BSc Nutrition

Year 1

(Award available for year: Certificate of Higher Educ)

Learning outcomes

On completion of the year/programme students should have provided evidence of being able to:
Subject specific knowledge:
- demonstrate a familiarity with the basic concepts and scientific principles relevant to nutrition, including familiarity with the structure and general function of nutrients, sources of nutrients in the diet and essential human physiological and cellular processes;
- demonstrate familiarity with the basic concepts and principles relevant to the basic biological and physical sciences underlying the cellular and molecular structure of food materials, the chemical basis of food composition and chemical and physical changes that occur to food during harvest, storage and processing;
- demonstrate awareness of the purpose of food composition tables and dietary guidelines for the evaluation of food and diets;
- demonstrate awareness of the function of the FSA, Consumers Associations, Trade Associations and SACN;
- demonstrate awareness of the socio-economic and cultural factors that affect food habits and food choice;

Subject-specific and Intellectual skills:
- demonstrate familiarity with practical competencies and general laboratory science techniques and the use pilot plant equipment used in food manufacture;
- demonstrate familiarity with practical competencies in basic diet evaluation and nutritional status methods;
- demonstrate awareness of the concepts underlying scientific research investigations including the concept of hypothesis-driven experimentation and issues related to quality of data (e.g. accuracy, precision and uncertainty).
- demonstrate awareness of basic concepts in safety and risk assessment with respect to laboratory work;
- demonstrate familiarity with evaluation techniques of quantitative and qualitative data collected experimentally in food chemistry, food processing and nutritional assessment;
- communicate the results of practical investigations in the forms of reports, posters or through verbal presentations;
- collect and evaluate evidence from the literature and other information resources to support conclusions on the role of food and nutrition research in society and the public understanding of food and nutrition research;
- explain in a structured and coherent manner an argument relevant to issues related to the role of food in society;
- appreciate their strengths and weaknesses as learners;
- demonstrate an awareness of professional and disciplinary boundaries.

Transferable (key) skills

Students will have had the opportunity to acquire, as defined in the modules specified for the programme:
- qualities and transferable skills necessary for good academic practice and employment in the food and nutrition industry and in food and nutrition research, including note-taking/recording, numeracy skills, ICT skills (standard packages), laboratory practical skills, written (report writing ) and verbal communication (presentation), information retrieval (mainly secondary sources), team working skills and exam technique;
- self-Management skills necessary for the exercising of personal responsibility through development of confidence and decision making skills; self and peer assessment will allow students to be engage in reflection and be involved in the audit process;
- social and cultural sensitivity necessary for the understanding of the effect of their actions on members/groups of society.

Assessment

Achievement will be assessed by a variety of methods in accordance with the learning outcomes of the modules specified for the year/programme and will include:
- demonstrating the knowledge and application of standard concepts, information and techniques relevant to the study of food and nutrition.
- work that covers specific topics in food science and nutrition;
- demonstrating emerging abilities, skills and competencies particularly in written and verbal communication, numeracy and team working.