Photos of university / #uniessex
Our MSc Psychology is an advanced fast-track conversion course that combines the award of a Masters with eligibility for the Graduate Basis for Chartered Membership (GBC) with the British Psychological Society.
The GBC is the minimum academic qualification required to enable you to work as a professional psychologist, so passing our course demonstrates that you have studied and acquired an advanced understanding in Masters-level study in psychology. Successful completion of your MSc Psychology, at the required level, will normally qualify you for entry to an appropriate Masters-level course in our Department of Psychology.
You gain a critical and detailed understanding of the core areas of psychology, plus some specialisation, and learn research methods to an extent which will enable you to devise, carry out and analyse an empirical research project. Our course is also suitable for those who have obtained a previous degree in psychology (to the required standard) that is not recognised by the British Psychological Society, but wish to gain an internationally recognised qualification in psychology.
Why study MSc Psychology at Essex?
Our Department of Psychology has a strong reputation for research and teaching, with over half of our research defined as either world-leading or internationally excellent in the last Research Assessment Exercise (RAE, December 2008) and a ranking of thirteenth in the UK in the 2010 National Student Survey.
We provide excellent state-of-the-art facilities for study, with extensive laboratory space for experimental psychology and special facilities for visual and auditory perception, developmental psychology and social psychology, with our Hearing Research Laboratory and our Visual Perception Unit. We also have our Centre for Brain Sciences (CBS), a state-of-the-art research facility dedicated to the study of brain activity in relation to psychological processes. This provides a dynamic resource for psychology and neuroscience, with specialised laboratories for investigating brain activity.
Our facilities
Within our Department of Psychology, we provide excellent state-of-the-art facilities for your study, with extensive laboratory space for experimental psychology and special facilities for visual and auditory perception, developmental psychology and social psychology.
We also have our Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, a state-of-the-art research facility dedicated to the study of brain activity in relation to psychological processes. This provides a dynamic resource with specialised laboratories for investigating behaviour and brain activity including: two eye tracking labs for recording eye movements, four electroencephalography (EEG) labs for recording cortical oscillatory activity, event-related potentials (ERP) and functional connectivity; two near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) labs for measuring changes in blood oxygenation levels; four neuromodulation labs including transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), repetitive TMS (rTMS), transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) and neuronavigation facilities.
Career destinationsWith the skills and knowledge you acquire from studying within our Department of Psychology, you will find yourself in demand from a wide range of employers. Recent graduates of MSc Psychology have found employment as a research assistant at the Anna Freud Centre, a clinical psychologist for the NHS, a child psychologist for Children First and a lecturer at the University of Surrey. Other graduates have been employed in clinical psychology, educational psychology, criminal and forensic psychology.
We also have excellent links with the research community and our PhD students have taken up post-doctorial positions in other top UK universities and internationally (including in the US, Italy and Australia), as well as being appointed to lectureships.
Your employability and Essex
A postgraduate qualification is a major achievement and greatly valued by employers. Recent surveys show that higher degree graduates are more likely to obtain jobs at professional or managerial level and less likely to be unemployed. For some jobs a postgraduate qualification may be essential, for others it offers a competitive edge. Our graduates go into a variety of jobs, where the key employability skills and knowledge they have gained through postgraduate study are put to good use.
Our Languages for All programme lets you study a language, alongside your course, at no extra cost. You can take one of 50 taught language modules on a part-time day-time basis, or undertake flexible web-based learning, or opt for a language module taught in the evening. As employers can struggle to find graduates able to speak more than one language, Languages for All places Essex graduates in a very advantageous position.
If you achieve your Masters, you may wish to extend your knowledge with a research degree and many who graduate from Essex choose to stay here for research study. Some of our Masters may be taken as the first part of an Integrated PhD, leading to your PhD after a further three years of full-time study.
Support for postgraduates
Our University has a range of support services designed to help you to achieve your full potential and get the most out of your studies. These form a co-ordinated network of support, and are an important part of your overall student experience at Essex.
Our staff operate an 'open door' policy so are available to discuss any concerns with you throughout the year.
Research study opportunities
Within our Department of Psychology, we offer supervision for PhD and MPhil. Our research activity is diverse and broad-based, with a variety of interests that fall into three major research groupings: cognitive psychology, sensory and cognitive neuroscience, and social psychology.
Our interdisciplinary research includes fundamental as well as applied research, and our research findings have had an impact on society in general, and health and wellbeing in particular.
A Masters course is an academically rigorous programme during which you explore your subject in depth, reaching a high level of specialist knowledge. You draw on knowledge and skills from your undergraduate study or your professional life to produce work of a high academic standard, informed by current thinking and debate.
A Masters course lasts for twelve months (full-time), starting in October, and consists of taught modules during your autumn and spring terms, and normally a research-based dissertation or other project-based work submitted in September. Your balance of modules and research varies according to the subject but, typically, your research counts for 60 credits and there are 120 credits of modules, varying from 10 to 40 credits each. (If you are from the EU, then our Masters courses are regarded as second-cycle qualifications under the Bologna Declaration and consist of 90 ECTS credits).
In some subjects, Postgraduate or Graduate Certificates and Diplomas are available, which last for six to nine months (full-time) and consist of 60 or 120 credits, respectively. These include the modules and assessed work of a Masters, without a dissertation. Our Graduate Diplomas equip those with a Bachelors with knowledge to proceed to a Masters in a different subject.
Please note that module information on our course finder provides a guide to course content and may be subject to review on an annual basis.
ModulesCore modules
- Advanced Cognitive Psychology I
- Advanced Cognitive Psychology Ii
- Advanced Developmental Psychology
- Advanced Social Psychology
- Research Methods And Statistics In Psychology
- Research Project (Msc)
Compulsory modules
- Brain And Behaviour
- Personality And Individual Differences
Optional modules
- Advanced Reading Development And Dyslexia
- Advanced Sound Of Speech And Music
- Cognitive Neuropsychology Of Language
- Critical Literature Review
- Fundamentals Of Neuroscience And Neuropsychology
- Neuropsychology Of Perception And Attention
- Special Topics In Social Psychology
Core modules must be taken and passed.
Core with options modules selected from limited lists must be taken and passed.
Compulsory modules must be taken.
Compulsory with options modules selected from limited lists must be taken.
Optional modules are selected from course specific lists.
We offer many funding opportunities to support students, including a broad range of University of Essex scholarships, bursaries and research council funding to awards funded by charities and other external organisations.
Currency
EUR
GBP
KZT
INR
RUB