University of Portsmouth
UCAS Code: L302 | Bachelor of Science (with Honours) - BSc (Hons)
Entry requirements
32 tariff points at A level.
Pass the Access to HE Diploma.
Cambridge Pre-U to include a Principal Subject at M3.
GCSE/National 4/National 5
GCSE English and mathematics at grade E/2 or above.
24 points from the IB Diploma.
32 points to include a Higher Level subject.
Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Diploma (first teaching from September 2016)
Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Certificate (first teaching from September 2016)
Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Diploma (first teaching from September 2016)
32 tariff points.
T Level
UCAS Tariff
32 tariff points at A level, or equivalent.
32 points from the Advanced Welsh Baccalaureate including 1 A level, plus the Advanced Skills Challenge Certificate.
About this course
This course has alternative study modes. Contact the university to find out how the information below might vary.
With this foundation year course, you'll gain all the credentials you need to begin your career in sociology. It's ideal for you if you don't yet meet the entry requirements of our undergraduate degree, if you're returning to study after a break away, or you need a bit of extra support to get uni-ready.
You'll spend a year studying with us on campus, through ICP. You'll get the knowledge and academic skills needed to take on a bachelor's degree, learning how to analyse information, do research, and improve your academic writing.
The skills you'll learn will help you work in teams as well as on your own in culturally diverse workplaces. You'll develop your understanding of new workplaces and environments, and how to adapt to new environments.
After your foundation year, you'll be ready to move onto the first year of BSc (Hons) Sociology.
**A guaranteed place**
Once you’ve successfully completed your foundation year, you'll be ready to progress onto BSc (Hons) Sociology with a guaranteed place.
**Course highlights**
- ICP is based on the University of Portsmouth campus so you'll have access to all facilities, support and societies
- When you finish your foundation year successfully, you get a guaranteed place on BSc (Hons) Sociology
- Get used to how lectures, seminars and tutorials work, so you can move onto your degree ready for success
- Learn how to meet the demands of taking on a bachelor's at university
**Careers and opportunities**
When you complete this foundation year, you'll be all set to continue on to our BSc (Hons) Sociology degree… which encourages you to engage critically with the world around you, ask questions about the social world and challenge things we often take for granted.
You'll develop the ability to be analytical, consider different perspectives and communicate your ideas effectively. These are transferable skills that are valuable to any employer, which means you'll have lots of career options when you graduate.
Many of our sociology graduates go into people-focused roles, or in roles that allow them to do research, shape social policies or bring about social change. Areas you could go into include research and policy, health and social care, advertising, marketing and media and local government.
**Placement year**
Taking an optional placement year after your second or third year of study will give you the experience you need to increase your chances of landing your perfect role. You'll get valuable work experience and the chance to grow your professional network and enhance your CV.
Previous students have taken placement roles at organisations including Portsmouth Abuse and Rape Counselling Service (PARCS), Why Me? Restorative Justice and Volkswagen.
Modules
**Foundation year**
In your foundation year, you'll gain the knowledge you need to move on to the first year of BSc (Hons) Sociology. It will bridge the gap to uni, with the knowledge and academic skills you'll need to start.
Throughout the year, you'll learn to critically engage with information, undertake literature reviews, enhance your academic writing, and gain awareness of different types of research.
When you successfully complete this year, you'll get a guaranteed place on the first year of the BSc (Hons) Sociology degree.
Assessment methods
You'll be assessed in a number of ways on your foundation year, including:
- assignments
- oral presentations
- exams
- lab reports
- portfolio
- court reports
Typically, you can expect to have two assessments per module.
Tuition fees
Select where you currently live to see what you'll pay:
The Uni
University of Portsmouth
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
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.
Sociology
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.
Sociology
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
We have quite a lot of sociology graduates, although numbers fell last year. But graduates still do pretty well. Most sociology graduates go straight into work when they complete their degrees, and a lot of graduates go into jobs in social professions such as recruitment, education, community and youth work, and housing. An important option for a sociology graduate is social work - and we're short of people willing to take this challenging but rewarding career. Sociology is a flexible degree and you can find graduates from the subject in pretty much every reasonable job — obviously, you don't find many doctors or engineers, but you do find them in finance, the media, healthcare, marketing and even IT. Sociology graduates taking further study often branch out into other qualifications, like teaching, law, psychology, HR and even maths, so don’t think a sociology degree restricts you to just one set of options.
What about your long term prospects?
Looking further ahead, below is a rough guide for what graduates went on to earn.
Sociology
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
£26k
£29k
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.
Explore these similar courses...
This is what the university has told Ucas about the criteria they expect applicants to satisfy; some may be compulsory, others may be preferable.
Have a question about this info? Learn more here
This is the percentage of applicants to this course who received an offer last year, through Ucas.
Have a question about this info? Learn more here
This is what the university has told Ucas about the course. Use it to get a quick idea about what makes it unique compared to similar courses, elsewhere.
Have a question about this info? Learn more here
Course location and department:
This is what the university has told Ucas about the course. Use it to get a quick idea about what makes it unique compared to similar courses, elsewhere.
Have a question about this info? Learn more here
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.
Have a question about this info? Learn more here
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.
Have a question about this info? Learn more here
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.
Have a question about this info? Learn more here
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.
Have a question about this info? Learn more here
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
Have a question about this info? Learn more here
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?
Have a question about this info? Learn more here