Psychology with a Foundation Year

Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behaviour. It investigates how people think, feel, perceive, learn, remember, make decisions and interact with others, drawing on experimental methods, observations, computational models and neuroscience to build understanding of the full complexity of human mental life. It is a discipline that addresses questions of immediate practical importance, from understanding and treating mental health conditions to improving education, organisational performance, public health and social policy, and it does so with the rigour and evidential standards of a scientific field.

At the University of Kent, this part-time programme, which is available with a foundation year for students who need additional preparation before degree-level study, gives you access to a psychology department with world-ranking strengths in areas including facial recognition, social inequality, child development and morality. The foundation year is designed for students who will benefit from a structured introduction to scientific and academic thinking before entering the main degree. The part-time mode allows you to develop your psychological knowledge and research skills at a pace that suits your circumstances, and the flexibility this provides makes the degree accessible to a wider range of students.

You will study the core areas of psychology, including social, cognitive, developmental, biological and individual differences perspectives, alongside research methods and statistics that are central to psychological science. Kent's specialist expertise in the areas mentioned gives the curriculum a distinctive flavour and ensures you engage with genuinely current research.

Graduates from psychology degrees move into a wide range of careers, including clinical, educational and occupational psychology (with further postgraduate training), research, human resources, marketing, education, the civil service, social work, and health and social care. The British Psychological Society accredits degrees that meet Graduate Basis for Chartered Membership, which is the standard entry route to postgraduate professional training in applied psychology.