MSc Dietetics (pre-registration) (February Start)
Key Details
- Attendance
- Full Time
- Award
- Degree of Master of Science
- Course Length
- 2 years
- Course Start Date
- February 2025
Course Overview
Dietitians are the only qualified and registered health professional that can assess, diagnose and treat dietary and nutritional problems. Dietitians use the most up-to-date public health and scientific research on the impact of nutrition on health and disease, translating this into easy practical guidance for people to implement to reach their nutritional goals.
The dietetic profession is extremely varied, with opportunities working within the NHS, private clinics, public health, the food industry, sports nutrition and the media. You could find yourself working with people who are in hospital, in a clinic setting, nursing homes or at home. You could be helping young children to manage their newly diagnosed diabetes or supporting an oncology patient through chemotherapy with taste changes and a poor appetite, or advising on tube feeding regimens for patients who are struggling to meet their dietary needs through food due to ill-health.
Our course prepares you through the small group inter-disciplinary teaching within your academic modules alongside practice placements within the NHS and dietetic roles.
Gain a Master’s degree in Dietetics at UEA so you can practice as a registered dietitian. The dietetic profession is diverse, requiring you to interpret evidence-based practice and professional reasoning, and to provide nutritional advice to improve physical health and quality of life of people during ill-health and disease.
Dietetics is a career suited to good communicators as no two individuals are the same. When treating people, it is important to listen to people’s lifestyles and health behaviours prior to providing individualised nutritional advice.
Through this course, you will build a sound knowledge of the nutritional and clinical sciences which underpin health and disease. You will grow your communication skills to provide holistic patient-centered care to people. You will have access to our dedicated learning facilities, including ward simulations and technology suite. You will have direct patient contact and gain experience of professional dietetic practice through more than 1000 placements hours included within the course.
You will join a community of enthusiastic lecturers and educators within the local hospitals, and be taught within a multi-professional health school, enabling you to graduate with confidence in your role and to provide person-centered holistic nutritional care in clinical practice.
Accreditations
This programme is approved by the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) and accredited by the British Dietetic Association (BDA).
Study and Modules
Structure
This is a two-year full-time programme. Practice-based learning placements are integrated throughout the programme, enabling you to undertake supervised practice-based learning across the East Anglia region.
In your first year, you’ll be introduced to the core principles of dietetic theory and how to apply them in practice. You'll develop the skills you need to work in a range of clinical settings, with individuals, groups and communities. You’ll learn about the key elements of anatomy, physiology, and biochemistry as they relate to nutrition and dietetic practice. You’ll also engage with the research evidence for your professional practice. In your first year you'll complete one placement. This is split into a Peer Enhanced E-Placement (PEEP) and an NHS practice placement.
Compulsory Modules
Whilst the University will make every effort to offer the modules listed, changes may sometimes be made arising from the annual monitoring, review and update of modules. Where this activity leads to significant (but not minor) changes to programmes and their constituent modules, the University will endeavour to consult with students and others. It is also possible that the University may not be able to offer a module for reasons outside of its control, such as the illness of a member of staff. In some cases optional modules can have limited places available and so you may be asked to make additional module choices in the event you do not gain a place on your first choice. Where this is the case, the University will inform students.
Teaching and Learning
Qualified dietitians need to apply knowledge to clinical practice (working with patients). This is mirrored through the enquiry-based learning (EBL) process. You'll undertake an EBL learning activity each week in small groups to cross-examine a case study. The group may be made up of just dietetic students or include occupational therapy and physiotherapy students to aid inter-disciplinary working and decision making. You'll clarify what you need to learn as a group to resolve the issue and present your findings each week.
This is a full time accelerated Master’s degree. The taught elements of the full-time programme will make up 3 – 4 days a week. Your teaching will be split between campus sessions, online sessions and set independent learning activities, with the rest of your working week dedicated to essential self-directed study. Master’s-level learning demands an active drive to research and embed theory effectively into your own practice, so that you’re able to provide strong evidence-based justifications for your proposed interventions and actions.
Assessment
Assessment methods will be a combination of practical skill oral examinations, written essays, reflective accounts, and case-management presentations. We’ll be assessing your communication skills as well as your ability to synthesise and articulate knowledge at Master’s level. The accelerated nature of this programme means that you’ll also need to demonstrate effective time management. Your assignments will be marked against the Senate Scale for Master’s-level work, but your practice placements will be marked at undergraduate level as pass/fail, with feedback offered on performance.
Structure
You’ll complete additional clinical practice hours as part of your degree. By the end of this MSc, you'll have completed all mandatory training required to undertake the dietetic placements.
You’ll also consolidate the core themes of dietetic theory, linking to practice through three practice placements, including one extended placement. You'll build the key skills, values and behaviours introduced in your first year to ensure you can qualify and apply to the HCPC register.
In addition, you’ll develop Master’s-level academic skills, as well as team-working and professional communication abilities, and an understanding of how health and social care services work and improve. By the end of the programme you'll begin to see yourself as a potential leader, capable of managing change.
Our Research modules will help you engage with the research evidence for your professional practice. You'll apply research to EBL, through which you'll learn how to confidently incorporate the evidence base into your professional practice. You'll also apply these techniques to your in-depth individual dissertation, which you'll work on with your dedicated dissertation supervisor.
Compulsory Modules
Whilst the University will make every effort to offer the modules listed, changes may sometimes be made arising from the annual monitoring, review and update of modules. Where this activity leads to significant (but not minor) changes to programmes and their constituent modules, the University will endeavour to consult with students and others. It is also possible that the University may not be able to offer a module for reasons outside of its control, such as the illness of a member of staff. In some cases optional modules can have limited places available and so you may be asked to make additional module choices in the event you do not gain a place on your first choice. Where this is the case, the University will inform students.
Teaching and Learning
To be a qualified dietitian, you need to be able to apply your knowledge to clinical practice. This is similar to the Enquiry Based Learning (EBL) process. Each week, you'll participate in an EBL learning activity in small groups. The group may be made up of only dietetic students, or it may include occupational therapy and physiotherapy students. This will help you to develop inter-disciplinary working and decision-making skills.
As a group, you'll examine a case study and identify what you need to learn to resolve the issue. You'll then present your findings each week.
This is a full-time accelerated Master's degree. The taught elements of the program will take up 3-4 days per week, with the rest of the week dedicated to essential self-directed study. Master's-level learning requires you to be proactive in researching and applying theory to your practice. This will enable you to provide strong evidence-based justifications for your proposed interventions and actions.
Independent study and collaboration with peers are integral parts of the Master's program. Your lecturers will provide resources to facilitate the core activities via the Blackboard Virtual Learning Environment (VLE), but you'll be encouraged to integrate knowledge from a wide range of sources.
Assessment
Your performance will be assessed through a combination of practical skills, oral exams, written essays, reflective accounts, posters, and case management presentations. We will assess your communication skills, as well as your ability to synthesize and articulate knowledge at the Master's level. The accelerated nature of this program means that you'll also need to demonstrate effective time management.
Your assignments will be graded on the Senate Scale for Master's-level work, but your practice placements will be graded as pass/fail at the undergraduate level, with feedback provided on your performance.
Entry Requirements
- Degree Classification
- Bachelors (Hons) degree - 2.2 classification or equivalent
- Degree Subject
- should be in a subject with sufficient relevant physiology and biochemistry. Suitable degrees include but not limited to: biomedical sciences, human nutrition, nutritional science, biochemistry, human biology, physiology, health sciences; or from a nutrition background: food science, applied human nutrition, clinical pathology, pharmacology, therapeutic dietetics.
- GCSE
Applicants will be required to have a minimum of GCSE Maths, English and Biology or Double Science at Grade 4 / C or equivalent.
- English Foreign Language
We welcome applications from students whose first language is not English or those whose degree was not taught in English.
To ensure such students benefit fully from postgraduate study, we require evidence of proficiency in English.
Our minimum entry requirements are as follows:- IELTS: 7.0 overall with a minimum of 6.5 in all components
- Pearson (PTE): 76 overall with a minimum of 67 in all components.
All test scores must be less than two years old.
Other tests, including Cambridge English exams and the Trinity Integrated Skills in English are also accepted by the university. The full list of accepted tests can be found here: Accepted English Language Tests.
INTO UEA also run pre-sessional courses which can be taken prior to the start of your course. For further information please visit:
- Interviews
The strongest applicants will be invited to interview. Please note that meeting the minimum academic entry requirements will not guarantee that you will be selected for interview. Interview invitations will be sent by email. Please keep a close eye on all emails from UEA after you submit your application.
Interview format
Our interviews for 2024 will take place online. You will be invited to an appointment by email. These are usually 40 minutes long. The email will include a link to the online interview. This is conducted on Blackboard collaborate.
The interview will be conducted by one or multiple interviewers including academic members of staff from the School of Health Sciences at UEA, clinicians from the profession, service users* and/or current UEA students from the course.
*A ‘service user’ is someone who has access to use health or social care services or could be affected by the services of health and social care professionals.
After an initial introduction, the lead interviewer will conduct an ID check and then explain how the interview will unfold.
The interview will cover three distinct domains which will be introduced to you by the interviewer at the start of your interview. The interview questions will be shared in the chat with you so you can read them.
Interview questions
Each domain will contain questions with a specific focus. The order in which you are asked about these domains will be variable. The domains are:
- Your knowledge of the professional field for which you are applying.
- Your personal qualities and suitability for the profession. To help with discussion around this domain, you may be asked to consider a scenario and asked questions about how you would respond to it. You will be given time to read the scenario before you approach the interview station, and it will also be read to you by the interviewer(s).
- Your understanding of and suitability for the course at UEA.
In each domain, interviewers will also consider your understanding of the values that are required of a healthcare professional. This will include your understanding of moral and ethical values, competence, commitment to improve and personal accountability. You won’t necessarily be asked specific questions about these areas, but the information you include in your answers to all questions will be considered when the interviewer(s) assess you.
Experience of healthcare
We are aware that it is a difficult time to try to gain relevant experience in healthcare. First time applicants to Nursing, Midwifery and the Allied Health Professions will all be in a similar situation.
Clinical work experience will not generally be a requirement for applying to train in healthcare. We will be looking for you to show that you are able to work with people, that you appreciate the health and social care setting, and that you understand what a career in health will involve. While we will expect you to show some understanding of what it is like to be the professional of your choice, part of this involves demonstrating that you know what it is like to work in a responsible role, particularly with the public.
Note that your experiences are only as valuable as the way you talk about them and what understanding you take from them. It is important that you think about how you might be able to demonstrate your understanding of healthcare, that you can relate this to experience or research, and that you can explain what you have learned.
What type of experience or research do you need?
Any activity, life experience or research that helps you to prepare for training to be a healthcare professional will help. This means any activity that allows you to demonstrate that you have:
- Had people-focused experience of providing a service, care, support or help to others, and that you understand the realities of working in a caring profession.
- Developed some of the values, attitudes and behaviours essential to being a Nurse, Midwife or Allied Health professional such as conscientiousness, effective communication and the ability to interact with a wide variety of people. The values that we are looking for are set out in the NHS Constitution.
- A realistic understanding of Health and Social Care and in particular the physical, organisational and emotional demands of the career.
Practical ways to gain experience
Keep a reflective diary on what is happening in the news and online. Listen to what healthcare professionals have to say and reflect on this. All healthcare professionals can be a valuable source of information and experience, not just those that work in the specific profession that you are applying for. Demonstrating that you have a sense of all healthcare professions (and how they work together) will help you in both your personal statement and interview.
Volunteer in your spare time if you can, all forms of voluntary work can provide helpful work experience. If volunteer work in the NHS isn’t something that is available to you, think about what else you could explore i.e. working with other people in a caring or service role. Voluntary commitments to community groups (for example groups related to the work of churches, mosques and temples, or other groups such as Scouts or Guides) and online community support groups may also provide valuable experience of taking on responsibility, dealing with people and communicating effectively.
Remember: what is important is what you learn about yourself and about other people, and what you learn about how effective care is delivered and received. How you learn these things is only a small part of the story; it is how you communicate what you learnt that matters.
- Intakes
This course is open to UK, EU and International applicants. The annual intake is in February each year.
Additional Information or Requirements
This is a pre-registration course.
You must have graduated from your degree within the last 10 years of the start date of the MSc Dietetics course. Applicants may also be considered outside this timeframe if they have highly relevant work experience. Highly relevant experience includes but is not limited to those who have previous or current employment as a dietetic assistant, registered nutritionist, Clinical Scientist, Biomedical Scientist or work in the NHS, private sector or industry in a post graduate level role in a relevant subject.
You must show a clear understanding of dietetics, the role of dietitians and the role of a health professional within various clinical settings alongside relevant work shadowing.
You must have a strong profile of secondary qualifications in sciences (A-level or equivalent).
Applicants need to have minimum of a GCSE Biology (grade 4 / C) or GCSE Double Science (grade 4/4 or C/C) and GCSE English and Mathematics (grade 4 / C) or equivalent.
Students accessing this programme must be of good health and character which is sufficient to enable safe and effective practice. The assessment of this will include satisfactory occupational health and enhanced criminal record (DBS) checks before entrance to the programme. Students must also make an annual declaration of good health and good character. It is the student’s responsibility to ensure that they have complied with the University’s requirements with regard to their enhanced DBS. All offers of places are conditional on satisfactory DBS clearance.
Requests for accreditation of prior learning (APL) will be considered on a case-by-case basis. Accreditation of prior learning (APL) is defined as a system whereby academic credits can be awarded for previous learning that has taken place.
Placements
As this course includes patient facing placements in health or social care settings, and these are a mandatory component of the course, you will need to comply with the placement vaccination policy. Failure to meet the placement vaccination policy may prevent you from joining the course or may lead to your withdrawal from the course in the future. Future employment may also be subject to this condition.
Assessing Your Fitness to Become a Registered Healthcare Professional
Please see our guidance on assessing your fitness.
Fees and Funding
Tuition fees for the Academic Year 2024/25 are:
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UK Students: £18,500 (Full-time on a two-year basis. Course fee charged £9,250 per academic year)
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International Students: £42,350 (Course fee charged as £42,350 over two academic years, £21,175 per academic year. 2023-24 entrants are liable for £19,800 in 2024-25)
We estimate living expenses at £1,023 per month.
Further Information on tuition fees can be found here.
Scholarships and Bursaries
The University of East Anglia offers a range of Scholarships; please click the link for eligibility, details of how to apply and closing dates.
Course Related Costs
Please see Additional Course Fees for details of course-related costs.
How to Apply
Applications for Postgraduate Taught programmes at the University of East Anglia should be made directly to the University.
To apply please use our online application form.
The closing date for receipt of complete applications is 01 September 2024.
NHS Learning Support Fund
If you are eligible for tuition fee and maintenance support from the Student Loans Company, you can apply for additional financial support through the NHS Learning Support Fund when studying this course.
FURTHER INFORMATION
If you would like to discuss your individual circumstances prior to applying please do contact us:
Postgraduate Admissions Office
Tel: +44 (0)1603 591515
Email: admissions@uea.ac.uk
International candidates are also encouraged to access the International Students section of our website.
Employability
After the Course
Upon successful completion, you will be eligible to apply to the register of the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) to become a registered dietitian and be able to practice as a dietitian.
Your first typical job will consolidate your skills and offer opportunities to learn about different dietetic specialisms. For this reason, many first jobs are rotational dietetic positions within the NHS.
Careers
A degree at UEA will prepare you for a wide variety of careers. We've been ranked 1st for Job Prospects by StudentCrowd in 2022.
Examples of careers that you could enter include:
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Private practice
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Education & research
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Media & journalism
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Sports nutrition
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Public Health
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Food industry
Discover more on our Careers webpages.