Clinical Exercise Science MSc

Overview

On this MSc Clinical Exercise Science course, you'll develop the knowledge, skills and behaviours required to support people with long-term health conditions to improve their quality of life, through safe and effective activity and fitness programmes.

You'll learn about medical management, fitness assessment, exercise prescription and behaviour change, and develop your professional skills in exercise and physical activity. You'll learn how to support people with long-term conditions such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, stroke chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, renal disease, arthritis and cancer.

When you complete the course, you'll be set for a career providing clinical exercise physiology services and have the option to work towards becoming a clinical exercise physiologist.

Entry requirements​

What you'll experience

Careers and opportunities

The demand for qualified clinical exercise specialists is high, and the knowledge and skills you'll gain on this course will place you in a strong position to pursue a career in a variety of clinical settings, in both the public and private sector.

Jobs you can do

Career opportunities include:

• Health and wellbeing physiologist
• Clinical exercise physiologist
• Exercise referral coordinator
• GP exercise referral coordinator
• NHS trainee clinical scientist
• Health advisor
• Cardiopulmonary exercise testing research technician
• Mental health exercise instructor
• NHS physical activities adviser
• Private exercise physiologist

You could also do postgraduate research, including a PhD.

We'll provide you with as much support as possible in finding employment through close industrial contacts, careers events, recruitment fairs and individual advice.

Work experience and career planning

We'll help you to identify internships, voluntary roles and opportunities that will complement your studies.

When you finish the course, our Careers and Employability service can help you find a job that puts your skills to work in the clinical exercise industry.

After you leave the University, you can get help, advice and support for up to 5 years from our Careers and Employability service as you advance in your career.

What you'll study on this MSc Clinical Exercise Course

Each module on this course is worth a certain number of credits.

You need to study modules worth a total of 180 credits. For example, 4 modules worth 30 credits and 1 module worth 60 credits.

Due to changing circumstances as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, we may need to make changes to courses to ensure your safety and to ensure compliance with Government guidelines. We'll provide you with as much notice as possible of any such changes. Your course leader will inform you of these. Changes may include things such as modules being taught in teaching block 2 instead of teaching block 1 and teaching activities occurring in smaller group sizes.

We use the best and most current research and professional practice alongside feedback from our students to make sure course content is relevant to your future career or further studies.

Therefore, some course content may change over time to reflect changes in the discipline or industry.

Learning support

As well as support by faculty teaching staff and your personal tutor, you can use the University’s Academic Skills Unit (ASK).

ASK provides one-to-one support in areas such as:

• academic writing
• note taking
• time management
• critical thinking
• presentation skills
• referencing
• working in groups
• revision, memory and exam techniques

Support with English

If English isn't your first language, you can do one of our English language courses to improve your written and spoken English language skills before starting your degree. Once you're here, you can take part in our free In-Sessional English (ISE) programme to improve your English further.

Teaching

Teaching methods on this course include:

• seminars
• workshop and practical sessions

Term times

The academic year runs from September to June. There are breaks at Christmas and Easter.

It's divided into 2 teaching blocks and 2 assessment periods:

• Teaching block 1 – September to December
• Assessment period 1 – January (and early February for some courses in 2020/21 only)
• Teaching block 2 – January to May (February to May for some courses in 2020/21 only)
• Assessment period 2 – May to June

You’ll get a timetable 4 weeks before the start of a teaching block.

How you're assessed

You'll be assessed through:

• practical assessment
• research reports
• applied essays
• case studies
• project report
• poster presentation

You’ll be able to test your skills and knowledge informally before you do assessments that count towards your final mark.

You can get feedback on all practice and formal assessments so you can improve in the future.

​Course costs

Tuition fees (2021 start)

UK/EU/Channel Islands and Isle of Man students

• Full time: £7,950 (subject to annual increase)
• Part time: £3,980 a year (subject to annual increase)

EU students 

• Full time: to be confirmed
• Part time: to be confirmed

International students

• Full time: £15,500 (subject to annual increase)
• Part time: £7,750 a year (subject to annual increase)

Tuition fees terms and conditions

Additional course costs

These course-related costs aren’t included in the tuition fees. So you’ll need to budget for them when you plan your spending. 

Apply

September 2021 start

• Full-time study
• Part-time study

International students

If you're from outside of the UK, you can apply directly to us (above) or you can get an agent to help with your application. Check your country page for details of agents in your region. To find out what to include in your application, head to the how to apply page of our international students section.

If you don’t meet the English language requirements for this course yet, you can achieve the level you need by successfully completing a pre-sessional English programme before you start your course.

Admissions terms and conditions

When you accept an offer to study at the University of Portsmouth, you also agree to abide by our Student Contract (which includes the University's relevant policies, rules and regulations). You should read and consider these before you apply.