MA Biomedical and Health Care Ethics(Online)

Year 1

(Award available for year: Master of Arts)

Learning outcomes

On completion of the programme students should have shown evidence of being able:
- To demonstrate in-depth, specialist knowledge and mastery of techniques relevant to philosophy and applied ethics and/or to demonstrate a sophisticated understanding of concepts, information and techniques at the forefront of philosophy and applied ethics;
- To exhibit mastery in the exercise of generic and subject-specific intellectual abilities;
- To demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of techniques applicable to their own research or advanced scholarship;
- To take a proactive and self-reflective role in working and to develop professional relationships with others;
- Proactively to formulate ideas and hypotheses and to develop, implement and execute plans by which to evaluate these;
- Critically and creatively to evaluate current issues, research and advanced scholarship in applied ethics.

Transferable (key) skills

Students will have had the opportunity to acquire the following abilities as defined in the modules specified for the programme:
- The skills necessary to undertake a higher research degree and/or for employment in a higher capacity in industry or area of professional practice;
- Evaluating their own achievement and that of others;
- Self direction and effective decision making in complex and unpredictable situations;
- Independent learning and the ability to work in a way which ensures continuing professional development;
- Critically to engage in the development of professional/disciplinary boundaries and norms.

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 involve the achievement of the students in:
- Evidencing an ability to conduct independent in-depth enquiry within the discipline;
- Demonstrating the ability to apply breadth and/or depth of knowledge to a complex specialist area;
- Drawing on a range of perspectives on an area of study;
- Evaluating and criticising received opinion;
- Make reasoned judgements whilst understanding the limitations on judgements made in the absence of complete data.

Assessment will be by coursework in a variety of forms, including essay and comprehension assignments, as well as course participation. The first two modules will primarily be assessed by two short written pieces in order to allow students to build up their writing skills. The remaining modules (excluding the dissertation) will primarily be assessed by one essay. The assessment for all modules (excluding the dissertation) will include a small (10-20%) proportion for participation in the course discussions online. The final 60 credit module is the dissertation, which will be a 12000 word research project on a topic chosen by the student, supervised by a research advisor.