Working as an environmental health practitioner in either the public or private sector requires a broad skillset in order to advise, consult, manage, inspect and enforce in a range of areas relating to public health and the environment; ensuring people can live and work in safe and healthy settings. Starting salaries for environmental health practitioners (EHPs) typically start at £25,000 per year and senior EHPs and managers can expect to earn over £38,000 after working in the sector for 10 to 15 years.
This course provides professional progression for students who have completed a Foundation Degree accredited by the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH) and want to earn a full Honours Degree at Level 6. As well as taking another crucial step towards becoming a fully-qualified EHP, students who complete this course will also possess the enhanced planning, research and analytical skills required for postgraduate study in a range of subjects.
The BSc Honours Top-up in Public and Environmental Health at UCW is also endorsed by the CIEH and develops practitioners equipped to be successful in the sector by providing work-based learning through audits of commercial businesses and 3D simulations of relevant scenarios. Students on this course also consider health inequalities, develop skills in partnership working and leadership, discover novel approaches to solving difficult problems, and are qualified to practice the role of ‘health advocate’.
It is delivered by our experienced lecturing team, each with their own environmental health specialisms, in the bespoke science laboratories and classrooms at our Knightstone Campus. Students on this course can also take advantage of the brand new technology suites in the redeveloped Winter Gardens, which is also on the seafront in the centre of Weston.
The programme also includes the in-depth study of an area of professional practice of interest through a research project, and enables students to develop a deeper understanding of public and environmental health and its contribution to the promotion of effective health and environmental outcomes from a multidisciplinary perspective. The cost of tuition includes any residential visits and day trips that must be completed in order to pass the course and attendance at regional CIEH branch events – a great opportunity to develop a network of professional contacts. UCW also recently hosted a CIEH conference where our students were able to showcase their research projects to public and environmental health experts.
In recent years, fieldwork has included health and safety audits for Jaguar Land Rover and the National Trust, environmental assessments of quarries, and risk assessments in leisure centres and the crime scene simulation house at UWE Bristol.
Honours Top-ups are Level 6 qualifications which enable the conversion of a Foundation Degree or equivalent into a full Bachelor’s Degree. They are popular with students because earning an extra qualification for a relatively short period of study makes sense in today’s competitive jobs market. Students who want to be fully qualified EHPs with the CIEH will also need a minimum of a Level 6 qualification. Honours Top-ups do not need to be completed immediately after achieving prior qualifications, and they are standalone, so the result of an Honours Top-up is not affected by, for example, the proceeding Foundation Degree.
Please contact the course leader David Lown or UCW’s HEART team for more information about this course. The rest of the information on this page deals with our partnership with UWE Bristol and what is and isn’t included in the tuition fees.
We’d also love to meet you and show you around at our next Open Day.
Students who pass this course will be awarded an Honours Top-up Degree from the University of the West of England, Bristol. The agreement between UWE Bristol and UCW is reviewed on an ongoing basis to ensure academic standards are maintained.
Full-time tuition fees: £8,250 per year.
Part-time tuition fees: £4,125 per year.
This covers all of the teaching and assessment elements that are required for students to complete the course.
It also includes:
- The use of UCW equipment and specialist software.
- Compulsory residential visits and day trips. Please contact David Lown in advance of enrolling on the course for more information about these.
- Attendance at guest lectures and conferences at UCW.
- Annual £10 printing and photocopying allowance for full-time students and £5 for part-time students.
- The use of UCW computer equipment at any of our campuses and access to Microsoft Office 365 while you are enrolled with UCW.
- The loans of books from our libraries.
- Access to all of the UCW student support and careers services.
It does not include:
- Extra printing and photocopying above the £10 limit.
- The cost of books that you may wish to purchase.
- Transport between our campuses, and to/from your partner university and any work placements. We encourage students to take advantage of termly bus passes to reduce transport costs.
- Accommodation and other living expenses.
UCW publishes its Tuition Fees Policy on the Wider Information Set page of this website.
You may also be eligible for additional financial support, depending on your circumstances.
All of the modules on this course are compulsory and worth 30 credits. Successful completion of all of the modules is worth 120 credits and will lead to the award of the Level 6 Honours Top-up Degree.
- Professional practice – engage with activities and case studies covering food safety, health and safety, housing, environmental protection and public health.
- Public health futures – consider the changing landscape of the environmental health profession within a public health framework while engaging with professionals in the sectors and real interventions.
- Public health project – with the support of a mentor, study an area of professional practice of interest through in-depth primary and secondary research and the production of a project proposal and research paper totalling 4,000 words.
- Risk management and systems – focus on the commercial aspects of the environmental health sector, such as management systems and the auditing of private organisations.
This course is taught via a combination of lectures, seminars, skills practice, presentations, fieldwork, case studies and group workshops. When not in scheduled lecturers and seminars, students are expected to continue learning through independent self-study. This involves reading relevant literature, working on individual and group projects, and undertaking research in preparation for coursework and exams.
This course has an average of 14 hours scheduled teaching per week.
At UCW, we also understand that some students benefit from more contact time with lecturers than is the norm at a traditional university, so we do all we can to make sure academic staff are available for their students when they are needed.
Assessment is via a combination of written exams, practical exams and coursework. The assessment breakdown is 15% written exams, 28% practical exams and 57% coursework.
Please click on the Course Handbook button to find out more, and also how the above translates to the 2 year, part-time degree.
- Students who pass this course will be eligible to apply to Master’s programmes in public and environmental health and related areas, such as the MSc Environmental Health (distance learning and campus options) and MSc Environmental Health Professional Practice at UWE Bristol.
- Graduates from this course are now working in public and private sector environmental health roles in the South West region and also as far afield as Wellington, New Zealand, and for great organisations including NSF International, Argent Risk Management Solutions, WHSmith, Baxtorstorey, MSNBC Universal and more.
- Other possible graduate destinations include environment agencies, health and safety positions for a range of organisations, food inspection and auditing, and local government agencies.
Successful completion of a related Foundation Degree with an average grade profile of at least 50%, a related Higher National Diploma at Merit, or equivalent, in addition to Level 2 English and Maths at Grade C (level 4 under the new GCSE grading system) or above.
Applicants are also required to attend an interview.
