BSc Nutrition

Year 3

(Award available for year: Bachelor of Science)

Learning outcomes

On completion of the year/programme students should have provided evidence of being able to:

Subject specific knowledge:
- demonstrate coherent and detailed understanding of subject knowledge and professional competencies some of which will be informed by recent research/scholarship in the discipline, including knowledge of:
> the biochemical basis underlying the link between diet and disease;
> the scientific principles underlying personalised nutrition and nutrient-gene interactions;
> he role of specific diets and nutrients in the treatment of disease with an appreciation of nutrient bioavailability and food-drug interactions.
- demonstrate a critical understanding of the policy development process that affects the nutrition discipline and demonstrate a conceptual understanding which enables the development and sustaining of an argument within the context of policy development and implementation;
- demonstrate understanding of the application of Good Manufacturing practice, ISO standards, HACCP and the techniques to evaluate quality in food innovations.

Subject Specific and Intellectual Skills
- demonstrate ability in critical evaluation of current issues, research and advanced scholarship relevant to nutrition using concepts from scholarly reviews and primary sources relevant to nutrition;
- demonstrate an understanding of the provisional nature of information and allow for competing and alternative explanations within the nutrition discipline;
- apply their knowledge and understanding to solving standard and novel problems by collecting, analysing, and evaluating appropriate information, and use it creatively to suggest innovations or make decisions;
- demonstrate ability in the use and evaluation of analytical techniques standard to the nutrition discipline;
- demonstrate ability in the use of industry standard project management tools;
- demonstrate ability to communicate complex scientific ideas and concepts effectively, using a range of media, and aimed at a variety of audiences;
- take a proactive and reflective role in learning and to develop professional relationships with others through team working exercises;
- demonstrate ability in the use and evaluation of statistical methods relevant to nutritional research;
- exhibit ownership of some aspects of the defining elements of the discipline as a result of an in-depth study of the literature and the undertaking of a research project;
- apply their knowledge and understanding in order to initiate, plan and carry out an extended piece of work or project, using principles based on the scientific method of hypothesis-driven research, and taking into consideration the safety and ethical issues pertinent to the work undertaken;
- conform to professional boundaries as set by the UK Voluntary Register of Nutritionists.

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.
Transferable skills developed in years 1 and 2 will be further developed to include:
- the exercise of initiative and personal responsibility which will be best demonstrated through the undertaking of an extended piece of an independent research project;
- team working to include the deployment of decision making skills in complex and unpredictable situations which will be best demonstrated through a multidisciplinary team project in new food product development and a specialist team project in health promotion;
- the communication of information, ideas, problems and solutions in a variety of ways to a variety of audiences which will be best demonstrated through the writing of the project report and the presentation of a health promotion campaign aimed at a lay audience;
- ICT skills to include tools used in industry (statistics, project planning)
- the ability to undertake appropriate further training of a professional or equivalent nature (Life-long learning);
- self-management will be further encouraged through more complex project work that involve a variety of tasks with self-imposed milestones; independent learning will be at the core of most modules;
- qualities in analytical and critical thinking will be further developed including synthesis of opinions and the questioning of the boundaries of knowledge within the discipline;
- social and cultural sensitivity will be further developed though tasks involving real-life problems and situations;

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 ability top apply a broad range of aspects of the Nutrition discipline;
- work that draws on a wide variety of material;
- the ability to evaluate and criticise received opinion;
- evidence of an ability to conduct independent, in depth enquiry within the discipline;
- work that is typically both evaluative and creative.