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Midwifery Studies BSc(Hons)

2024-25 (also available for 2025-26)

It’s not too late to apply for September.
It’s not too late to apply for September.

Start date

16 September 2024

3 March 2025

Duration

3 years full-time

Entry requirements

A Level - ABB

BTEC - DDM

See full entry requirements

Places available (subject to change)

90

About the course

Reasons to study

  1. Regulated by The Nursing and Midwifery Council, our Midwifery Studies BSc(Hons) also has UNICEF UK Baby Friendly accreditation. 
  2. You’ll learn from experienced midwives and gain real-world experience via a range of placements; you’ll also be taught via a blend of on-campus theory and clinical skills simulation.
  3. In 2024, the University’s new Daphne Steele Building will open on the site of the National Health Innovation campus. This will allow our Midwifery students to benefit from specialist clinical teaching facilities and world-leading research facilities.

Are you passionate about delivering the best and safest care during pregnancy, childbirth and postnatally? On our Midwifery Studies BSc(Hons) degree, you’ll learn how to provide individualised care for the mother and baby throughout pregnancy, labour, childbirth and the early days of parenthood.

During this degree, you’ll have the opportunity to build excellent knowledge of the theory of midwifery. Across all areas of teaching, we focus on the promotion of normality, health, and the safe management of pregnancy, to ensure the best possible outcomes for parents and the newborn.

You’ll learn from experienced midwives, via a blend of on-campus theory and clinical skills simulation, as well as gaining real-world experience via a range of placements. You’ll build your communication and interpersonal skills on campus and via clinical placements. These will be taken throughout the course and in a range of settings, including birth centres, midwife-led units, labour suites, antenatal/postnatal wards, and within the community.

Why study Midwifery Studies BSc(Hons)

We’ve ranked in the Top 10 in the UK for Midwifery (The Guardian University Guide 2024), too.

Regulated by the Nursing and Midwifery Council, the course has UNICEF UK Baby Friendly-accreditation.

The University of Huddersfield is one of only four universities – and the only one in the north of England – that offer two intakes each year onto a Midwifery BSc(Hons) course. Working closely with the NHS workforce planning teams to help meet their recruitment demands, two course intakes results in qualified midwives graduating in both the spring and autumn months. Choosing when to begin your Midwifery degree will depend on your individual circumstances; you must state which Midwifery Studies intake you’d like to be part of on your UCAS form.

In terms of course content, placements, and available support, everything remains the same, regardless of when you choose to study with us. We have approximately 60 places available for those that wish to start in September, and approximately 40 for those wishing to start in March. If, for example, you prefer to be part of a large group, you may prefer to start in September.

For those who wish to delve into the world of midwifery, this course will help prepare you for a potentially rewarding career as a healthcare professional. In 2024, the University’s new Daphne Steele Building will open on the site of the National Health Innovation campus. This will allow our Midwifery students to benefit from specialist clinical teaching facilities and world-leading research facilities.

Students studying this course may be eligible to receive a non-repayable grant of at least £5,000 each year. Further information is available on the NHS Learning Support Fund Website.

Not quite ready to start Midwifery Studies BSc(Hons)? Successful completion of our Health Foundation Pathway leading to a BSc(Hons) Degree will equip you with the foundation knowledge to study Midwifery Studies.

Course detail

Core modules:

Biology for Midwifery Practice

This module provides the opportunity for you to develop your understanding of the anatomy and physiology, genetics and genomics relating to pregnancy and childbearing. You’ll learn about the female reproductive system including the physiology of pregnancy, labour, birth and postnatal periods, as well as for boys and men. You’ll be introduced to pharmacology and pharmacokinetics. You’ll learn about basic pathology, bacteriology, virology and parasitology as well as basic biophysics, biochemistry and radiology. This knowledge will help you to understand how to optimise physiological processes.

Introduction to Evidence-Informed Enquiry in Midwifery

In this module you’ll be introduced to research and evidence-based practice in midwifery. You’ll learn about critical thinking, reasoning and reflection, which are essential skills for contemporary midwifery practice.

Introducing Newborn and Family Health

This module introduces you to the midwife’s roles and responsibilities in promoting and supporting family and newborn health and wellbeing. You’ll learn about fetal development and physiological adaptation to newborn life with a view to working alongside parents and health and social care colleagues to assess, plan, implement and evaluate family-centred care. This includes screening and diagnostic testing, as well as safeguarding mothers and babies. You’ll have the opportunity to learn how you can support parents in building nurturing relationships with their newborn baby, considering their cultural, psychosocial and health education needs. You’ll also explore the importance of supporting safe, informed and responsive infant feeding and protecting breastfeeding.

Introducing Universal Midwifery Care for all Women

This module introduces you to the roles and responsibilities of the midwife in providing universal care to all women, their babies and families. You’ll have the opportunity to gain an insight into the accountability, autonomy and professionalism required for safe, respectful and effective midwifery care across women’s maternity journey. This will include pre-pregnancy, pregnancy, labour and birth and post-partum. Through this module you’ll start to recognise the importance of midwives working with women and their families, multi-professional and inter-agency teams to provide care that best meets women’s individual needs.

Participating in Midwifery Care

You’ll have the opportunity to complete 750 hours on clinical placement within a midwifery practice environment. You’ll be supported to participate in midwifery care that is universal for all women and their families during pregnancy, labour and birth and the postnatal period. This will involve you participating in caring for the newborn and supporting effective infant feeding. This practice-based module will help you to start developing and applying knowledge, skills, values and attitudes within a range of clinical practice settings. It will also provide you with opportunities to work towards the proficiencies and standards required of a registered midwife.

Entry requirements

ABBat A Level including a Biological Science, but excluding General Studies. If you are studying a Science A Level, the endorsement for practical work is essential and a requirement for entry to our degree courses.

128 UCAS tariff points from a maximum of three Level 3 qualifications including an A Level Biological Science at a minimum grade B and excluding General Studies, AS Levels and the Extended Project Qualification (EPQ). If you are studying a Science A Level, the endorsement for practical work is essential and a requirement for entry to our degree courses. Alternatively, a Distinction in BTEC Subsidiary Diploma/Level 3 National Extended Certificate in Health and Social Care is acceptable. Double graded qualifications will be counted as 2 of the 3 qualifications.

DDM in BTEC Level 3 National Extended Diploma in Health and Social Care (with a minimum of 4 units in Biological Sciences).

  • NCFE CACHE Technical Level 3 Extended Diploma in Health and Social Care at grade B.
  • Access to Higher Education Diploma with 45 Level 3 credits, at least 30 at Distinction and the remainder credits at Merit. The course must contain 18 credits in a Biological Science.
  • 128 UCAS tariff points from International Baccalaureate qualifications including a Biological Science at Higher Level at grade 6.

In addition, you must have GCSE English Language or Literature and Maths at grade 4 or above, or grade C or above if awarded under the previous GCSE grading scheme.

If you do not have the appropriate qualifications for direct entry to this degree you may be able to apply to our Health Foundation Pathway leading to a BSc(Hons) Degree.

You should have:

  • The ability to demonstrate that you have a broad understanding of the role of the midwife and midwifery practice.
  • Relevant work experience that enables you to discuss and provide evidence of transferable skills, which will help you meet the requirements of the role and midwifery practice. This should also enable you to demonstrate an understanding of women’s needs and that you have ‘customer facing’ skills for example communication and team work.
  • Offers will be subject to an interview. Please note all the information provided in support of your application may be checked and must be verifiable as a true record.
  • You also need satisfactory enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) and occupational health clearances prior to registration on the course. We arrange these as part of the application process. You'll be required to sign a self-declaration at the start of each year and at the end of the course. All police contact during the course must be reported to the course leader as a matter of urgency and may lead to suspension or termination. We will request an Overseas Police Check if you have lived in a country outside of the UK for 6 months or more (whether continuously or in total) in the last 10 years before applying to us and whilst aged 18 or over

Placement providers for this course may require you to have received a number of vaccinations, unless medically exempt, and provide evidence of these. As a student on a course with a clinical or healthcare placement, we strongly recommend that you complete any courses of vaccinations required under current guidelines for your future profession. Failure to do so may result in your inability to undertake a placement in certain clinical settings, therefore impacting upon your academic progression, and may result in academic failure of your course.

If your first language is not English, you will need to meet the minimum requirements of an English Language qualification. The minimum for IELTS is 6.5 overall with no element lower than 6.0, or equivalent. Read more about the University’s entry requirements for students outside of the UK on our Where are you from information pages.

Rebecca's story


Watch Rebecca’s film to hear why she chose to study Midwifery and how her first placement is her most memorable experience on the course. Rebecca also talks about what surprised her most about coming to University and what she would like to do in the future.

Placements


You'll spend between 24 and 27 weeks each year undertaking compulsory clinical practice where your learning will be facilitated and assessed by experienced practising midwives. An exciting range of placement opportunities are available for student midwives including midwife led units, birth centres, labour suites, antenatal/postnatal wards, community midwifery, neonatal care and surgical experience. Placements are usually undertaken within local NHS Trusts, however in Year 3 you may have the opportunity to arrange and undertake an elective midwifery placement.

Please note that you may be required to travel for/during your placements across West Yorkshire and occasionally beyond, covering 24 hour care including evening, weekend and occasional night shifts. For more information visit our placements page.

“Placements within different settings of maternity care have enabled me to gain a real insight, develop various skills, put theory into practice and shown how each department liaises and provides a multidisciplinary team approach.”

Jadie Jack, current student

Jodie Jack, Graduated from Midwifery Studies BSc(Hons) in 2021.

Your career


Our graduates have gone on to work as midwives within the National Health Service in a variety of roles, including community and hospital-based midwifery.**

 

*  Percentage of graduates from this course who go on to work and/or further study within fifteen months after graduating (HESA Graduate Outcomes 20/21, UK Domiciled)
** LinkedIn.

95% Graduates employed*

Student support

At the University of Huddersfield, you'll find support networks and services to help you get ahead in your studies and social life. Whether you study at undergraduate or postgraduate level, you'll soon discover that you're never far away from our dedicated staff and resources to help you to navigate through your personal student journey. Find out more about all our support services.

A wide range of resources are also offered within the School of Human and Health Sciences, which provides you with support in a variety of areas. These include:

Student Hub: a one stop shop for students, studying within the School. Their services include offering advice on extenuating circumstances, extension requests, course progression, suspension and welfare support, organising appointments with academic staff and signposting to other support networks.

Academic Skills Development Team: support students to develop their academic skills and build their confidence in order to improve their grades. The team provide support with academic skills including essay writing, being critical, reflective writing, numeracy, research skills, presentations and group work skills; as well as personal development for example time management.

Learning Technology Support Unit: helps students with any problems they experience with the University’s Brightspace Learning System, including logging on or difficulties experienced when accessing and using modules, and with the PebblePad platform, which is used by students when they go out on placements.

Important information

We will always try to deliver your course as described on this web page. However, sometimes we may have to make changes as set out below.

Changes to a course you have applied for

If we propose to make a major change to a course that you are holding an offer for, then we will tell you as soon as possible so that you can decide whether to withdraw your application prior to enrolment.

Cancellation of a course you have applied for

Although we always try and run all of the course we offer, we may occasionally have to withdraw a course you have applied for or combine your programme with another programme if we consider this reasonably necessary to ensure a good student experience, for example if there are not enough applicants to ensure you have a good learning experience. Where this is the case we will notify you as soon as reasonably possible and we will contact you to discuss other suitable courses with us we can transfer your application to. If we notify you that the course you have applied to has been withdrawn or combined, and you do not wish to transfer to another course with us, you may cancel your application and we will refund you any deposits or fees you have paid to us.

Changes to your course after you enrol as a student

We will always try to deliver your course and other services as described. However, sometimes we may have to make changes as set out below:

Changes to option modules

Where your course allows you to choose modules from a range of options, we will review these each year and change them to reflect the expertise of our staff, current trends in research and as a result of student feedback or demand for certain modules. We will always ensure that you have a range of options to choose from and we will let you know in good time the options available for you to choose for the following year.

Major changes

We will only make major changes to the core curriculum of a course or to our services if it is necessary for us to do so and provided such changes are reasonable. A major change in this context is a change that materially changes the services available to you; or the outcomes, or a significant part, of your course, such as the nature of the award or a substantial change to module content, teaching days (part time provision), classes, type of delivery or assessment of the core curriculum.

For example, it may be necessary to make a major change to reflect changes in the law or the requirements of the University’s regulators; to meet the latest requirements of a commissioning or accrediting body; to improve the quality of educational provision; in response to student, examiners’ or other course evaluators’ feedback; and/or to reflect academic or professional changes within subject areas. Major changes may also be necessary because of circumstances outside our reasonable control, such as a key member of staff leaving the University or being unable to teach, where they have a particular specialism that can’t be adequately covered by other members of staff; or due to damage or interruption to buildings, facilities or equipment.

Major changes would usually be made with effect from the next academic year, but this may not always be the case. We will notify you as soon as possible should we need to make a major change and will carry out suitable consultation with affected students. If you reasonably believe that the proposed change will cause you detriment or hardship we will, if appropriate, work with you to try to reduce the adverse effect on you or find an appropriate solution. Where an appropriate solution cannot be found and you contact us in writing before the change takes effect you can cancel your registration and withdraw from the University without liability to the University for future tuition fees. We will provide reasonable support to assist you with transferring to another university if you wish to do so.

Termination of course

In exceptional circumstances, we may, for reasons outside of our control, be forced to discontinue or suspend your course. Where this is the case, a formal exit strategy will be followed and we will notify you as soon as possible about what your options are, which may include transferring to a suitable replacement course for which you are qualified, being provided with individual teaching to complete the award for which you were registered, or claiming an interim award and exiting the University. If you do not wish to take up any of the options that are made available to you, then you can cancel your registration and withdraw from the course without liability to the University for future tuition fees and you will be entitled to a refund of all course fees paid to date. We will provide reasonable support to assist you with transferring to another university if you wish to do so.

When you enrol as a student of the University, your study and time with us will be governed by a framework of regulations, policies and procedures, which form the basis of your agreement with us. These include regulations regarding the assessment of your course, academic integrity, your conduct (including attendance) and disciplinary procedure, fees and finance and compliance with visa requirements (where relevant). It is important that you familiarise yourself with these as you will be asked to agree to abide by them when you join us as a student. You will find a guide to the key terms here, along with the Student Protection Plan, where you will also find links to the full text of each of the regulations, policies and procedures referred to. You should read these carefully before you enrol. Please note that this information is subject to change and you are advised to check our website regularly for any changes before you enrol at the University. A person who is not party to this agreement shall not have any rights under or in connection with it. Only you and the University shall have any right to enforce or rely on the agreement.

The Office for Students (OfS) is the principal regulator for the University.

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