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Why choose the School of Nursing, Midwifery and Health Education
50% of your course time is spent in practice with our healthcare partners, building your skills and experience.
Local practice placements with healthcare providers in Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Hertfordshire, Milton Keynes, Oxfordshire or East London.
Our healthcare courses (‘Allied to Medicine’) rank 11th overall in their subject field in the Postgraduate Taught Experience Survey 2024; they rank 2nd for engagement, with top 10 rankings for learning community, assessment and organisation.
About the course
If you have a related Honours degree along with the commitment to study and work full time, then this course enables you to become a registered nurse in two years. It supports you to develop the knowledge, skills, attitudes and behaviours needed to be an adult nurse, able to meet the demands of the role in a constantly evolving healthcare system. You study in both academic and clinical settings, with assessments that encourage you to make links between theory and practice.
By taking this course, you may be eligible for NHS funding of at least £5,000. Find out more about the
Course accreditation
All our Nursing and Midwifery courses are regulated by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC). On successful completion of your course, you can register with the NMC as an adult nurse.
Facilities and specialist equipment
- Access to the professional medical/health facilities and equipment at placement hospitals and community health settings
- New, fully immersive simulation floor in our modern STEM building, which takes you from mock home and hospital, allowing hands-on experience of a range of scenarios
- Simulation wards with a range of medical-grade training mannequins to tackle real-life scenarios in a safe and supported environment
Industry links
To ensure your learning meets the benchmark set for this role, our courses have been developed in collaboration with local healthcare providers and health authorities. We also have strong, collaborative links with healthcare providers across our region, giving you a wide choice of practice placement options.
Your student experience
We deliver predominantly face-to-face teaching so your tutors are on site to support you while you get to meet and exchange ideas with other healthcare students.
Clinical specialists from our partnership trusts come to campus to support your learning so your studies are underpinned by the latest research and practice.
Adult Nursing, Mental Health Nursing and Midwifery students gain a wider range of expertise through general units taught by tutors from all three courses.
Our Nursing and Midwifery academics keep up to date with current practice through regular link-lecturer visits to our clinical placement settings alongside close links with practice.
Our academic team are research active and have published widely in their fields, in journals including British Journal of Nursing and Nurse Education Today. Staff have also contributed chapters to core text books.
The School works closely with the ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½â€™s Institute of Health Research (IHR), which is renowned for the global impact of its research.
Nursing and midwifery students will be eligible for additional support of at least £5,000 to help with living costs with funding from the NHS. The funding will be given to new and continuing degree-level students.
The funding comes as part of the government’s pledge to increase nurse numbers by 50,000 over the next five years.
You will receive at least £5,000 a year, with further funding available for eligible students:
- £1,000 for specialist disciplines
- £2,000 for childcare costs
- Exceptional Hardship Fund of up to £3,000.
The funding will not have to be repaid by recipients. You will also be able to continue to access funding for tuition and maintenance loans from the
What will you study?
ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ing our Adult Nursing MSc course aims to provide you with the core knowledge and skills on adult nursing practice and healthcare. In doing so, we offer some introductory units such as the Essentials of Adult Nursing that will enable you to plan, deliver and evaluate targeted care based on the physical, social and psychological needs of people. You will learn to be adaptable to changing health needs and optimise patient recovery or management through your delivery of care. Using this knowledge, you will work in nursing teams under guided supervision to deliver care to adults with ill health in clinical environments in our Introduction to Adult Nursing Practice unit and our Developing Adult Nursing Practice unit.
Eventually, you will develop the confidence to be able to coordinate care for people under indirect supervision through our Preparation for Adult Nursing Registered Practice unit. In other areas of study, you will be introduced to Health, Life and Social Sciences for Nursing to aid in your delivery of holistic care and to promote patient wellbeing. Similarly, you will engage in the planning and collaboration of delivering specialised, safe and holistic care in our Assessment and Decision Making in Adult Nursing unit. This process will enable you to make autonomous and informed judgements within clinical practice.
In pharmacological aspects of care, you will gain the knowledge and skills to safely administer medicines in our Medicines Management and Pharmacology in Adult Nursing unit. Following professional standards and legislation, you will account for safeguarding, consent, pharmacology and medicines administration to ensure that you make appropriate decisions with medication. Aside from this, you will also be able to develop key skills to lead, collaborate, supervise and manage colleagues to promote best practice in our Improving Care: Principles of Clinical Leadership unit.
To expose you to current healthcare environments, you will gain a critical awareness of the Professional Values and Governance in Nursing and Healthcare by examining the structure, function and governance of the NHS. Moreover, our unit in Research Methodologies for Healthcare will equip you with the skills and knowledge around key research methods, ethical and regulatory considerations and how to implement a research project. Furthermore, you will gain an awareness of how health and social care policy informs nursing practice. Finally, you will complete a Nursing Dissertation where you will conduct research that is focused on healthcare to analyse how this shapes and informs contemporary nursing practice.
How will you be assessed?
The assessment strategy for this course is closely aligned to the teaching and learning strategy which is designed to have: immediate professional relevance to ensure safe and effective practice; foster active learning be learner-centred in approach and draw on expertise-by-experience. The choice of assessments is determined by their fitness for purpose i.e. to evidence achievement of unit learning outcomes at Master's level (Level 7). You will be assessed across a range of practice settings and learning environments throughout the course. To enhance your understanding and experiences of assessment practices you will encounter a wide range of formative and summative assessment methods including those that enable you to undertake practice-focussed tasks that have the potential to influence care delivery. Many of the assessment tasks are designed so that you can tailor them to your professional interests experience and development needs. They are also designed so that you can rehearse ways of thinking and acting that are professionally relevant. Examples include: written assignments ranging from reflective pieces to case studies and academic essays as well as assessed practice within your placements. Assessments are also designed to support you integrating learning in theory and practice and in demonstrating that integration. The assessments culminate in a choice of dissertation projects: a literature review a research proposal or a service development project. You will be assessed in practice through the use of a Practice Assessment Document which outlines the skills and competencies required as a registered nurse. These assessments are recorded and confirmed by a Practice Assessor alongside your own self-reflections on your progress. Service users and carers also contribute to your assessments. During each of your placement allocations you will have a nominated Practice Assessor in accordance with the NMC Part 2: Standards for student supervision and assessment (NMC 2018).
They conduct assessment to confirm that you have achieved the NMC proficiencies and course outcomes for practice learning. You will also have a nominated Academic Assessor who is responsible for confirming your achievement of the NMC proficiencies and course outcomes in the academic environment for each part of the course. Together the Practice Assessor and Academic Assessor evaluate and recommend a student for progression for each part (year) of the course in line with course standards and local and national policies. As there is no break at the end of each Part in which to complete any assessment referrals in practice students on the course will be able to retake a referred practice assessment in the next placement. This will be at the 6 week point and only for the learning outcomes/assessments outstanding.
Careers
On successful completion of the course you will be eligible to apply for registration with the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) as a registered adult nurse opening up career opportunities within the public private and not-for-profit healthcare sectors.
Graduates are likely to go on to work in acute care; rehabilitation; community; specialist areas of practice; or residential care settings.
Entry Requirements
- GCSE grade 4/Functional Skills Level 2 Maths
- GCSE grade 4/Functional Skills Level 2 English
- Safeguarding checks, including an Enhanced DBS, and Occupational Health check are required
Fees for this course
UK
The fee for this MSc for the Academic Year 2025/26 is £18,500.
Alternatively if you have any questions around fees and funding, please email admission@beds.ac.uk
Scholarship Available
The ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ is proud of its alumni and is delighted to offer a tuition fee discount for those who choose to continue or return to the ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ for on campus Postgraduate level studies.
We offer a 20% discount on full and part-time Masters courses to those who were successful in completing an Honours Degree with the ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½, DMU’s Bedford campus or the ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ of Luton.
International
The international fee for this MSc for the Academic Year 2025/26 is £33,800
For more information, please see international fees, or contact internationalnursing@beds.ac.uk
Alternatively if you have any questions around fees and funding, please email international@beds.ac.uk
