Why choose the School of Sport Science and Physical Activity
One of the only Master’s courses in the UK to embed the CIMSPA Strength and Conditioning Trainer qualification at no extra cost.
The University of Bedfordshire ranks 3rd in the UK for overall taught-postgraduate student satisfaction; 1st for student engagement and learning community (PTES, 2024).
Block course delivery (two four-hour days for full-time students and one four-hour day for part-time students) allows time for work experience and employment.
About the course
This course is now only taking applications for 2026 entry.
For further information or to apply contact admission@beds.ac.uk
This Master’s course prepares you for careers as a high-performance strength and conditioning coach or applied sport scientist at both elite level and within grassroots and schools' sport. Within an ideal environment for scientific exploration and practical skills development, you explore approaches to supporting athletes including strength and conditioning, testing physical capacities and laboratory work, assessing their contribution in helping athletes increase performance.
If you would like more information about this course, please contact Dr Iain Fletcher at iain.fletcher@beds.ac.uk
Intermediate qualifications available:
Postgraduate certificate – 60 credits at Master's level
Postgraduate diploma – 120 credits at Master's level
Course accreditation / industry endorsement
Once you complete your degree, you can apply for professional accreditation with the UK Strength and Conditioning Association (UKSCA).
The course is endorsed by the Chartered Institute for the Management of Sport and Physical Activity (CIMSPA), allowing you to gain additional qualifications as a Strength & Conditioning trainer.
Facilities and specialist equipment
- New strength and conditioning suite with nine lifting platforms
- Sports laboratories accredited by the Chartered Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences (CASES)
- Human Performance Centre with heat chamber for high-temperature acclimatisation
- On-campus community exercise clinic supporting clients with a range of conditions
- Sports injury clinic
- Free gym
- Range of external games areas and pitches
Industry links
We are official partners of Luton Town FC and Bedford Blues RFC as well as other sporting organisations in the region such as Bedford Tigers RLFC, MK Dons, Cricket East and Be Active, giving you opportunities to build your employability through work placements.
There are also opportunities to develop personal and professional networks through our links with Sport England, governing bodies, active partnerships and health-industry experts.
We increase the employability of our graduates by being a Higher Education Partner of the Chartered Institute for the Management of Sport and Physical Activity (CIMSPA).
Your student experience
In the Postgraduate Taught Experience Survey (PTES) 2024, our sport sciences and biosciences courses rank 6th in their subject field for sense of community.
Study with an academic team who have world-leading expertise in their fields and are actively involved in research as well as supporting elite sports performers.
Benefit from our successful partnerships with professional sports teams, elite athletes, academies, schools, colleges and other relevant organisations.
Local placement opportunities with Luton Town FC, Bedford Blues RFC, Ampthill Rugby club, Northampton Saints, MK Dons, Saracens, Northampton County Cricket Club, Professional Golfers’ Association (PGA) and the USA’s National Football League (NFL).
Gain invaluable work experience at our community exercise clinic for University BUCS team athletes, and our Human Performance Centre, which offers testing to sports people, teams and the general public across the range of fitness capacities.
Regular industry speakers attend our ISPAR seminar series including Jack Wells (PGA), Tom Bromley (S&C coach for MK Dons), Mark Finney (former head of S&C at Northampton Saints), and Phil Pask (former lead physio for England Rugby).
Our graduates have gone on to careers at the Lawn Tennis Association, British Water Skiing, Red Bull Racing and the Geelong Cats in the Australian Football League, to name a few.
What will you study?
Studying our Strength and Conditioning MSc course will equip you with the specialised knowledge and skills required to be an effective strength and conditioning (S&C) coach. You will be introduced to concepts of coaching running and jumping based actions such as acceleration, deceleration, plyometrics and metabolic conditioning in the unit Principles of Strength and Conditioning, enabling you to design training sessions to optimise these physical capacities. Our unit in Applied Strength and Conditioning will concentrate on resistance training, with session design and coaching lifts at its core. Furthermore, Advanced Strength and Conditioning will deal with more complex information and skills development such as periodisation, weightlifting and agility. These core S&C units allow you to design and coach training programmes specific to sporting physical requirements and fulfil the main requirements for the embedded S&C Trainers award that this Master’s provides.
Additional underpinning skills are provided via our Laboratory Skills unit, where you are taught how to use a variety of physiological and biomechanical assessment tools for different population groups enabling you to prepare, perform and interpret results from these tests. Broadening your knowledge base, our unit Sport Science Support will expose you to support systems used to optimise sports performance in specific populations, such as children, the disabled, women and the aging athlete. A major component of this course is our Placement unit where you will be able to develop your skills and knowledge in the application process and practice employability skills for an S&C work-based environment. Finally, you will complete a Dissertation where you will undertake a research project into a topic of interest relevant to the broad area of S&C. To help you with this, our Research Methods unit will facilitate your ability to understand, evaluate and conduct research in sport and exercise science at an advanced level.
How will you be assessed?
A wide range of assessment formats will be used within this course, including laboratory reports, case studies, portfolios, practical exams and presentations. The course will move assessments from a controlled established scientific base through to a more autonomous and practical application of research to inform the practical skills associated with performance sport as a career. This will be reinforced by original research and athlete assessment creating data to be explored and analysed through reports and research dissertations, while high order practical competency (with problem solving) will be examined in line with governing body competencies, preparing students for potential accreditation and work opportunities.
Careers
Completion of this course will give you the opportunity to work within sport coaching; teaching; high-performance coaching; and performance conditioning. Specific career paths include strength and conditioning coach; sport scientist; and laboratory technician.
You can also continue to further research-based study on MSc by Research, MPhil or PhD programmes.
