Postgraduate Certificate Education Practice

• Principles of Learning & Teaching in Higher Education: This unit focuses on the theory and practice of learning and teaching in higher education. You will be equipped to understand and support your own students' learning experience through investigating theories and methods of supporting learning, teaching and assessment. You will be encouraged to move beyond generic theories in order to develop approaches with have disciplinary specificity.  
• The Contexts of Higher Education Practice: Through addressing the contexts for higher education, including national and institutional levels, this unit will provide opportunities for you to investigate and understand the impact of political, social, economic, global, technological and institutional factors on your educational practice. You will identify a particular area for investigation, relate the research to the evidence, and consider possible developments in the future.
• Developing & Reflecting on Higher Education Practice: This unit is designed to enable you to engage in a continuous process of reflection on, and development of, your own professional practice. Reflection is a valuable way of dealing with difficult or challenging situations, it is a way of exploring and explaining events, revealing anxieties and weaknesses, as well as identifying successes and strengths. Ultimately it is designed to provide ways of understanding the past and present in order to develop more effective ways of being and acting in the future.

Programme specifications provide definitive records of the university’s taught degrees in line with Quality Assurance Agency requirements. Every taught course leading to a BU Award has a programme specification which describes its aims, structure, content and learning outcomes, plus the teaching, learning and assessment methods used.

Whilst every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of the programme specification, the information is liable to change to take advantage of exciting new approaches to teaching and learning as well as developments in industry. If you have been unable to locate the programme specification for the course you are interested in, it will be available as soon as the latest version is ready. Alternatively please contact us for assistance.

The application deadline for this course for September 2023 entry is the 13 September 2023 and for January 2024 entry it is the 8 January 2024. 

December and January is one of our busiest application periods and therefore it may take us a little longer to process incoming applications. For courses with a January start date, we recommend submitting your application as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.

If you are a current BU staff member, please notify the admissions team at [email protected] once you have submitted your application.

Click the green ‘Apply now’ button to submit your application free of charge online through myHub, our application portal. You will create your own myHub account so that you can track the progress of your application. Don’t forget to save your application as you go; you can return to it at as many times as you want before you submit it. For more information visit our How to apply section.

The normal requirements for embarking upon a postgraduate taught degree are:

• A Bachelors Honours degree with 2:1 in any subject
• Applicants should be teaching in a practice or academic setting
• Applicants who do not meet our standard academic entry requirements may be offered an interview to discuss their suitability for the course.

You can find details of the international qualifications we accept, and what level of study they apply to, on our entry requirements for non-UK students' page.

Please see below some examples of the qualifications for entry:

• China:  学士学位 (Bachelor degree) with a minimum of 70% overall
• India: Bachelor’s degree (4 years) from a recognised HE institution with a minimum overall result of 60% or second division
• Nigeria:  Bachelor's degree from a recognised institution with a minimum classification of 2:1
• Thailand:  Thai Bachelor's (Honours) degree from a recognised higher education institution with a minimum GPA of 3.0/4.0
• Turkey: Bachelor’s degree (Lisans Diplomasi - four years) with a minimum overall GPA of 2.7/4.0
• Vietnam:  Bachelor's degree/Bang tot nghiep dai hoc with an average score of 75/10, or a Master’s degree/Thac si.

All applications will be subject to a minimum grade and your degree may need to be in a relevant subject area.

English language requirements 

If English is not your first language, you will need to provide evidence that you understand English to a satisfactory level. English language requirements for this course are normally:

IELTS (Academic) 7.0 with a minimum of 6.5 in writing and 6.0 in each component of speaking, listening and reading, or equivalent.

View further information about our English language requirements.

Bournemouth University International College offers a number of pre-sessional English and preparatory programmes to prepare international students for postgraduate study at BU. Admission to the degree is guaranteed on successful completion of your course to the required level. 

What’s included in your tuition fee?

Your tuition fee covers expenses associated with your course including tuition materials, access to facilities, mandatory field trips and the following:

• Materials for laboratory and mandatory field-based teaching activity
• A range of student services – advisors, help desks, counsellors, placement support and careers service
• The Library – access to a wide range of electronic resources (databases, e-journals and e-books), print and multimedia collections, subject librarians and study spaces
• Access to Brightspace, our virtual learning environment, which offers a responsive and personalised learning experience with powerful learning analytics capacbilities, integrated social media and advanced video features
• IT labs (some open 24/7), wireless network, AV equipment to borrow
• Disability and additional learning support
• The BU Language Centre to help you develop/improve foreign or English language skills
• 24 hours a day, 365 days a year security team.

Additional costs

We are committed to offering you value for money and ensuring there are no hidden costs while you are studying with us, therefore we have listed below any additional costs you may incur that are not covered by your tuition fee:

• Laptops, tablets, mobile devices and any software and any software used on personal devices. Access to a personal computer is strongly recommended for your study. If you are experiencing financial difficulty, visit our website for information regarding BU financial support funds.
• Accommodation and living costs. Our accommodation price guide can be found on our website.
• Travel costs, outdoor wear and footwear for optional field trips
• Text books, general stationery and other supplies. Our award-winning library is stocked with a large range of text books and online resources, free of charge. The Students’ Union shops stock a wide range of stationery supplies on both campuses
• SportBU membership
• To gain the additional Advanced HE accreditation, you must successfully complete the PGCert Educational Practice and be working at an accredited organisation. Where this is not possible, Advanced HE accreditation will costs an additional £200.

If you need to repeat one or more units during the course of your studies (with or without attendance) the pricing will be pro-rata of the full time fee.

International (non-EU) students need to pay a non-refundable £2,000 deposit to secure their place on a postgraduate course. You will need to pay your deposit by the date stated in your offer letter. The remainder of your fee will be payable on registration/enrolment. There are two exceptions to the non-refundable rule on the deposit:

• You fail to meet the academic or English requirements of your offer
• You are refused a visa to enter the UK, provided the reason for the refusal is not a fraudulent application.

We offer a range of scholarships and bursaries to students who are beginning their studies at BU. Our fees and funding pages also provide details on living costs, budgeting and paying your tuition fees.

Dr Uma Patel teaches on the Postgraduate Certificate in Education Practice. She is a Senior Fellow of Advance HEA. Her research is in technology-enriched learning and emerging construction of equity and social justice in technology design, pedagogy and the wider context of education. Her work is informed by science and technology studies and socio-material discourse analysis in the work of Foucault, Latour and Law.