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Undergraduate prospectus 2021

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Psychology and Language Sciences BSc

This three-year programme, accredited by the British Psychological Society, combines modules in psychology, speech sciences and linguistics and takes a multidisciplinary approach to the scientific study of the human mind and communication. It is an excellent platform for research, clinical and educational psychology, speech and language therapy, audiology, education and careers in marketing, and consulting related to behaviour and communication.

Covid-19 programme updates

Due to COVID-19, there may have been updates to this programme for the 2020 academic year. Where there has been an update, these are indicated with a red alert and a link which will provide further information.

Key Information

Programme starts

September 2020
UCAS code
CB86
Duration
Full-time: 3 years
Accreditation
British Psychological Society
Application deadline
15 January 2020
Location
London, Bloomsbury

Entry requirements

A Levels

Grades
AAA
Subjects
To include one subject from Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics, Physics or Psychology.
GCSEs
English Language, Mathematics and two Sciences (double award acceptable) at grade B or 6. For UK-based students, a grade C or 5 or equivalent in a foreign language (other than Ancient Greek, Biblical Hebrew or Latin) is required. UCL provides opportunities to meet the foreign language requirement following enrolment, further details at: www.ucl.ac.uk/ug-reqs

Contextual offer

Grades
ABB (more about contextual offers)
Subjects
To include Grade A in one subject from Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics, Physics or Psychology.
GCSEs
English Language, Mathematics and two Sciences (double award acceptable) at grade B or 6. For UK-based students, a grade C or 5 or equivalent in a foreign language (other than Ancient Greek, Biblical Hebrew or Latin) is required. UCL provides opportunities to meet the foreign language requirement following enrolment, further details at: www.ucl.ac.uk/ug-reqs

IB Diploma

Points
38
Subjects
A score of 18 points in three higher level subjects to include grade 6 in one subject from Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics, Physics or Psychology, with no score lower than 5.

Contextual offer

Points
34 (more about contextual offers)
Subjects
A score of 16 points in three higher level subjects to include grade 6 in one subject from Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics, Physics or Psychology, with no score lower than 5.

UK applicants qualifications

For entry requirements with other UK qualifications accepted by UCL, choose your qualification from the list below:

Equivalent qualification

Not acceptable for entrance to this programme.

Not acceptable for entrance to this programme

D3,D3,D3 in three Cambridge Pre-U Principal Subjects, including one subject from Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics, Physics and Psychology.

A,A,A at Advanced Highers (or A,A at Advanced Higher and A,A,A at Higher), including A in one subject from Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics, Physics and Psychology at Advanced Higher.

Successful completion of the WBQ Advanced Skills Challenge Certificate plus 2 GCE A-Levels at grades AAA, including one subject from Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics, Physics and Psychology.

International applications

In addition to A level and International Baccalaureate, UCL considers a wide range of international qualifications for entry to its undergraduate degree programmes.

English language requirements

If your education has not been conducted in the English language, you will be expected to demonstrate evidence of an adequate level of English proficiency. Information about the evidence required, acceptable qualifications and test providers can be found on our English language requirements page.

The English language level for this programme is: Good (Advanced for GCSE/IGCSE)

A variety of English language programmes are offered at the UCL Centre for Languages & International Education.

Degree benefits

  • UCL is known worldwide for its teaching and research in the fields of psychology, speech sciences, linguistics and neuroscience. The work of our staff appears in internationally acclaimed journals and books.

  • This programme provides experiential learning in these key areas, emphasising the complementary nature of psychology, speech sciences and linguistics and providing special insights into the human mind and human communication.

  • The programme is an excellent platform from which students can pursue further research or follow Master's level professional programmes, for example in clinical and educational psychology, teaching, speech and language therapy or audiology.

  • The BSc is accredited and audited by the British Psychological Society (BPS). As a graduate, you will be eligible to become a member of the BPS.

Accreditation

This programme is accredited by the British Psychological Society. UK applicants for graduate membership and the Graduate Basis for Chartered Membership (GBC) require a minimum of a lower second-class Bachelor's degree. Graduate Basis for Chartered Membership is required for entry to all accredited postgraduate and doctoral programmes as part of the route to becoming a chartered psychologist.

Degree structure

In each year of your degree you will take a number of individual modules, normally valued at 15 or 30 credits, adding up to a total of 120 credits for the year. Modules are assessed in the academic year in which they are taken. The balance of compulsory and optional modules varies from programme to programme and year to year. A 30-credit module is considered equivalent to 15 credits in the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS).

The first two years of your degree comprise mainly of mandatory modules taken by all students which will provide you with broad-based knowledge of psychology and language sciences. These cover fundamental topics, such as the neural basis of perception, memory and language, social psychology, individual differences, speech production and perception, and the development of communication and cognition. Skills in planning, running and analysing experiments are taught through laboratory classes in years one and two.

All students in the second year complete a weekly observational placement with children in an early years setting (for which a DBS check is required). This is an integral part of the degree which enables you to develop observational research techniques and relate developmental models of play and language to your real-life observations.

In your final year you will choose a research project to be completed under the supervision of an expert in your chosen field. Alongside the project you will select six modules from a broad range of specialised content areas, comprising clusters relating to particular professional and research interests (e.g. educational psychology, speech and language therapy, neuroscience of language).

Covid-19 placement updates
Due to COVID-19 updates, there may need to be changes to planned placements for this programme. This will depend on social distancing measures, the availability of the relevant placements, and the relative risk of completing the placement. Your department will keep you updated if placements are able to occur and/or any alternative options available.  

Modules

An indicative guide to the structure of this programme, year by year.

Core or compulsory module(s)

  • Evidence and Enquiry in Psychology
  • Introduction to Research Methods
  • Introduction to Language
  • Introduction to Speech Science
  • Memory
  • Neural Basis of Perception, Memory and Language
  • Perception, Attention and Learning
  • Social Psychology

Optional modules

There are no optional modules in year one.

Core or compulsory module(s)

  • Language and Cognition
  • Development of Communication and Cognition (30 credits)
  • The Psychology of Individual Differences
  • Qualitative and Mixed Research Methods
  • Intermediate Statistical Methods

Optional modules

You will select one optional module from the following:

  • Introduction to Generative Grammar
  • Speech Production and Perception
  • Language and Communication

You will also select 15 credits from a wide range of elective modules across UCL.

Core or compulsory module(s)

Research Project (30 credits)

Optional modules

You will select six from a wide range of optional modules across the Dvision of Psychology and Language Sciences, likely to include:

  • Cognitive Neuroscience
  • Conversation Analysis
  • Development of Speech Perception and Production
  • Brain Stimulation
  • Linguistics of Sign Language
  • Neurolinguistics
  • Perspectives on Clinical Psychology
  • Psycholinguistics: Stages in Normal Language Development
  • Developmental Disorders of Language Learning and Cognition
  • Language and Communication in Dementia
  • Genes and Behaviour
  • Human-Computer Interaction

Please see the division's website for this programme https://www.ucl.ac.uk/pals/study/undergraduates/bsc-psychology-and-language-sciences for the wide selection of optional modules available. 


Covid-19 module updates
Due to COVID-19, there may be updates to the modules for your chosen programme of study this year. Some modules may not be available or may need to be moved to a later term or year of study. These updates are relevant for 2020-21 academic year only.  The full list of modules will be available in the module catalogue from late August.  From the first week of September, you will be invited to complete module selection from Portico, our student record system. There may need to be additional updates or changes to modules during the academic year to allow for new guidance from the UK Government and Public Health England. Your department shall keep you updated of these changes as they become available

Your learning

Your learning will involve attendance at lectures (sometimes shared with students on other programmes), smaller laboratory classes and back-up classes. Regular group tutorials with a member of academic staff provide an opportunity to integrate learning and to discuss topics in more detail.

Covid-19 practical component updates
Due to COVID-19, there may be changes to the availability of the practical components for your chosen programme. Any updates relate only to the 20/21 academic year and may not apply to all students across the programme depending on your year of study.  Your department will keep you updated if the practical component of your programme is able to occur and/or any alternative options available.   There may need to be additional updates or changes to the practical component during the academic year to allow for new guidance from the UK Government and/or Public Health England. Your department shall keep you updated of these changes as they become available. 
Covid-19 contact hours on campus
In Term One, while campus will be open, all the learning activity for the core content of your modules will take place online – including lectures, tutorials, seminars and assessments. By “core content” we mean everything you need to learn to complete the module successfully. In addition to these online contact hours, we will be offering some face-to-face educational activities for students on campus, and we will provide alternative online activities for those students unable to join us on campus. These activities, which will include contact with academic staff, will be relevant to your programme of study may include seminars, academic and employability skills workshops, small-group or individual tutorials, lab and practice-based teaching. UK Government safety guidelines will limit the amount of ‘in person’ activity we can offer and while it will vary from programme to programme, is likely to be no more than 1-2 hours per week. This will vary across departments, particularly if your programme includes laboratory/practical/studio/workshop sessions. You will be updated with more specific details as they are available and your timetable will indicate which sessions will be on campus and which will be available online.
Communicating further Covid-19 mitigation plans
We are continuing to follow UK Government guidance, as well as the expertise of our researchers, including specialists in health, education, human behaviour and infection prevention, to make sure UCL is as safe as possible during the COVID-19 pandemic. If it becomes necessary to make further changes to your programme as a result of new guidance/regulations, UCL and your department will communicate these as soon as this becomes clear. We will keep you up-to-date with our plans throughout term one, so you have the information you need to be able to take decisions that are right for your circumstances. Please ensure that you keep in touch with your department by regularly checking your UCL emails, Moodle courses, the Coronavirus FAQs for Students page and any UCL online groups or social media you follow.

Assessment

Each module is examined separately, often by a combination of essays, data exercises and examinations and performance is always assessed in the same academic year in which you take it. Progression to the second and third years is dependent upon your achievement in years one and two.

Covid-19 assessment updates
There may be changes to the format of assessments for modules in this programme due to COVID-19. These will be summarised for each module on the module catalogue from 17 August 2020.   If any changes to assessments need to be made during the academic year due to updates in government guidance, these will be communicated to you as soon as possible from your department.    

Detailed course descriptions are available on the department website: Psychology and Language Sciences BSc.

Careers

The cutting-edge experimental, empirical and statistical/computational tools employed in this degree will enable you to develop and evaluate ideas across the areas of human psychology and communication, providing you with an exceptional base for further research in these areas.

The knowledge and experience gained on this degree provide an excellent foundation for further specialised training in a range of careers including audiology, clinical and educational psychology, teaching, speech and language therapy, medicine as well as PhD study. Other graduates have embarked on careers in auditing and human resources.

Knowledge of people and how they communicate, as well as the analytical and communication skills you will develop on this degree, are valuable more widely in a range of careers including advertising, management and human resources.

UCL is commited to helping you get the best start after graduation. Read more about how UCL Careers and UCL Innovation and Enterprise can help you find employment or learn about entrepreneurship.

Fees and funding

Tuition fees

The fees indicated are for undergraduate entry in the 2020/21 academic year. The UK/EU fees shown are for the first year of the programme at UCL only. Fees for future years may be subject to an inflationary increase. The Overseas fees shown are the fees that will be charged to 2020/21 entrants for each year of study on the programme, unless otherwise indicated below.

UK/EU students
£9,250 (2020/21)
Overseas students
£27,030 (2020/21)

Full details of UCL's tuition fees, tuition fee policy and potential increases to fees can be found on the UCL Students website.

Additional costs

If you are concerned by potential additional costs for books, equipment, etc. on this programme, please get in touch with the relevant departmental contact (details given on this page).

Funding

Various funding options are available, including student loans, scholarships and bursaries. UK students whose household income falls below a certain level may also be eligible for a non-repayable bursary or for certain scholarships. Please see the Fees and funding pages for more details.

Departmental scholarships

Funding opportunities relevant to the department may appear in this section when they are available. Please check carefully or confirm with the programme contact to ensure they apply to this degree programme.

The Scholarships and Funding website lists scholarships and funding schemes available to UCL students. These may be open to all students, or restricted to specific nationalities, regions or academic department.

Application and next steps

Your application

Together with the academic entry requirements for the programme, we are looking to attract well-qualified students with a range of subjects at A level (or equivalent). We are also looking for applicants who can demonstrate their interest in the scientific study of human communication as well as psychology.

How to apply

Application for admission should be made through UCAS (the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service). Applicants currently at school or college will be provided with advice on the process; however, applicants who have left school or who are based outside the United Kingdom may obtain information directly from UCAS.

Application deadline: 15 January 2020



Selection

Applicants may be asked for additional information, including the completion of a questionnaire, prior to a decision being made.

All applicants who are offered a place will be invited to attend an applicant open day. This is intended to allow candidates to make an informed decision about whether the degree programme is right for them. All candidates resident in the UK are usually expected to attend.

For further information on UCL's selection process see: Selection of students.


Page last modified on 24 February 2020


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