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Programme structure: Social Policy and Sociology (BSc) - what's running in 2020/21

Please note: you are viewing unit and programme information for a past academic year. Please see the current academic year for up to date information.

Unit name Unit code Credit points Status Teaching Block
Students must select 20 credit points from the following units:
Theorising Social Welfare SPOL20059 20 Optional TB-2
Understanding Public Policy SPOL20026 20 Optional TB-1
and 40 credit points from the following units:
Comparative Political Economy and Social Policy SPOL20044 20 Optional TB-2
Social Policy and Development SPOL20050 20 Optional TB-2
Health Policy in a Global Context (SPS) SPOL20061 20 Optional TB-1
Poverty, Social Exclusion and Social Policy SPOL20019 20 Optional TB-2
Punishment in Society SPOL20052 20 Optional TB-1
Social Care in Crisis SPOL20047 20 Optional TB-1
Youth Policy and Social Welfare SPOL22022 20 Optional TB-1
Youth, Sexualities and Gendered Violence SPOL22023 20 Optional TB-1
Public Management EFIM20019 20 Optional TB-1
Social Research Methods SOAD20004 20 Optional TB-2
Work and Work Placements: Social Policy SPOL20042 20 Optional TB-4
Students must choose 20 credit points from the following units:
Conceptualising the Social SOCI20016 20 Optional TB-1
Investigating the Social SOCI20064 20 Optional TB-2
Students must select 40 credit points from the following units:
Conceptualising the Social SOCI20016 20 Optional TB-1
Ethnicity and Racism SOCI20017 20 Optional TB-2
Sociology of Health and Illness SOCI20035 20 Optional TB-1
The Sociology of Gender SOCI20042 20 Optional TB-1
Environment and Society SOCI20049 20 Optional TB-1
East Asian Societies: Alternative Modernities SOCI20076 20 Optional TB-1
Investigating the Social SOCI20064 20 Optional TB-2
Principles of Quantitative Social Science SOCI20069 20 Optional TB-1
A Sociology of Crime and Justice SOCI20073 20 Optional TB-2
What is a Society? SOCI20075 20 Optional TB-2
Art and Society SOCI20087 20 Optional TB-2
Conducting a Research Project using Secondary Data POLI20001 20 Optional TB-2
Digital Society SOCI20077 20 Optional TB-2
The Sociology of Childhood and Rights SOCI20078 20 Optional TB-1
Students also have the option of taking a Teaching Block abroad as long as they meet all grade and other requirements set by SPAIS study abroad programme
Study Abroad (Term) SPAI20030 60 Optional TB-1,TB-2
Diploma of Higher Education   120    

Progression/award requirements

Unit Pass Mark for Undergraduate Programmes:

  • 40 out of 100 – for level C/4, I/5 & H/6 units
  • 50 out of 100 – for level M/7 units

For details on the weightings for classifying undergraduate degrees, please see the Agreed Weightings, by Faculty, to be applied for the Purposes of Calculating the Final Programme Mark and Degree Classification in Undergraduate Programmes.

For detailed rules on progression please see the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes and the relevant faculty handbook.

Please refer to the specific progression/award requirements for programmes with a preliminary year of study, the Gateway programmes and International Foundation programmes.

Exit awards

All undergraduate degree programmes allow the opportunity for a student to exit from a programme with a Diploma or Certificate of Higher Education.

  • To be awarded a Diploma of Higher Education, a student must have successfully completed 240 credit points, of which at least 90 must be at level 5.
  • To be awarded a Certificate of Higher Education, a student must have successfully completed 120 credit points at level 4.

Integrated Master's degrees may also allow the opportunity for a student to exit from the programme with an equivalent Bachelor's degree where a student has achieved 360 credit points, of which 90 must be at level 6, and has successfully met any additional criteria as described in the programme specification.

The opportunities for a student to exit from one of the professional programmes in Veterinary Science, Medicine, and Dentistry with an Award is outlined in the relevant Programme Regulations (which are available as an annex in the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes).

Additional progress information

Most Social Policy optional units are approved at, and available at, both level I/5 and level H/6. The title of each unit is the same. Optional units are usually a run in alternate years so that each student will have the opportunity to choose to study that title at one or other level. In the event that a title is run in two successive years, a student may not select it in both years. So, for example, a student who has taken SPOL21008 Changing Families and the State, may not select SPOL31008 Changing Families and the State, even if it is available in their third year. Students who spend part of this year abroad, and so miss one of the mandatory units will be expected either to select an appropriate replacement unit as part of their study abroad, or to take the corresponding third year unit in the following year.

Students are permitted to conditionally progress to the next year of study and make up a credit deficit where they have failed a particular unit or units provided this meets the conditions of the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes.
For further information and a definition of must pass units and conditional progression please see the Glossary of Terms.

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