Public and Environmental Health, BSc (Hons)

Overview

The course applies the study of health sciences, environmental sciences and legislation to areas such as food safety, housing, health and safety, pollution, and health promotion in order to reduce ill health and disease. The course was updated in 2020.

Public and environmental health practitioners play a vital role in keeping us all safe, so this course has been designed to help students progress to rewarding and valuable jobs in the sector, like Nathan and Dan (pictured above), who both studied with us and were shortlisted for their industry body’s Rising Star Award in 2019.

Salaries for qualified environmental health practitioners (EHPs) start at around £25,000 per year, with senior or managerial level salaries rising to the region of £40,000 to £60,000 per year, but in order to practice you will need to complete a degree like this which has been accredited by the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH).

Course length:

Full-time: 3 years (2 days a week)
Part-time: 4 years (1 day a week)

Start date:

13th September 2021

Location:

Knightstone Campus

Course codes:

Institution: W47
Course: PEH1
Campus: -

Awarding institution:

UWE Bristol

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Course detail

The course is taught in the new and fully-equipped science laboratories on the sixth floor of our Knightstone building in the centre of Weston. Some sessions are also taught on-line and few minutes’ walk away in our new University Centre in the Winter Gardens on Weston seafront, which is a modern and bright study area with computer suites and a dedicated higher education library.

The course is taught by lecturers who have been EHPs in a number of areas themselves, and our great links with the CIEH are demonstrated by our lecturers, students and graduates winning the CIEH Team of the Year Award in 2019.

You’ll undertake academic and practical studies of the scientific principles that govern biological, physical, chemical, sociological and psychological stressors in a public and environmental health context.

The classroom-based aspects of the course also cover the primary standards, guidelines and legislation relating to environmental health, and professional engagement with risk and hazard assessments.

This degree course also offers plenty of opportunities for practical trips and fieldwork, with UCW Public and Environmental Health students in recent years having visited specialist sites such as food manufacturers and power plants and undertaken health and safety audits at Jaguar Land Rover, Thatcher’s Cider and at music festivals.

We even offer scholarships to support students to undertake work experience for the Environment Agency in Gibraltar. Indeed, one of our graduates recently accepted a full-time role with the agency as an Environmental Health Officer.

Please click on the next tab to find out more about what you’ll learn on this programme and how it is delivered. The dropdowns below deal with our partnership with UWE Bristol and what is and isn’t included in the tuition fees.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to get in touch with the course leader Mark Hardwick, lecturer Nahum Kidan or UCW’s HEART team. It would also be great to meet you and show you around at our next Open Day.

All of the modules on this course are compulsory and worth either 20, 30 or 40 credits. Successful completion of all of the modules in the first year is worth 120 credits at Level 4 and equivalent to a Certificate of Higher Education. Successful completion of the second year is worth 120 credits at Level 5 and equivalent to a Diploma of Higher Education. Completing all three years of student (on a full-time basis) will lead to the award of a BSc degree.

Full-time year 1:

Environmental Health Law (30 credits)
Environmental Impact (30 credits)
Introduction to Professional Practice (30 credits)
Principles of Public Health (30 credits)

Full-time year 2:

Environmental Protection (30 credits)
Food Control (30 credits)
Health, Safety and Risk (30 credits)
Housing and the Built Environment (30 credits)

Full-time year 3:

Environmental Health Project (40 credits)
Professional Practice (20 credits)
Public Health in Action (30 credits)
Risk Management Systems (30 credits)

This course is taught via a combination of lectures, seminars, skills practice, presentations, fieldwork, case studies and group workshops. UCW’s Higher Education Library Plus (HE.LP) team also deliver a series of sessions on degree-level research and academic writing to all first-year students. 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 13.5 hours of scheduled teaching per week. This course also has a work placement element totalling 100 hours.

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 varied and includes written reports, essays, laboratory reports, research projects, interviews, presentations, field work reports, health campaigns, examinations.

Assessment

Written Exams

%

Coursework

%

Practical Exams

%

What's it like

Discover more about studying Public and Environmental Health at University Centre Weston with this short video.

Quick Stats

This Honours Top-up broadens students’ environmental health knowledge in areas including partnership working, auditing and practical problem solving while they continue to work towards their Portfolio of Professional Practice.

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Quick Stats

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Meet the Team

Dr. Elena Borodina 

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HE Programme Co-ordinator

Elena graduated from King’s College London with a First Class Honours BSc Degree in Biotechnology, followed by a PhD in Microbiology in 2001. She then progressed to become a Postdoctoral Associate at the University of Warwick, where she carried out research projects within the field of molecular microbial ecology and microbial mutagenesis. In 2006, Elena took up a position of a Research Associate at the University of Bristol to focus on meningitis projects. She holds a PGCE and joined UCW in 2014 where she teaches on a number of HE and Access to HE courses. Her areas of expertise include microbiology, molecular and cell biology, mutagenesis and recombinant gene technology, gene cloning, protein expression, purification and analysis, enzyme kinetics, immunoblotting and enzyme-linked immunoassay procedures. Elena has also contributed to a number of scientific journals, including Applied and Environmental Microbiology, Archives of Microbiology, Clinical Sciences, European Molecular Biology Organisation (EMBO), Journal of Bacteriology, Molecular Microbiology, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) and Public Library of Science (PLoS).  
Meet the Team

Nahum Kidan

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Environmental Health Practitioner

Nahum is a qualified Environmental Health Practitioner and spent his early career in local government working in commercial environmental health, later focusing specifically on food safety. Prior to joining University Centre Weston (UCW), Nahum was a Senior Lecturer at the University of the West of England (UWE) where he was part of a small team which developed the MSc Environmental Health (Distance Learning) programme. Nahum has also acquired experience in the Civil Service, at both Defra and the FSA, where he was engaged in EU Exit work and legislative development.
Meet the Team

Mark Hardwick

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Programme Co-ordinator

Mark is the Programme Co-ordinator for the BSc (Hons) Environmental Health Practitioner, and the BSc (Hons) Public and Environmental Health, teaching on both programmes at UCW. He was appointed as a permanent member of staff in January 2018. Mark has twenty years’ teaching experience with other institutions, having taught on a range of programmes from Foundation Degree to Masters level in subjects including Environmental Health, Public Health, Nursing, and Sports Sciences. Mark has held positions with The Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH), specifically Vice-Chair of the South West Region, Secretary of the Cornwall Branch, and is an appointed research mentor for CIEH. Mark is also a member of the Royal Society for Public Health, and External Examiner for the MSc Environmental Health, and MSc Acoustics at Leeds Beckett University.
Meet the Team

David Lown

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Programme Coordinator, Public and Environmental Health

David was previously the course coordinator. He is a Chartered Member of CIEH, a fellow of the Higher Learning Academy and a Chartered Member of the Institute of Occupational Safety and Health. He has taught on BSc and MSc programmes at UWE for over 20 years and prior to that working in local government as an Environmental Health Officer. He is a member of the college safety committee and is part of the CIEH West of England Branch Management team. 
Meet the Team

Jason Hillyerd

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Lecturer in Law

Jason holds an MSc in Criminal Justice & Criminology and an LLB (Hons) Qualifying degree in Law. Jason has also attained Fellowship of the HEA (Higher Education Academy). Jason is Curriculum Co-ordinator for The Business FdA and LLB (Hons) programmes.  Jason delivers a number of core modules of the legal and business syllabus across different courses within UCW as well as various professional courses including CIPD (Chartered Institute for Personnel & Development) and ILM (Institute of Leadership & Management).   Before coming to teaching Jason worked both in senior management and in the criminal justice sector.