff/grade requirements with other qualifications
Accepted towards tariff requirements
Access to HE Diploma
Cambridge International Pre-U Certificate - Principal
Accepted towards tariff/grade requirements
International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme
Leaving Certificate - Higher Level (Ireland) (first awarded in 2017)
Accepted towards tariff requirements
Accepted on its own at Merit Merit or towards tariff/grade requirements with other qualifications
Accepted towards tariff/grade requirements
OCR Cambridge Technical Extended Diploma
Accepted towards tariff requirements
Accepted towards tariff/grade requirements
Accepted towards tariff requirements
Accepted towards tariff requirements
Accepted towards tariff requirements
Accepted on its own at Merit Merit or towards tariff/grade requirements with other qualifications
Pearson BTEC Extended Diploma (QCF)
Accepted towards tariff requirements
Accepted on its own at Merit Merit or towards tariff/grade requirements with other qualifications
Accepted towards tariff/grade requirements
Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Diploma (first teaching from September 2016)
Accepted towards tariff requirements
Accepted towards tariff/grade requirements
Scottish Advanced Higher
Individual Advanced Highers can be accepted with Scottish Highers towards tariff requirements
Scottish Higher
T Level
UCAS Tariff
Accepted towards tariff/grade requirements
About this course
**The Integrated Foundation Year** offers a new and exciting route into studying for a degree, attracting ambitious and driven students who are willing to learn and advance.
If you have non-standard qualifications or do not quite meet the admissions requirements for **Psychology** we can offer you a fantastic opportunity to study a four year Psychology programme which includes an Integrated Foundation Year. The Integrated Foundation Year will help you develop the theoretical/practical and academic skills you need, in order to successfully progress to the full award.
Featuring a reduced tuition fee in the first year, our four-year courses will enable you to successfully follow the degree pathway of your choice while gaining essential study skills. The foundation year of your chosen degree will be studied on a full-time basis and is aimed at supporting the transition to higher education. Years two, three and four are then studied as a standard degree programme.
**By studying at the University of Northampton, you can be sure that:**
- You will experience student life at the University’s £330 million Waterside Campus. Come along to an Open Day and find out more.
- At UON we guarantee a room in our Halls of Residence for all new full-time, first year students who apply and accept their room offer by June 2025 - and we won't ask for a deposit for September 2025*.
- Students enrolling on this course at Northampton will be provided with their own brand new laptop** to keep at no additional cost. All sports clubs and societies are free to join at Northampton and every essential course text book is available via the library, meaning you won’t have to purchase copies. For more information on this visit our website (northampton.ac.uk/benefits).
- Our expert academics teach in small groups supported with one to one assistance. Our academics and students form a tight bond, providing individualised support and guidance whilst challenging students academically.
- Whatever your ambitions, we’re here to help you to achieve them. We’ll support you to identify the skills you’re learning during your course, find your strengths and secure practical experience so that when it comes to applying for jobs or further study you’ll feel confident in standing out from the crowd.
**The Northampton Employment Promise**
- In fact, we’re so confident in our careers and employability support that if you achieve at least a 2:2 degree and complete either our Employability Plus Gold programme or achieve a Changemaker Gold Certificate during your time studying with us, but still haven’t secured full-time employment 12 months after graduating, we will secure a three – six month paid internship for you or support you into postgraduate study.
✱ eligibility criteria apply. See northampton.ac.uk/student-life/accommodation/ for more information
✱✱ eligibility criteria and terms and conditions apply. See northampton.ac.uk/benefits for more information
Modules
The Integrated Foundation Year (IFY) offers a new and exciting route into studying for a degree. The foundation year will be studied on a full-time basis and is aimed at supporting your transition to higher education. Years two, three and four are then studied as a standard degree programme.
**Stage 1a**
• Transition to University – Learning to Learn (Compulsory)
• Investigating your subject (Compulsory)
• Foundations in Psychology (Compulsory)
• Negotiated Learning Project (Compulsory)
**STAGE 1b**
• Psychology in Practice (compulsory)
• Introduction to Psychology (compulsory)
• Investigating Psychology (compulsory)
• Becoming a Psychologist (compulsory)
• Positive Psychology (compulsory)
• Psychology for Life (compulsory)
**STAGE 2**
• Independent Practical Work (Compulsory)
• Research Methods and Statistics (Compulsory)
• The Human Animal (Designated)
• The Psychology of Well Being (Designated)
• The Psychology of Learning and Teaching in Educational Settings (Designated)
• Biological and Cognitive psychology: Mechanisms of the mind (Compulsory)
• Development and Society (Compulsory)
• Personality & the Fundamentals of Psychology (Compulsory)
**Optional Placement Year**
• The FHES Placement Year Experience (designated)
Students must have successfully completed 100 credits at Level 5 in order to undertake placement.
**STAGE 3**
• Psychology Dissertation (designated)
• Psychology Library Based Dissertation (designated)
• The Psychology of Mental Health (designated)
• Parapsychology and Anomalous Experiences (designated)
• The Psychology of Health (designated)
• Forensic Psychology (designated)
• Applying Positive Psychology (designated)
• Educational Psychology (designated)
• Understanding the Social World (designated)
• Psychology of Spirituality, Religion and Wellbeing (designated)
• Neuroscience of Mind (designated)
• Lifespan Development (designated)
• The Psychology of Work and Organisations (designated)
*Students must take either PSY4001 or PSY4004 plus four designated modules. Students requiring GBC must take PSY4001 plus four designated modules. Students who complete PSY4004 will achieve BA Psychological Studies, not BSc Psychology. FDN and Level 4 modules are split across Stage 1a and Stage1b – 80 FDN credits/40 L4 credits at Stage 1a and 40 FDN credits/80 L4 credits at Stage 1b. The University’s Supplementary Regulations govern how FDN modules are regulated and how progression from Stage 1a and Stage 1b and from Stage 1a and Stage 1b to Stage 2 is managed.
**Module information is quoted for 2024/25 entry. Please note that modules run subject to student numbers and staff availability, any changes will be communicated to applicants accordingly.
Assessment methods
The course is assessed in a number of ways:
• Essays
• Practical reports
• Multiple-choice tests
• Oral presentations
• Time-constrained essays
• Seen and unseen examinations
• Critical reviews
• Group project work
Tuition fees
Select where you currently live to see what you'll pay:
The Uni
Waterside Campus
Faculty of Health, Education and Society
What students say
We've crunched the numbers to see if the overall teaching satisfaction score 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.
Psychology (non-specific)
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.
Psychology (non-specific)
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
20 years ago, this was a specialist degree for would-be psychologists but now it is the model of a modern, flexible degree subject. One of the UK's fastest-growing subject at degree level, and the second most popular subject overall (it recently overtook business studies), one in 23 of all graduates last year had psychology degrees. As you'd expect with figures like that, jobs in psychology itself are incredibly competitive, so to stand a chance of securing one, you need to get a postgraduate qualification (probably a doctorate in most fields, especially clinical psychology) and some relevant work experience. But even though there are so many psychology graduates — far more than there are jobs in psychology, and over 13,800 in total last year — this degree has a lower unemployment rate than average because its grads are so flexible and well-regarded by business and other industries across the economy. Everywhere there are good jobs in the UK economy, you'll find psychology graduates - and it's hardly surprising as the course helps you gain a mix of good people skills and excellent number and data handling skills. A psychology degree ticks most employers' boxes — but we'd suggest you don't drop your maths modules.
What about your long term prospects?
Looking further ahead, below is a rough guide for what graduates went on to earn.
Psychology (non-specific)
The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.
£18k
£22k
£26k
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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Lower entry requirements
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Course location and department:
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Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF):
We've received this information from the Department for Education, via Ucas. This is how the university as a whole has been rated for its quality of teaching: gold silver or bronze. Note, not all universities have taken part in the 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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