Why choose the School of Nursing, Midwifery and Health Education
This course is 50% practice-based so you spend half your time on placement, supported by a registered midwife.
All our nursing and midwifery courses are regulated by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC); on successful course completion, you can register with the NMC in your specialism.
In the National Student Survey 2025, our midwifery course scored student satisfaction rates of 80% or over for teaching (80%), assessment and feedback (84%), academic support (80%) and learning resources (84%).
About the course
On this practice-based course, you learn to care for women/birthing people through pregnancy, labour and the postnatal period, conducting at least 40 supervised births. The degree spans 39 weeks each year and prepares you for professional practice through roleplay, scenario-based learning and placement experience. Theory and practice are woven together so you apply the knowledge you learn in the classroom to the clinical skills you are developing.
Find out if you are eligible for a £5,000 NHS training grant to help with living costs.
Course accreditation
All our Nursing and Midwifery courses are regulated by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC). On successful completion of your course, you can register with the NMC as a midwife.
Facilities and specialist equipment
- Access to the latest medical/health equipment and facilities at regional hospitals and community health settings during placements
- A new, fully immersive simulation floor in our STEM building, preparing you to respond to and manage clinical situations and scenarios
- Simulation wards with a range of medical-grade, high-fidelity training mannequins, including an infant mannequin, to tackle real-life scenarios in a safe and supported environment
Industry links
We work in close partnership with our local practice learning partners, who provide placement experiences for students. Our practice learning partners are sited across Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire, Berkshire, Milton Keynes and Oxfordshire.
To ensure your learning meets the benchmark set for care providers, our healthcare courses have been developed in collaboration with our regional healthcare providers, health authorities, service users and students.
We also work with NHS England, East of England and Thames Valley.
Student experience
Learn to recognise and respond to an expectant mother/person’s needs – physical, psychological, cultural and socio-economic – while supporting the family.
Your classroom learning is delivered by experienced registered midwifery lecturers.
We deliver 75% face-to-face teaching so your lecturers are on site to support you while you get to meet and exchange ideas with other healthcare students.
Midwifery students gain a wider range of expertise through inter-professional learning with other disciplines.
Explore the wider role of the midwife within primary- and secondary-care settings, and gain experience on non-maternity wards to learn how pregnancy affects - and is affected by - a variety of medical conditions.
Clinical specialists from our partnership trusts come to campus to support your learning so your studies are underpinned by the latest research and practice.
Benefit from extra-curricular activities that expand your knowledge base and confidence: our annual student conference is open to all year groups; and we have an active, lively Student Union Midwifery & Apprenticeship Society.
On placement, you will undertake a mix of early, late, long days and night shifts to ensure you experience typical shift patterns for a healthcare professional.
with Professional Practice Year
This course has the option to be taken over four years which includes a year placement in industry. Undertaking a year in industry has many benefits. You gain practical experience and build your CV, as well as being a great opportunity to sample a profession and network with potential future employers.
There is no tuition fee for the placement year enabling you to gain an extra year of experience for free.
*Only available to UK/EU students.
with Foundation Year
A Degree with a Foundation Year gives you guaranteed entry to an Undergraduate course.
Whether you’re returning to learning and require additional help and support to up-skill, or if you didn’t quite meet the grades to pursue an Undergraduate course, our Degrees with Foundation Year provide a fantastic entry route for you to work towards a degree level qualification.
With our guidance and support you’ll get up to speed within one year, and will be ready to seamlessly progress on to undergraduate study at Bedfordshire.
The Foundation Year provides an opportunity to build up your academic writing skills and numeracy, and will also cover a range of subject specific content to fully prepare you for entry to an Undergraduate degree.
This is an integrated four-year degree, with the foundation year as a key part of the course. You will need to successfully complete the Foundation Year to progress on to the first year of your bachelor’s degree.
Why study a degree with a Foundation Year?
- Broad-based yet enough depth to give you credible vocational skills
- Coverage of a variety of areas typically delivered by an expert in this area
- Gain an understanding of a subject before choosing which route you wish to specialise in
- Great introduction to further study, and guaranteed progression on to one of our Undergraduate degrees
The degrees offering a Foundation Year provide excellent preparation for your future studies.
During your Foundation Year you will get the opportunity to talk to tutors about your degree study and future career aspirations, and receive guidance on the most appropriate Undergraduate course to help you achieve this; providing you meet the entry requirements and pass the Foundation Year.
Studying our Midwifery BSc (Hons) course will equip you with the specialist practical skills and knowledge around universal care in pregnancy, sexual health and professional midwifery practice. To develop your understanding of the processes of childbirth, our unit in Human Development: Preconception to Birth will expose you to the anatomy and physiology of human development from conception to early childhood. You will explore how genes influence growth, development and the functioning of the human body, particularly the reproductive system, and how to screen for genetic disorders. This process will allow you to ensure the best start in life for a newborn infant. In areas of practice, you will undertake a maternity placement or simulation where you will provide care and support throughout pre and post childbirth to a minimum of three women or birthing people in our Participating in Midwifery Care unit. This will allow you to identify and develop your skills while working in a multidisciplinary team focused on antenatal, labour and postnatal care. You will also absorb the fundamental knowledge around processes in pregnancy, labour and the postpartum period while also learning to respect the culturally diverse beliefs and values of the birthing person and their families.
This ensures that you create a safe, respectful and nurturing space for the birthing person and their family. Our unit in Contributing to Midwifery Care closely links to this, where you will complete practice assessments and actively participate in the provision of continuity of care. You will build on these skills even further in our Demonstrating Proficiency in Midwifery Care unit to integrate and apply core midwifery knowledge and skills required for safe and effective practice. In doing so, you will learn to provide individualised care while also being prepared to anticipate additional needs when they occur and how to support them in our Providing Individualised Midwifery Care unit. Similarly, you will also be equipped to act, manage and escalate care in additional and emergency situations within maternity care in our Additional and First Line Management of Midwifery Care unit by learning to anticipate situations that require urgent action and immediate response, and subsequently deliver first-line management through collaborating with various teams. To add to this, you will be encouraged to act as an advocate for women, birthing people, their families and newborn infants.
You will also consider midwifery practice within a public health arena in our Enhancing Midwifery Practice Through Public Health unit where you will examine key psychological and physiological concepts that will help you develop a safe level of competence to promote a healthy pregnancy, maternal and neonatal wellbeing. As a core part of your practice, you will be equipped with the skills and knowledge to examine newborn babies while also considering the needs of the woman or birthing person and their families in our Systematic Examination of the Newborn unit. Working based on evidence, you will develop the skills to identify, analyse and interpret research evidence to make informed decisions around care and to support women and birthing people as part of our unit in Enhancing Quality and Safety Through Evidence. To ensure your delivery of specialised care, you will identify values of midwifery practice and apply professional codes and standards of behaviour to your practice in our unit - Being an Accountable, Professional Midwife. This closely links to our Developing as an Accountable, Professional Midwife unit where you will learn to review, evaluate and apply national and local guidance and policy to current maternity care.
To add to your professional skills, our unit in The Future Midwife as a Teacher and Leader will expose you to positive role modelling and leadership behaviours needed to become a midwife, teacher and leader while reflecting on your strengths and limitations alongside your ability to work with students and colleagues within teams. Finally, you will be able to demonstrate your independent skills in our Promoting Excellence: Midwifery Project. This is a great opportunity for you to focus on your personal interests in midwifery practice while demonstrating your skills in a critical study focused on a chosen topic.
The assessment strategy for this course is closely aligned to the teaching and learning strategy which centres around safe midwifery practice. The choice of assessments is determined by their relevance to midwifery care. You will be assessed across a range of practice settings and learning environments throughout the course.
To enhance your understanding and experiences of assessment practices, you will encounter a wide range of formative and summative assessment methods including those that enable you to undertake practice-focused tasks that have the potential to influence care delivery. Many of the assessment tasks are designed so that you can tailor them to your professional interests, experience and development needs. They are also designed so you can rehearse ways of thinking and acting that are professionally relevant. Examples include written assignments ranging from case studies and academic essays as well as assessed practice within your placements. You will be assessed in practice using a nationally recognised practice assessment document (the MORA - Midwifery Ongoing Record of Achievement) which outlines the skills and competencies required as a registered midwife.
These assessments are recorded and confirmed by a practice assessor alongside your own self-reflections on your progress. Service users and carers also contribute to your assessments. Self-assessment and reflection are expected at each point of assessment - for both theory and practice assessments. Within the MORA, learners are expected to obtain service-user feedback using the standardised feedback form supported by their practice supervisor, facilitating personal reflection during interim reviews and at the holistic assessment. To be eligible for your award of BSc (Hons) Midwifery and to register with the NMC, you must complete and provide documentary evidence of a minimum of 4,600 hours (2,310 hours in practice and 2,310 theory hours).
Careers
Graduates can go on to work as a qualified and registered midwife within the NHS, or as an independent midwife, or progress to management, research or teaching.
Entry Requirements
- 112 UCAS tariff points including 96 from at least 3 A-levels or equivalent
- GCSE grade 4/Functional Skills Level 2 Maths
- GCSE grade 4/Functional Skills Level 2 English
- Safeguarding checks, including an Enhanced DBS, and Occupational Health check are required
Fees for this course
UK
The full-time standard undergraduate tuition fee for the Academic Year 2025/26 is £9,535 per year. You can apply for a loan from the Government to help pay for your tuition fees. You can also apply for a maintenance loan from the Government to help cover your living costs. See www.gov.uk/student-finance
Excellence Scholarships
Worth £2,500 per year of study over three years when you score a defined number of UCAS tariff points from specified qualifications*
» If you don’t qualify for an Excellence Scholarship but have 120 UCAS tariff points, you have enough points for one of our Achievement Scholarships offering £500 per year of study**
» Other scholarships, bursaries and financial support packages are available
* Points requirements vary depending on type of qualification.
** Threshold is 120 UCAS tariff points across all awarding bodies and qualifications.
International
The full-time standard undergraduate tuition fee for the academic year 2025/26 is £16,900 per year.
There are range of Scholarships available to help support you through your studies with us.
A full list of scholarships can be found here.
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