Clinical Exercise ScienceMSc

Advance your career with this Clinical Exercise Science Master’s degree. Learn how to support people with long-term health conditions and improve their quality of life from industry experts. 

On this MSc Clinical Exercise Science course, you’ll be equipped with practical and professional skills in fitness assessment and exercise interventions, such as medical management, exercise prescription and behaviour change.

You’ll develop your understanding of key clinical applications, including the relationship between exercise and chronic disease, the psychological effects of exercise and the importance of testing, and put this into practice through physiological assessments.

When you graduate, you’ll be in a strong position to pursue a career in a variety of clinical settings and have the opportunity to work towards becoming a certified clinical exercise physiologist.

Eligibility

This course accepts UK, EU, and International students.

Changes to course content

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.

Careers this Master's prepares you for

Once you graduate from this MSc Clinical Exercise Science degree, you’ll have the knowledge and skills to operate successfully in a clinical environment.

Depending on your choices during the Professional Development module, you'll also be able to work towards becoming a Clinical Exercise Physiologist. You’ll be set to provide services in physiology, health and fitness, exercise and science support in both the public and private sector – with the option to pursue professional certification and gain further training and experience in clinical physiology. Alternatively, you could proceed to a research degree.

Graduates of this course have gone into roles such as:

• 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

9 reasons to do a Master's

Career outcomes shown are sourced from the latest available graduate outcome surveys. The data shows career outcomes at 15 months after graduation.

Career planning

During your course you'll have expert careers advice from our Careers and Employability Centre, your tutors and our Student Placements and Employability Centre. You can access support from our Careers and Employability Centre for up to 5 years after you graduate.

We recognise that you'll probably be juggling more demands when you do your Master's degree, as you may be working or you may have family responsibilities.

We'll give you as much indication here as we can of how much time you'll need to be on campus and how many hours you can expect to spend in self-directed study, but please note that these indications are always subject to change. You should receive your full timetable several weeks before you start with us.

Course structure

This Master’s degree will take:

• 1 year (full-time study)
• 2 years (part-time study)

You can expect:

• 6–10 hours of teaching time every week if you study full-time, or 3–5 hours each week if you study part-time. At the moment, this happens on-campus and on various days during the week
• 30 hours of independent study each week

In the last 3 months of the course you'll be focusing on your independent study project.

Teaching

Master's study is deeper and more specialised than an undergraduate degree. This means you'll focus on something that really matters to you and your career as you work closely with academics committed to the subject.

You'll spend more time in independent study and research than you did for your undergraduate degree, but the majority of your teaching time will be in-person and face-to-face.

Teaching methods on this course include:

• seminars
• workshop and practical sessions

Assessment

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.

Term dates

September start

The Master's academic year runs from September to the following September. There are breaks at Christmas and Easter. Over the summer you'll be writing your project / dissertation.

January start

Courses that start in January have the same amount of teaching as September-start courses, but they normally run over a longer time period.

January-start courses normally run between 14–18 months, beginning in January and ending in the spring / summer of the following year. There are breaks at Christmas, Easter and in the summer. In the last few months you’ll be writing your project / dissertation.

See key dates

Master's study is more focused on independent learning than undergraduate study, but you'll get lots of support via video, phone and face-to-face from teaching and support staff to enhance your learning experience and help you succeed. You can build your personalised network of support from the following people and services:

University of Portsmouth graduates may receive a 20% alumni tuition fee discount. 

Fees are subject to annual increase. Read our tuition fees terms and conditions.

You'll be able to pay your fees in instalments. Find out how to pay your tuition fees.

Funding your studies

Find out more how to fund your studies, including the scholarships and bursaries you could get. You can also find more about tuition fees and living costs, including what your tuition fees cover. 

If you're a UK student, you may be eligible for a Government postgraduate loan, which you can use to help with course fees and living costs.

Applying from outside the UK? Find out about funding options for international students.

Tuition fees terms and conditions

Additional 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. Additional costs could include:

• Accommodation: Accommodation options and costs can be found on our accommodation pages.
• Recommended reading: You can borrow key texts from the library and if you choose to purchase these texts they may cost up to £60 each.
• General costs: Such as photocopying, memory sticks, printing charges, binding and specialist printing. We suggest budgeting £75 per year.
• Final project transport or accommodation: where necessary, which related to your research activities. The amount will depend on the project you choose.

Read more about tuition fees and living costs, including what your tuition fees cover.

Eligibility

This course accepts UK, EU, and International students.

Unlike undergraduate applications, which go through UCAS, applications for this Master's course are made directly to us.

There's no deadline for applications to this course. We accept applications right up until the start dates in September and January, as long as there are places available. If you wait until your start month to apply, you may find that the course is full. 

If you're applying as an international student, remember that you'll need to leave plenty of time to get your visa organised.

You can find more advice about applying in our Master's application checklist. International students and current students and recent graduates of the University of Portsmouth also have some different application options, which are detailed below.

Ready to apply?

After you apply

Once we receive your application, we may ask you for further information. We will then either make you an offer or suggest alternatives if your application is unsuccessful.

You'll usually get a decision within 10 working days, so you shouldn't have to wait too long. Some courses have an interview stage – we'll let you know if you need to prepare for one.

Learn more about how we assess your application.

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.