BSc Psychology is accredited by the United Arab Emirates Ministry of Education
The University of Birmingham is home to one of the largest and most active psychology schools in the UK. We have an excellent reputation for the knowledge and skills we develop in our graduates...and for research that answers important questions, stimulates new ideas, and makes a difference to individuals, communities and societies.
Psychology plays a significant part in modern day life, from the school classroom to the courtroom, in industry, business organisations and in universities. Our degree covers the full breadth of the subject area that is psychology.
Psychology is traditionally defined as the study of mind and behaviour, but this simple description doesn’t truly capture the tremendous variety of phenomena that you will study or the skills you will learn as a psychologist.
The behaviours that you will study range from apparently simple acts like feeding, to much more complex skills such as language and social interactions. In studying the mind, our programme deals with a very wide range of abilities and processes, such as seeing, hearing, feeling and remembering and how these processes act in concert making humans conscious and intelligent.
More recently, psychology has become more integrated with the neurosciences, and our programme mines what we know about how the brain and nervous system underlie our thoughts and behaviours, for example, by determining which brain areas and networks deal with particular mental functions, and how individual nerve cells work and communicate with each other.
The degree programme is structured on a modular basis. In the first and second years, you will take a range of modules covering psychology, research methods and subject-related skills. In your final year, you will be offered a range of specialist modules bringing you to the forefront of the field in some carefully selected areas of psychology.
Years 1 – 3
Our Psychology degree is structured so that you follow a common programme in all of the areas that make up the core of contemporary psychology. In addition, in the third year you are offered a range of specialist modules which will allow you to focus on the forefront of the discipline in some selected areas.
First and second years
In your first two years you will study the core theories and methods of psychology, covering child development, learning, cognitive psychology, perception, personality, social psychology, and brain and behaviour. You will also learn how to design experiments and collect and analyse data.
Third year
Year 3 is designed to allow in-depth coverage of a more limited range of topics. You will also engage in the research process in a more extensive and in-depth manner, which may include an independent Research Project.