Midwifery
BSc (Hons)
Key facts
UCAS code
B720
Start dates
September 2023 / September 2024
Location
Course length
Full time: 3 years
Department
Accreditation(s)
Approved by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC)
UCAS Tariff Points
120
Overview
Our Midwifery BSc was reapproved (2020) by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) and accredited as Baby Friendly by UNICEF.
Midwives care for women and their families throughout pregnancy, birth and the postnatal period. They have an important role in promoting health and wellbeing. They are experts in, and the lead professionals for, women experiencing normal childbirth. They also provide and coordinate care, in partnership with other professionals, for women who have more complex needs. Our new course prepare students for all aspects of midwifery and has a focus on public health and physiology.
Our small cohorts mean you'll receive optimum support from the midwifery teaching team. On placement you will be supervised and assessed by experienced midwives.
Oxfordshire offers excellent graduate employment opportunities. We work with the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust to arrange clinical placements in a range of maternity care settings.
Our midwifery course is very popular so please apply early. We welcome applications from home, EU and international students.
How to apply
Wherever possible we make our conditional offers using the UCAS Tariff. The combination of A-level grades listed here would be just one way of achieving the UCAS Tariff points for this course.
Standard offer
UCAS Tariff Points: 120
A Level: BBB
IB Points: 31
BTEC: DDM
Contextual offer
UCAS Tariff Points: 96
A Level: CCC
IB Points: 28
BTEC: MMM
Entry requirements
Specific entry requirements
A Level: Including one A Level or a comparable Level 3 qualification in a science subject (e.g. Physical Education, Biology, Chemistry, Maths, Physics, Psychology). Sociology will be accepted in lieu of a science subject.
GCSE: Grade 4 (C) in English, Maths and Science. For English and Maths, Level 2 Functional Skills are accepted as alternatives to GCSEs.
Relevant experience (e.g. in a hospital) or a suitable indication of your interest in, and understanding of, the relevant healthcare profession.
Securing a place is subject to both a satisfactory DBS and an Occupational Health clearance. If neither clearance has been completed prior to enrolment or a DBS issue has been declared on application, then enrolment may not be possible.
If enrolment has been agreed, then continuation on the programme will be contingent on satisfactory clearances.
Please also see the University's general entry requirements.
Screening
All applicants will be screened for fitness to practise and a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check will be made.
Selection process
Please note due to the competitive nature of this course, meeting the tariff alone does not guarantee shortlisting to interview as applications are assessed holistically
All Oxford Brookes University Health and Social Care Programmes conduct Value Based Recruitment (VBR). We recognise that values and attitudes have the greatest impact on the quality of people's care and their experiences.
VBR is a way of helping our Programme recruitment teams to assess the values, motives and attitudes of those who wish to work with people in health and social care settings. When we refer to values we mean, for example, the values included in the NHS constitution.
VBR focuses on 'how' and 'why' an applicant makes choices in how they act and seeks to explore reasons for their behaviour. Further details about the VBR framework can be found here.
Selection will be by interview and assessment of the following skills:
- Literacy
- Numeracy
- Teamwork.
English language requirements
An IELTS score of 6.5 in all sections (reading, writing, listening and speaking) or equivalent scores in other tests such as TOFEL, OET, is required for ALL applicants whose first language is not English.
Please also see the University's standard English language requirements.
English requirements for visas
If you need a student visa to enter the UK you will need to meet the UK Visas and Immigration minimum language requirements as well as the University's requirements. Find out more about English language requirements.
Terms and Conditions of Enrolment
When you accept our offer, you agree to the Terms and Conditions of Enrolment. You should therefore read those conditions before accepting the offer.
Application process
Full time Home (UK) applicants
Apply through UCASInternational applicants
Apply direct to the UniversityFull time international applicants can also apply through UCAS
Tuition fees
Questions about fees?
Contact Student Finance on:
Tuition fees
Please note, tuition fees for Home students may increase in subsequent years both for new and continuing students in line with an inflationary amount determined by government. Tuition fees for International students may increase in subsequent years both for new and continuing students.
Oxford Brookes University intends to maintain its fees for new and returning Home students at the maximum permitted level.
Financial support and scholarships
All eligible midwifery students on courses from September 2020 (new and continuing) will receive a payment of at least £5,000 a year which they will not need to pay back. For more information please visit https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/nhs-learning-support-fund
Additional costs
Please be aware that some courses will involve some additional costs that are not covered by your fees. Specific additional costs for this course are detailed below.
Placement costs
These are costs that need to be paid for by midwifery students when travelling to and from clinical practice placements throughout Oxfordshire. As an example, a random sample of first year students spent approximately £30 - £700 travelling to placements during the first year of their programme. For students eligible for tuition fee and maintenance support from the Student Loans Company, these costs are recoverable through the Learning Support Fund. Midwifery students spend 50% of their programme in clinical placement.
Other costs:
- Books and other learning resources: £50 - £300
- Shoes for practice to be worn with clinical uniform: £30 - £60
- Equipment (for example stethoscope and watch) and suitable non clinical clothing for community placements; £60 - £250
Learning and assessment
This 3-year course consists of 24 modules.
As well as midwifery-specific knowledge, we cover;
- Atonomy and physiology
- evidence-based practice
- research skills
- the social, psychological, ethical, multicultural and interprofessional dimensions of midwifery care.
Academic study and clinical practice are of equal importance.
You will be in full-time clinical placement during the weeks you are not at the University. During your clinical placements you will;
- provide midwifery care in all settings including night, weekend and on-call duties
- have qualified midwives as supervisors to support you and help you gain the experience you need.
Oxfordshire offers the full range of midwifery placement settings. This includes free-standing birth centres, which have excellent reputations for the quality of their maternity services. These placement areas are solely for Oxford Brookes students.
.jpg?width=800&height=450&ext=.jpg "Midwifery BSc (Hons) students collaborating in a lesson on campus at Oxford Brookes University")
Study modules
Please note: As our courses are reviewed regularly as part of our quality assurance framework, the modules you can choose from may vary from those shown here. The structure of the course may also mean some modules are not available to you.
Learning and teaching
Experience in the clinical setting is a key part of the course. We support this with teaching methods such as;
- lectures
- seminars
- workshops
- skills suite work
- discussion
- debate
- exploration of case studies
- group and individual tutorial sessions.
In health and social care no professional group works in isolation so you will share your learning with other health care students from Oxford Brookes. This is vital to developing your teamwork skills and your understanding of the other roles you will encounter in practice.
We offer a very friendly and supportive environment in which to learn.
IT plays an increasingly important role in health care courses. You will have access to an extensive range of learning resources through Moodle, our electronic learning platform.
Our courses adopt a student-centred approach to teaching and learning. And we consistently receive very high satisfaction ratings for the quality of our teaching and for student support in student surveys.
Assessment
Assessment methods used on this course
We use a wide range of assessments including;
- case studies
- reflection in and on practice
- observed structured clinical examinations (OSCEs) held in our skills labs
- a variety of written assessments, including some examinations.
- poster presentations.
These assessments ensure that you are competent at both;
- academic writing
- practical and emergency skills.
Grading of practice is a central feature of practice assessment. It accounts for approximately twenty-five per cent of the overall degree classification.
After you graduate
Career prospects
Careers for midwives include:
- practice in hospital and community settings
- specialist practice, for instance high-dependency care
- independent practice
- consultant midwife posts
- teaching
- research.
The courses comply with EU regulations for midwifery, so your qualification will be recognised in EU countries.
Professional accreditation
All students graduating from our midwifery programs will be competent in the Newborn Infant Physical Examination (NIPE).
Following successful completion of the BSc (Hons) course, you will be eligible to apply for professional registration as a midwife with the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC).
Please note that NMC approval of this course is subject to review and can be withdrawn at any time.
Further study
Many of our students go on to study at Master's level and beyond. Several past students have gone to work abroad and to take up jobs of responsibility in midwifery and in related areas of health care.
Free language courses
Free language courses are available to full-time undergraduate and postgraduate students on many of our courses, and can be taken as a credit on some courses.
Information from Discover Uni
Full-time study
Programme changes:
On rare occasions we may need to make changes to our course programmes after they have been
published on the website. For more information, please visit our
changes to programmes page.