Department of Sport & Exercise Sciences | BSc Sport and Exercise Sciences (with Foundation Year)

BSc Sport & Exercise Sciences (with Foundation Year) at Durham University

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Gain an understanding of the traditional and cross-disciplinary sport and exercise sciences. This degree will equip you with the knowledge and practical skills to step into a rewarding career within the fast-moving sport and exercise industries.

Are you fascinated by the relationship between exercise, performance and health? Would you like to embark on a BSc that is aligned with industry developments and the latest research?

Here at Durham, our expertise across the Department prepares you to tackle traditional and emergent sport and exercise problems from a variety of academic disciplines and perspectives. With a curriculum developed and delivered by an academic team actively involved in research, you’ll build a firm foundation of knowledge in traditional sport, exercise and health sciences, including: Physiology; Psychology; Physical Activity, Nutrition & Health.

The course also offers the flexibility to select modules from cognate disciplines, such as: Sociology of Sport; Sport, Health and the Environment; and Sports Development, so that you develop a broader, more holistic knowledge across the wider field of sport and exercise.

With an emphasis on employability, there are opportunities for you to develop your transferable skill set and take a placement module in a sport or exercise vocational setting, as well as 'open modules' from other departments. You also have the choice of applying to add an industry placement year or a study year abroad to your degree, increasing the course from three years to four.

The final-year dissertation research project is an opportunity to engage in deeper investigation of a sport or exercise topic that particularly interests you.

Our approach to learning, teaching and assessment links academic knowledge with real-world examples and practices in sport, exercise and physical activity. This is brought further to life in the Human Performance Laboratory, which is equipped with the latest in exercise physiology and exercise nutrition equipment.

Studying Sport & Exercise Sciences you will develop intellectual capacities and personal qualities, while acquiring a broad range of practical, professional and employability skills that can be applied to a range of careers in the sport and leisure sector and beyond. Our students graduate with the skill set to take on challenging roles across the sport and exercise industries.

Our students progress into a wide range of careers in the field of sport and health and beyond. They have taken up roles in elite sport, sport management and sport development, including management roles in the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Others lead development projects for local councils and major charities, and have taken up roles with sporting organisations like Sport England, English Cricket Board and Williams F1. We also have graduates working in media roles with organisations such as Sky Sports, BBC Sport and British Eurosport, as well as in health promotion and clinical settings.

Some graduates have progressed to roles outside of the sporting world, and work in banking and finance, business, management, public relations, human resources and the armed forces.

Sport degrees also act as a springboard to postgraduate study, and a number of our graduates have continued to PGCE or Master’s level study, leading to careers in fields including teaching and physiotherapy.

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