Health and Social Care, Student Designed Award - 2012 entry

Course content

The SDA’s distinctive course design gives you maximum flexibility and allows your learning to directly relate to your career and clinical interests. You can choose from a very wide range of existing modules in the health and social care portfolio and add academic credit for learning from projects or other workplace activities to build your individual programme. Prior learning from experience or accredited courses may also be included if it is relevant to your agreed objectives. For example, you may want to combine modules from our postgraduate course portfolio, for example Cancer and Palliative Care, Public Health, Management in Health and Social Care or Higher Professional Education and others. The options, if not quite limitless, are very extensive.

Your programme may therefore contain all or any of the following:

• credit gained from previous certificated courses of study or modules
• learning through experience
• taught modules that can be selected from a wide range of options
• work-based learning projects
• units studied at another institution.

When selecting the elements of your programme you will be guided by an academic adviser, to ensure you meet the aims you have identified. A programme of achieved credit and planned study must be coherent, in that all the parts must relate to each other and must be directly relevant to the title of the award sought. You will be asked to write a statement that justifies the combination of prior credit and the modules chosen.

Faculty

Faculty of Health and Life Sciences

Department

Department of Social Work and Public Health

Course length

Full-time: MA/MSc: 12 months, PGDip: 12 months, PGCert: 6 to 12 months
Part-time: depends on the award sought and any credit already attained

Teaching location

Headington Campus, Marston Road site

Start date

September 2012
January 2013

UKPASS code

P027762

Entry requirements

You will need to negotiate a programme of study, and to have this approved by the university, on admission to the programme. Initial enquiries should be made directly to the Programme Administrator.

Scholarships and funding

A limited number of scholarships are offered by Oxford Brookes University. Applicants who have been offered a full-time place on this master’s course are eligible to apply for the following scholarships:

John Henry Brookes Scholarship

The John Henry Brookes Scholarship is awarded to home/EU and international applicants for academic excellence. Each scholarship will be paid towards the tuition fee for a taught master's degree. The awards do not include a maintenance grant.

Funding

If you are a UK applicant, you may be eligible for funding or sponsorship to undertake the course through your local strategic health authority, your employer or another source (note: these sources are not open to international students). Self-funding applicants are also welcome to apply.

International applicants will be asked to pay a deposit of £1,000 to secure a place on the course.

General sources of information about finance and financial support for international applicants can be found at: www.brookes.ac.uk/international/finance

All applicants (UK, EU and international) will be required to provide details of their funding arrangements prior to enrolment on the course.

For general sources of financial support, see:

• funding for students from the UK and EU
• funding for students from outside the EU

Why Oxford is a great place to study Health and Social Care, Student Designed Award

As a student in Oxford you'll be at the heart of the UK's most successful economic region and in a centre for leading industries which provides you with a host of learning opportunities.

Because Oxford is one of the world's great academic cities, it is a key centre of debate, with conferences, seminars and forums taking place across education, science, the arts and many other subjects.

In addition to our own excellent libraries and resource centres, our postgraduate students have access to the world-renowned Bodleian Library, the Bodleian Law Library and the Radcliffe Science Library.

Support for students studying Health and Social Care, Student Designed Award

All our courses adopt a student-centred approach to teaching and learning and are strongly focused on encouraging you to attain your full potential as lifelong learners.

There is a range of support mechanisms for students, such as academic advisers, who will facilitate your academic development, and student support co-ordinators, who provide a drop-in service for queries about any aspect of student life, covering both academic and personal welfare.

The university’s support services include Upgrade, which provides advice on study skills such as planning and writing essays, assignments and dissertations, research, or preparing for an exam. They also give advice on statistics and maths. There is a dedicated Student Disability and Dyslexia Service, which provides support for students with disabilities including sensory and mobility impairments, dyslexia and other specific learning difficulties, mental health problems and medical conditions. Here, staff offer advice and support on a range of issues, including physical access, funding, alternative assessment arrangements and liaison with teaching staff to ensure that they are aware of your requirements.

EU/International students

As a new EU or international student you will join the Academic and Cultural Orientation Programme, which has been set up to enable you to make a smooth transition into study at the university. Within the sessions, you will explore the culture of the university, which will assist you in developing the appropriate academic skills required for your programme of study. The university also provides a comprehensive range of support networks and services to EU/international students. For more information, go to www.brookes.ac.uk/international/support

How Brookes supports postgraduate students

Supporting your learning

From academic advisers and support co-ordinators to specialist subject librarians and other learning support staff, we want to ensure that you get the best out of your studies.

Personal support services

We want your time at Brookes to be as enjoyable and successful as possible. That's why we provide all the facilities you need to be relaxed, happy and healthy throughout your studies.

Departmental research highlights

We have a number of both promising and experienced researchers working in established areas including cancer care, children and families, drugs and alcohol, physical rehabilitation and enablement,  and interprofessional education and collaborative practice. Over the past few years, these researchers have won external research and consultancy contracts including grants, fellowships and studentships for NHS staff. Our research staff collaborate with researchers from across Oxford Brookes University, with researchers from the Institute of Health Sciences at Oxford University, and with research teams from many other UK and international centres.

Research excellence

We are very pleased with the results received in the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise (RAE). 70% of our research in Allied Health Professions and Studies was rated as being of international significance in the assessment of research, and of this, 10% was rated as world-leading. The university has been careful to nurture emerging research strengths, and the international standing achieved by subjects Allied to Health demonstrates significant progress since 2001.

For more details about our research portfolio, go to our website.