Advanced Nursing (MSc - Online Learning) The University of Edinburgh

The University of Edinburgh is currently ranked 16th in the World in the QS World University Rankings 2022.

Our innovative part-time programme offers advanced study for nurses working within an international and UK healthcare context. We offer the flexibility for you to choose either a broad programme of study by drawing on international expertise across the breadth of the university or to focus on a more specialised area of nursing care.

We recognise that mental health and trauma-informed care is an under-developed area in advanced practice for Adult nurses and so we are delighted to offer you the opportunity to choose option courses in these areas, as well as our core courses in nursing and global health policy, political leadership and research. You can choose a range of option courses within Nursing Studies including leadership, public health, policy, person-centred care and clinical decision-making. Health and social care research underpin the whole programme.

The programme is suitable for nurses who are registered to practise in their own country and want to critically examine the ways that evidence-based research, theory and knowledge can advance nursing in the global context. The degree also provides an excellent foundation for postgraduate research e.g. a doctoral degree, or to advance their professional career.

Online learning

All of the teachings on the MSc are delivered entirely online, allowing for flexible and responsive approaches to learning, assessment and support of our students and reaching a wide range of graduates and professionals from all over the world.

The online teaching methods include:

• video lectures
• online tutorials
• discussion boards
• online conferences
• films and videos
• independent study and research

The University's full range of online learning resources will be available to students; for example, web conferencing software, e-books and online academic journals.

Please note that students enrolled on this programme would not be eligible to apply for a Tier 4 visa.

• develop advanced specialist knowledge and skills to be able to interrogate nursing, health and social care research, scholarship and practice within the context of a globalising world
• develop knowledge and understanding of nursing leadership policy and research-informed leadership practice
• enhance skills to be a professional and critically reflective practitioner able to provide evidence-based practice in both a local and international context
• develop advanced research skills for working in an evolving landscape of nursing, health and social care

Entry Requirements

These entry requirements are for the 2023/24 academic year and requirements for future academic years may differ. Entry requirements for the 2024/25 academic year will be published on 2 October 2023.

A UK 2:1 honours degree, or its international equivalent, and a nursing qualification.

We may also consider your application if you have considerable nursing experience and non-graduate level professional qualifications; please contact us to check before you apply.

Students from China

This degree is Band C.

International qualifications

Check whether your international qualifications meet our general entry requirements:

English language requirements

You must demonstrate a level of English language competency at a level that will enable you to succeed in your studies, regardless of your nationality or country of residence.

English language tests

We accept the following English language qualifications at the grades specified:

• IELTS Academic: total 7.0 with at least 6.5 in each component.
• TOEFL-iBT (including Home Edition): total 100 with at least 23 in each component. We do not accept TOEFL MyBest Score to meet our English language requirements.
• C1 Advanced (CAE) / C2 Proficiency (CPE): total 185 with at least 176 in each component.
• Trinity ISE: ISE III with passes in all four components.
• PTE Academic: total 70 with at least 62 in each component.

Your English language qualification must be no more than three and a half years old from the start date of the programme you are applying to study unless you are using IELTS, TOEFL, Trinity ISE or PTE, in which case it must be no more than two years old.

Degrees taught and assessed in English

We also accept an undergraduate or postgraduate degree that has been taught and assessed in English in a majority English-speaking country, as defined by UK Visas and Immigration:

We also accept a degree that has been taught and assessed in English from a university on our list of approved universities in non-majority English-speaking countries (non-MESC).

If you are not a national of a majority English-speaking country, then your degree must be no more than three and a half years old at the beginning of your programme of study.

Programme structure

This programme offers a flexible online postgraduate degree designed for graduate nurses who are interested in studying at an advanced level.

The programme is designed to be completed part-time. The minimum period programme can be completed in two years, with a maximum completion time of three years.

Students must take two core courses (40 credits) and then can choose from a wide range of option courses offered in semesters 1 and 2 (80 credits). Supervised Reading is also offered in the summer semester (20 credits). In addition, students must complete a dissertation following the completion of their taught courses (60 credits). There is a choice of one of two different dissertations – a research proposal or an e-portfolio.

For students undertaking the 2-year programme, they will usually take one or two 20-credit courses each semester, so that a minimum of 60 credits are completed in year one and the remainder in year 2. Their dissertation will be completed towards the end of their second year.

For students undertaking the 3-year programme, they will usually take one or two 20-credit courses each semester, so that a minimum of 40 credits are completed in year one and the remainder in year 2 and/or year 3. Their dissertation will be completed in year 3.

Curriculum

Year 1

Compulsory Courses

• Nursing and Global Health Policy: developing your political leadership (online)
• Research Methods in Health

And

Option Courses from Nursing Studies

• Leadership - exploring your potential (Distance)
• Person-Centred Care in Practice: Relationships and Emotion
• Acquired Brain Injury (ABI) and Stroke Rehabilitation
• Global Public Health: a critical approach to health improvement (online)
• Supervised Reading (Online)
• Homeless and Inclusion Health (Online)

And

Option Courses outside Nursing Studies

• Social Inequality and Child and Adolescent Mental Health
• Developmental Well-being
• Acceptance and Commitment Therapy: Introduction and Skills Building
• Applied Developmental Psychopathology (ODL)
• Introduction to Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) (Online)
• The assessment and diagnosis of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) (Online)
• Online Counselling: Practice and Process

Year 2

Compulsory Courses

• Nursing and Global Health Policy: developing your political leadership (online)
• Research Methods in Health

And

Optional Courses from Nursing Studies

• Leadership - exploring your potential (Distance)
• Person-Centred Care in Practice: Relationships and Emotion
• Acquired Brain Injury (ABI) and Stroke Rehabilitation
• Global Public Health: a critical approach to health improvement (online)
• Supervised Reading (Online)
• Homeless and Inclusion Health (Online)

And

Optional Courses from outside Nursing Studies

• Social Inequality and Child and Adolescent Mental Health
• Developmental Well-being
• Acceptance and Commitment Therapy: Introduction and Skills Building
• Applied Developmental Psychopathology (ODL)
• Introduction to Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) (Online)
• The assessment and diagnosis of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) (Online)
• Online Counselling: Practice and Process

And

Dissertation Options

• Dissertation: Research Proposal (online)
• Dissertation: E-Portfolio (Online)

The programme has been designed to enhance the career development of graduate nurses: the employment prospects for our postgraduate nurses are excellent and opportunities are wide-ranging.

The majority of students who complete a postgraduate taught degree at the University of Edinburgh go on to practise in their own country as senior nurses, choosing to work in a range of different settings, including education, advanced clinical practice or clinical research.

The postgraduate degree equips students for a leadership role or for further study, towards a Doctorate Programme to extend subject specialisms and/or research competency.

In addition, the integration of the health and social care field also offers a range of opportunities for an international career. Several postgraduate students go on to develop their careers in global public health, working in health education, patient advocacy, and health promotion in the UK and around the world. Some of our postgraduate students have gone on to work for the World Health Organisation and other global governance organisations in policy and advisory roles.