Midwifery with Public Health - MSci
Currently viewing course to start in 2025/26 Entry.
If you’re looking to gain a professional qualification as a Registered Midwife and explore at an advanced level how midwives can contribute to public health, then our MSci Midwifery with Public Health is for you....
- Level Undergraduate
- Study mode Full Time
- Award MSci
- Start date September 2025
- Fees View course fees
- Subject Nursing and Midwifery
- Location City South
This course is:
Overview
If you’re looking to gain a professional qualification as a Registered Midwife and explore at an advanced level how midwives can contribute to public health, then our MSci Midwifery with Public Health is for you.
This four-year course aims to prepare you with leadership skills and practice experience in a research-informed way, enabling you to develop, design and evaluate health promotion interventions. This integrated Master’s degree combines three years of undergraduate study with an additional fourth year at postgraduate level, in a single course. You could also gain 120 credits at postgraduate level which you could use towards a Master's qualification.
In addition to academic and professional qualifications, you will complete the Newborn and Infant Physical Examination (NIPE) qualifications.
We are passionate about developing the best graduate midwives who support women and families during the most uplifting and sometimes challenging times of their lives. This course will prepare you to become a midwife who is able to meet the needs of women, newborn infants and their families.
Our approach to learning and teaching has been developed using a variety of frameworks and embraces the wealth of knowledge of the course team, practice partners and service users. The course will incrementally build on the skills and knowledge you will gain in practice and at university in order to support you to achieve the necessary level of competence and ability to make evidence-based decisions. Every aspect of the course has been carefully aligned to the standards of the Nursing and Midwifery Council (2019). Successful completion of this course provides eligibility to apply and be entered onto the NMC register as a midwife.
What's covered in this course?
During the first two years, you will receive integrated theory and practice content. This will allow you to engage teaching and learning activities in both the academic and practice setting. The third year consists of alternate theory and practice blocks. You will study various modules, which will allow you to develop the skills, knowledge and behaviours required to care for women, and newborn infants across the care continuum from pre-pregnancy, pregnancy, labour and birth, postpartum, and the early weeks of a newborn infants’ life. Each year, you will engage in a yearlong practice module. This module, alongside varied clinical placements, will provide you with preparation and support to develop your confidence and competence in practice, working towards autonomously leading and co-ordinating care at the end of your course. Clinical practice will be assessed using the nationally, NMC approved Midwifery Ongoing Record of Achievement (MORA).
The first three years of the MSci course will be experienced alongside your BSc (Hons) Midwifery student colleagues. The final fourth year at level 7 will have a public health and midwifery focus. Your MSci cohort will have the opportunity to study with other healthcare professionals and midwives as this year includes a module of your choice related to midwifery which is often accessed by other healthcare professionals too.
Practice learning experiences may be within community, hospital or home environment settings. You will be exposed to diverse populations and you will learn to work as part of the interdisciplinary and multiagency teams. Whilst on placement you will be supported, supervised and assessed by suitably prepared practice and academic staff to develop your knowledge and skills. There will also be opportunities for exposure to alternative (including global midwifery) experiences during the elective placement. In your fourth year you will enable to negotiate a placement related to public health.
The Midwifery Department is committed to providing excellent, innovative, learning, teaching and assessment experiences. We use technology to enhance your learning, through lectures, seminars, skills, simulation and virtual learning. Engagement of practice partners and service users in all areas of learning, teaching and assessment is integral to our approach. Our evidence based curriculum will empower you to contribute to the provision of high quality holistic care both during your studies and in your future profession.
Accredited By
This course is accredited by:
Why Choose Us?
- Funding – midwifery students in receipt of a student loan are eligible to receive at least £5,000 a year in additional funding for maintenance and associated study costs. Download the funding FAQs
- The University is classed as an Approved Education Institution by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC). This course has been designed in line with the latest midwifery education standards and is approved by the NMC.
- Birmingham is one of the UK’s most diverse cities outside of London, which provides you with a wide variety of placement experiences that will be valuable to take forward into your future career.
- Our specialist skills facilities include a home environment and birthing area. Our purpose-built midwifery teaching suite complete with birthing pool, and various high tech teaching tools, such as our Sim Mom birth simulator and realistic neonatal mannequins to help simulate a variety of midwifery scenarios as you learn.
- Our exciting new MSci award allows you to study your fourth year at master’s level with the option to choose a module of your own interest tailored towards your future career aspirations.
- By successfully completing this course you will have the opportunity to graduate with two qualifications: MSci in Midwifery with Public Health which is accredited by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) and the Public Health England Newborn and Infant Physical Examination Programme (NIPE).
Open Days
Join us for an on-campus Open Day where you'll be able to learn about this course in detail, chat to students, explore our campus and tour accommodation.
Next Open Day: 19 October 2024
Entry Requirements
These entry requirements apply for entry in 2025/26.
All required qualifications/grades must have been achieved and evidenced at the earliest opportunity after accepting an offer to help confirm admission and allow for on-time enrolment. This can also include other requirements, like a fee status form and relevant documents. Applicants can track their application and outstanding information requests through their BCU mySRS account.
Essential requirements
128 UCAS Tariff points. Learn more about UCAS Tariff points.
Please note: If you qualify for our BCU Accelerate scheme, you could receive an offer that is two grades below our normal entry requirements. Find out more about BCU Accelerate.
Applicants will also need to complete an interview for this course; see interview arrangements below.
Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS)
Successful candidates will be required to obtain a satisfactory occupational health check, an enhanced DBS check and registration with the Independent Safeguarding Authority prior to enrolling on this course. If you have any queries please refer to DBS Frequently Asked Questions or contact admissions@bcu.ac.uk.
If you have a qualification that is not listed, please contact us.
Fees & How to Apply
UK students
Annual and modular tuition fees shown are applicable to the first year of study. The University reserves the right to increase fees for subsequent years of study in line with increases in inflation (capped at 5%) or to reflect changes in Government funding policies or changes agreed by Parliament. View fees for continuing students.
Award: MSci
Starting: Sep 2025
- Mode
- Duration
- Fees
- Full Time
- 4 years
- £9,250 in 2025/26
- Apply via UCAS
International students
Sorry, this course is not available to International students.
Guidance for UK students
UK students applying for most undergraduate degree courses in the UK will need to apply through UCAS.
The Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) is a UK organisation responsible for managing applications to university and college.
Applying through UCAS
Register with UCAS
Login to UCAS
Complete your details
Select your course
Write a personal statement
Get a reference
Pay your application fee
Send UCAS your application
Our advice for applying to a health care course
Applying for a course and preparing for an interview can be a daunting process, so we have created a series of films to help you through the process, including what to put in your personal statement.
Personal statement
Your personal statement is a highly important part of your application. It gives you a crucial opportunity to say why you’re applying and why the institution should accept you.
Here are the key areas you’ll need to address:
Course choice
Why does this course appeal? What areas are of particular interest?
Career plans
If you have a specific career in mind, say how your chosen course will help you pursue this goal.
Work experience
Mention any work that is relevant to your subject, highlighting the skills and experience gained.
School or college experience
Highlight skills gained at school/college, eg summer schools or mentoring activities.
Non-accredited skills or achievement
eg Duke of Edinburgh Award, Young Enterprise scheme.
You should also mention your future plans – if you’re planning to take a year out, don't forget to give your reasons. Talk about any subjects you’re studying that don’t have a formal assessment and any sponsorships or placements you’ve applied for. And don't be scared to add in details about your social, sports or leisure interests.
Get more information on writing personal statements.
Course in Depth
Year One
In order to complete this course a student must successfully complete all the following CORE modules (totalling 120 credits).
This module will introduce you to the midwifery profession and the essential skills that will facilitate for successful studies throughout your course. It will introduce you to the skills and knowledge that you will require to transition into University studies and professional midwifery practice through personal self-development and reflection. The module will also enable you to explore support mechanisms to enhance your transition to Higher Education and begin to develop resilience for working within the midwifery profession.
This module focusses on the key principles of normal midwifery care during the antenatal period. It will provide you with the requisite knowledge and understanding of the midwife’s role in order to provide holistic care to healthy women, their families and the fetus.
You will be introduced to the relevant anatomy and physiology, whilst also exploring the sociological and psychological adaptations that women may encounter antenatally. In addition, you will be supported to apply evidence-based theory to your clinical practice, enabling you to develop your confidence throughout your first year.
This module focusses on the key principles of normal midwifery care during the intrapartum period. It will provide you with the requisite knowledge and understanding of the midwife’s role in order to provide holistic care to healthy women, their families and the fetus. This will include the understanding of normal processes and recognition of deviations from these, on all aspects of health and well-being for the woman and fetus during labour and immediately following birth and enable you to develop confidence throughout your first year.
The module aligns to the course philosophy, aiming to equip you to become midwives who provide skilled, knowledgeable, respectful and compassionate care for women and their families, enabling you to practice safely at this level of study and work toward being effective and proficient student midwives.
This is based on a holistic model of care which is responsive to the individual needs of women, their families and the fetus within contemporary society.
This 20 credit module introduces you to the care and management of postnatal women, their newborn infants and their families and starts to prepare you as a student midwife to carry out holistic systematic postnatal and newborn examination. The postnatal care and management of both the mother and newborn infant are an important role of the midwife and helps facilitate the transition to parenting. The module facilitates you to promote normality, respect diversity, ensure equality, recognise deviation from normal and instigate appropriate actions. You will be introduced to concepts of working in partnership with the multi-professional team and promoting the mother and family interaction and care of the newborn infant. The module integrates relevant infant feeding policies and practices in line with the Baby Friendly Initiative and introduces you to concepts of infant nutrition and feeding.
This module provides you with an introduction to and ongoing support for practice elements of your course, as well as basic pharmacology and pharmacodynamics.
The module is designed to enable you to achieve clinical practice proficiencies through ongoing guided participation in the care of childbearing women and their families within the practice setting. The module offers year 1 preparation and development to grow your confidence and demonstrate the ability to participate, under direct supervision and direction, within the practice learning environment. You will be supported to continue to develop numeracy skills related to clinical practice and calculation of medicines, through safeMedicate® and our Academic Development Department.
Year Two
In order to complete this course a student must successfully complete all the following CORE modules (totalling 120 credits).
The Pre-registration NMC Educational Standards (2019) require the preparation of student midwives to be knowledgeable and skilled in making holistic risk assessments. Using a wide range of techniques, you will adapt midwifery care to individual needs and collaborate effectively with the multi-disciplinary team to keep women and babies safe. Midwives also need to signpost families to available local support resources to protect and promote their health and wellbeing and promote their establishment where necessary. This module will guide you to build on the foundation of the skills that you are developing in your other modules, but now with a focus on complex social and clinical needs.
This level 5, 20 credit module will enable you to continue to explore support mechanisms to enhance your transition and resilience for working within the National Health Service and Higher Education. This will equip you with knowledge and skills that will enable you to provide safe care and discover and debate contemporaneous and challenging issues that influence midwives and other healthcare professionals. You are the midwifery leaders of the future, who will be faced with challenges in order to change practice - the skills required to meet these challenges will be developed as part of this module.
The midwife has a role in caring for and supporting women and newborn infants requiring medical, obstetric and neonatal care.
This module introduces you to the principles of caring for women and their newborn infants with complex health conditions, which you will further build on within subsequent level 6 modules. You will be supported to develop the skills, knowledge and experience required to actively participate in the provision of complex midwifery care and work as part of the multi-disciplinary team.
The module provides you with the opportunity for further development and ongoing support for practice elements of your course. The module is designed to enable you to achieve clinical practice proficiencies through ongoing guided participation in care of childbearing women and their families within the practice setting. The module offers year 2 preparation, development and consolidation to continue to grow your confidence and be able to contribute to midwifery care within the practice learning environment, with decreasing supervision and direction.
You will be supported to continue to develop numeracy skills related to clinical practice and calculation of medicines, through safeMedicate® and our Academic Development Department.
Year Three
In order to complete this course a student must successfully complete all the following CORE modules (totalling 120 credits).
This module continues to prepare you to care for the women and newborn infant based on their individual needs. As well as caring for the woman in accordance with national guidelines, this module will also include the Newborn and Infant Physical Examination in accordance with Public Health England. This module enhances knowledge and skills in planning, leading and managing care, working with multidisciplinary teams and acting as an advocate for women, the newborn infant. The module prepares you to recognise, escalate and instigate immediate care for obstetric and neonatal emergencies.
To reach these levels of competence, students will be required to continue to develop an in-depth understanding of the physiology of pregnancy, birth, the mother and newborn. This module builds on knowledge gained from to previous modules at level 4 and 5.
This module introduces you to Public Health and Global perspectives. The module gives you the opportunity to examine Public Health within a global context, in order to compare and contrast wide-ranging health inequalities related to maternal and infant wellbeing, taking into account a life course approach. This module will facilitate the exploration of a midwife’s contribution to public health across the life course that impacts on pregnancy, childbirth, infancy and long-term health. It also provides an opportunity to evaluate the midwifery role within a global context and have a greater understanding of influences in health outcomes and care pathways within the local diverse, multi-ethnic population. This module can be studied as part of the BSc Hons in midwifery or as part of the MSci in Midwifery with Public Health.
This module provides you with the opportunity for further development and ongoing support for practice elements of your course. It is designed to enable you to achieve clinical practice proficiencies through ongoing participation in the care of childbearing women and their families within the practice setting. This will be through ongoing supervision and by practising independently with minimal supervision. The module offers year 3 preparation, development and consolidation to support confidence and be able to demonstrate proficiency within the practice learning environment, with minimal supervision.
You will be able to independently practice and develop your midwifery skills assisted by practice supervisors, practice assessors and academic assessors. You will participate in teaching and learning sessions that support your progress in practice and allow you to identify and reflect on your own learning needs and experiences in practice. You will complete your assessment for year three within the Midwifery Ongoing Record of Achievement (MORA) which will provide a record of your performance and achievements in the practice setting.
You will be supported to master your numeracy skills related to clinical practice and calculation of medicines, through safeMedicate® and our Academic Development Department.
In line with the NMC Education Standards (2019) the aim is to empower you throughout your career to promote and contribute to best midwifery evidence-based practice. You will undertake background study to identify a gap in the research and construct an argument for your chosen topic. You will undertake structured searches to identify and select best available evidence on your topic. You will learn in more detail about research methodology, consideration of research ethics, and will then be able to propose either primary or secondary research enquiry that seeks to address a gap in our knowledge base for midwifery practice.
Year Four
In order to complete this course a student must successfully complete all the following CORE modules (totalling 120 credits).
In this module, you will appraise Public Health theory and practice, exploring a midwife’s contribution to public health through the development and designing of a health promotion intervention and evaluation. You will have opportunities to select and apply appropriate theories, models or concepts to a contemporary health promotion intervention and critique the strengths and limits of this application. You will explore the methods by which these interventions can be planned, managed and evaluated in order to develop greater rigour with regard to evidence-based practice.
This module can be studied as part of the MSci in Midwifery with Public Health or as a stand-alone level 7 module.
This module gives you the opportunity to critically explore maternal and infant nutrition within a global context, in order to address wide-ranging health inequalities related to maternal and infant nutrition. You will explore the full spectrum of nutrition that impacts on pregnancy, childbirth, infancy and long-term health. This module can be studied as part of the MSci in Midwifery with Public Health, as a stand-alone level 7 module, or as an option on another Master's pathway.
Building on your completed level 6 research proposal, this double module provides you with the opportunity to complete a piece of work around a chosen midwifery topic. This will enable you to demonstrate competence in the planning, execution, analysis and evaluation of a Research Project or a Systematic Review. It will facilitate independent, critical study in midwifery professional practice. It will also serve those who wish to embark on Doctoral studies in the future.
The module offers further development and support for completion of the practice elements of your course. It will enable you to achieve clinical practice proficiencies through ongoing participation in the care of childbearing women and their families within the practice setting. The module offers year 4 preparation, development and consolidation to support your confidence and ability to demonstrate proficiency within the practice learning environment, with minimal supervision.
You have the option to choose a module from existing Birmingham City University Level 7 modules in the Faculty of Health, Education and Life Sciences. This gives you the flexibility to choose a topic of your liking and to design your fourth year in a way that suits you. The timing, topic and assessment mode will all vary depending on your choice.
Download course specification
Download nowIn our dynamic and innovative NMC validated course, we've taken major steps in responding to changes in the NHS that also map directly on to the very latest Nursing and Midwifery Council standards of best practice.
The course runs for 41 weeks each year. Approximately 50 per cent is devoted to theory and 50 per cent to clinical practice. When you are on clinical placement you are expected to participate in the care of child bearing women across the full range of shifts including night duty and weekends. Annual leave will be set for the year.
Additional support
If you are dyslexic, have a specific learning difference or a disability, we have a Disability Tutor who can help and support you with this.
More on our disability tutor >>
We offer extra technical and learning support.
Trips and visits
During the summer period, you will undertake a three week clinical elective placement. This is a mandatory requirement that will eventually feed into the third year Introduction to Global Perspectives on Public Health module. You can choose where you wish to undertake your elective placement: internationally, nationally or more locally. However, you cannot stay in your allocated Trust. You are required to organise your placement, and provide an itinerary and proposed learning outcomes.
The Nursing and Midwifery Council
The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) works with partner organisations to set and maintain high standards of nursing and midwifery education across the UK.
This course has been approved and monitored by the NMC to make sure that the education and training on offer meets their standards.
To work as a nurse or midwife, you must pass an NMC approved course at a higher education institution (HEI) in pre-registration nursing and midwifery, leading to registration with the NMC.
Athena Swan Bronze Award
We have successfully secured the Athena SWAN Departmental Bronze Award recognising a commitment to gender equality.
The Athena Swan Charter is a framework which is used across the globe to support and transform gender equality within higher education (HE) and research.
Employability
Enhancing your employability skills
Employers at our NHS partners consistently cite the strength of our graduates at interview and their suitability to be immediately fit for practice as a midwife.
We believe it is because of our selection of determined and caring individuals who are motivated to becoming midwives that have the 6C’s as their core attributes.
Placements
On our Midwifery courses, you can expect to enjoy a number of placements at some of the biggest and busiest NHS centres for midwifery training in the Midlands. We have a teaching-placement split of 50-50%, reflecting the importance of the clinical experience you will get at these Trusts and birthing centres.
Within these placements you will experience a wide range of midwifery practice progressing from normality in year one to complexity in year two and more specialist roles in year three. You will also have the opportunity for additional experiences such as gynaecology and the neonatal unit
Our partner NHS Trusts are some of the world’s leading maternity environments, including Birmingham Women’s and Children’s NHS Foundation Trust,
University Hospital Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust and Sandwell & West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust.
Facilities & Staff
Our Facilities
Our Nursing and Midwifery courses are based at our City South campus in leafy Edgbaston.
We’ve spent £41million expanding our facilities at City South. These facilities offer hands-on practical experience, replicating the spaces you will come across in professional practice.
In a sector where new techniques are constantly being discovered, we work hard to ensure that you learn using the most up-to-date equipment available. Alongside physical spaces such as a mock operating theatre and wards, we also make use of online and virtual technology, such as our virtual ward and virtual case creator.
See more of our skills facilities at City South
Centre for Skills and Simulation
The Centre for Skills and Simulation offers a range of different spaces which replicate situations that you will encounter in practice. These include hospital wards, an operating theatre and a home environment room.
Our mock wards enable you to get a feel of what a ward is really like before you head out for your first placement. The hospital wards can be adapted from low care to high dependency care environment with the necessary monitoring equipment.
The home environment room is the perfect space for teaching communications skills and allows us to simulate a community setting for our students. It is particularly useful for mental health nurses, learning disability nurses and midwives.
Simulation Manikins
We have several Simulation men (SIM men) and simulation babies (SIM babies) which are anatomically correct manikins used for teaching specific techniques such as advanced adult and paediatric life support skills, acute and high dependency clinical skills, first aid and communication skills. The manikins contain software which replicates real symptoms, and can manipulate indicators such as blood pressure, pulse and heart rate for extra realism. SIM man can even ‘talk’ to the students as they are treating him, to add another dimension to learning.
Computer Facilities
The Seacole building has two open-access IT Suites which offer PCs, printers, photocopiers and scanners. There is also an IT Helpdesk for quick and easy help with your computing or internet issues.
Our PCs utilise the latest Intel i5 core technology, all with:
- Fast (unrestricted) internet connectivity
- Ability to save files to USB, DVD & CD
- Microsoft Office software
- Research and statistical software
- Storage space which can be accessed from any PC across the University and from home
Our PCs are also designed to support students who may have difficulties with reading and writing, featuring specialised software with zooming/magnification and screen reading capabilities, which may also be customised for individual student needs.
In addition to desktop PCs, we also offer a laptop loan facility, allowing students to borrow a laptop for up to six hours while on campus.
Our staff
Natasha Carr
Senior Midwifery Lecturer
A a senior lecturer in the Midwifery Department, Natasha is responsible for providing, supporting and facilitating teaching and learning on both the long and short BSc (Hons) Midwifery Programmes. In addition, Natasha teaches alongside colleagues on the Examination of the Newborn Programme and lead the Professional Midwifery Advocate (A-EQUIP)...
More about NatashaJulie Hadley
Deputy Head of the College of Nursing and Midwifery
Julie is the Deputy Head of the College of Nursing and Midwifery at Birmingham City University. She has been employed in higher education since 2008. After qualifying, she worked as a midwife at the Birmingham Women's Hospital and later as a Research Midwife. She was then employed as a project manager and research teacher and...
More about JulieMaggie Prain
Senior Lecturer of Nursing & Midwifery
Maggie began full time lecturing in 2003 and has been the programme director for the BSc (Hons)/Graduate Diploma in midwifery 20-month programme since 2006 -2013. She is now also the programme director for the Examination of the newborn programme
More about Maggie