Entry requirementsEntry requirements Typically you need • to be qualified in your field of practice with at least twelve months post-registration experience • to be registered with the relevant professional body in your own country • an honours degree or equivalent in a relevant subject, 2.2 or above We may accept you if you don’t hold a degree but can provide academic evidence demonstrating your ability to study at postgraduate level. International students also need an IELTS score of 7 or above.
Course descriptionThis course is for midwives and healthcare professionals such as physiotherapists, doctors, maternity nurses and social workers, who work with childbearing women.
It builds on your expertise to become clinically more effective. This allows you to make a difference to maternity care and service provision while contributing to the public health agenda of the government.
If you are a midwife and you successfully complete the course, you gain an MSc in Midwifery. Other health professionals gain an MSc in Maternal Healthcare.
The modules cover themes such as
• promoting normality during childbirth
• current issues in midwifery
• nutrition and exercise in childbearing
• managing obstetric emergencies
• public protection
• diversity and inequality in maternity care
• research
To focus the training to your personal development needs, you use your own practice and experiences as the basis for learning. You also base some of your assignments on your workplace.
You can select two optional modules to further tailor the course to your needs. These can be any modules the Faculty of Health and Wellbeing offer but must be relevant to the learning outcomes of the course.
We offer the course full-time or part-time. The part-time route is by distance learning and uses our interactive online learning environment, Blackboard.
If you wish, you can study any module individually for your personal development and not as part of a qualification. You can use any academic credit gained towards a qualification at a later date.
Associated careers
Successfully completing the course provides opportunities for career progression. You can work towards becoming a lead carer for women with complex needs and from diverse backgrounds, which affect the woman’s experience of obstetric care.
The course enables you to begin preparation for consultant, management or education practice in midwifery or healthcare in various UK and international settings
Graduates may also continue with further study such as a professional doctorate or PhD.
Course content
Full-time
Semester one core modules
• contemporary issues in midwifery • promoting normality during childbirth • research methods for practice • managing obstetric emergencies or public protection
Semester two core modules
• diversity and inequality in maternity care • nutrition and exercise for childbearing • two option modules • dissertation
Part-time – distance learning
Year one core modules
• contemporary issues in midwifery • promoting normality during childbirth • nutrition and exercise for childbearing • managing obstetric emergencies* or public protection
* This module requires University attendance
Year two core modules
• diversity and inequality in maternity care • research methods for practice • two option modules