MSc Developmental Psychology
Canterbury, United Kingdom
DURATION
1 Years
LANGUAGES
English
PACE
Full time, Part time
APPLICATION DEADLINE
Request application deadline
EARLIEST START DATE
Sep 2025
TUITION FEES
GBP 23,500
STUDY FORMAT
On-Campus
Introduction
Our Master’s gives you a deep understanding of the advanced methods, analytical techniques, and theoretical and practical approaches to developmental psychology and developmental psychopathology. It provides a clear pathway to a career or postgraduate research in this fascinating field and the opportunity to help people of all ages in various settings.
Reasons to study Developmental and Educational Psychology at Kent
- Opportunity to run studies from the Kent Child Development Unit (KCDU), a resource including child-friendly lab space and a register of 5,000 potential child participants. Other facilities include eye trackers, virtual reality and brain stimulation labs.
- Psychology at Kent was ranked 5th for research intensity in The Complete University Guide 2022. The Developmental Psychology Group has excellent links with the wider community and explores various questions.
- You are taught by academics and professionals such as educational psychologists, clinical psychologists, child therapists, and speech and language therapists.
- Join the supportive and welcoming community on our Canterbury campus, with access to the world-class resources of our Templeman Library.
- Support from the Graduate and Researcher College and the School of Psychology. You are joining a strong intellectual and social community.
What you’ll learn
We draw on the strengths of our academic staff and researchers in developmental psychology. Their expertise includes language development, representational ability and early social-cognitive understanding of others, singing, infant face processing, the development of prejudice and social exclusion, and developmental psychopathology.
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Admissions
Scholarships and Funding
Scholarship value
The award covers tuition fees, return airfares and living costs for a one-year taught Master's programme.
Deadline
Deadline for Commonwealth application: - 12 December 2024.
Hold an unconditional offer (with the only outstanding condition, international fee deposit) of a programme of study from the University of Kent - 31 January 2025
Criteria
To be eligible to apply for this scholarship, candidates must:
- Hold an undergraduate degree at UK first-class level equivalent.
- Be a citizen of or have been granted refugee status by one of the eligible Commonwealth countries listed or be a British Protected Person.
- Be a permanent resident in one of the eligible Commonwealth countries listed above.
- To be committed to the University of Kent, you can apply for more than one course and/or to more than one University, but you may only accept one offer of a Shared Scholarship.
- Not have studied or worked for one (academic) year or more in a high-income country.
- Be unable to afford to study in the UK without this scholarship.
- Return to their home country as soon as their period of study is complete. In some circumstances, a student may be permitted to remain in the UK if seeing doctoral study and satisfy certain strict conditions.
- Hold an offer by the deadline for a full-time postgraduate taught degree on one of the eligible courses at the University of Kent:
- MSc Artificial Intelligence
- MSc Infectious Diseases
- MSc Cyber Security
- MA International Negotiation and Conflict Resolution
- MSc Applied Actuarial Science
- MSc Conservation Science
- MA English and American Literature
Further details
Commonwealth Shared Scholarships, set up by DFID in 1986, represent a unique partnership between the United Kingdom government and UK Universities.
Funded by the UK Department of International Development (DFID), Commonwealth Shared Scholarships enable talented and motivated individuals to gain the knowledge and skills required for sustainable development. They are aimed at those who could not otherwise afford to study in the UK.
These scholarships are offered under six themes:
- Science and technology for development
- Strengthening health systems and capacity
- Promoting global prosperity
- Strengthening global peace, security and governance
- Strengthening resilience and response to crises - Access, inclusion and opportunity.
How to apply
To be considered for the Commonwealth Shared Scholarship you must:
- Make a formal application for a postgraduate degree at the University of Kent commencing September 2025/26. This can be done online here.
- Complete the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission (CSC) online application process. For information on how to do that and full details of the application process please go directly to the Commonwealth Scholarships webpages.
- Applications will be considered based on Academic Excellence and a completed application.
- The Commonwealth will accept applications until 12th December 2024 (closing at 16:00 GMT).
Curriculum
Modules
We’ve created the most progressive approach to higher education, developing and modernising our curriculum. For 2025 our courses will be designed with you at their heart to deliver a top-class student experience and career outcomes.
The following modules are what students will typically study, but this may change year to year in response to new developments and innovations.
Stage 1
You take all compulsory modules and choose two from a list of optional modules.
Compulsory modules currently include the following
- Advanced Research Methods and Statistics
- Advanced Topics in Developmental Psychology
- Developmental and Educational Psychology in Professional Practice
- Current Topics in Developmental Psychopathology
- Professional Research Skills for Psychologists
- Psychology Research Project
Optional modules may include the following
- Current Issues in Cognitive Psychology and Neuropsychology
- Mind, Brain and the Body
- Neuropsychology of Ageing
- Psychological Measurement and Modelling
Teaching and assessment
The programme includes lectures, workshops, and seminar-based teaching, as well as practical demonstrations of modern methods for studying child development (eg behavioural techniques, eye-tracking, electroencephalography), and an individually supervised empirical research project. Assessment is mainly by coursework assignment, examination, plus the dissertation.
Programme aims
For course aims and learning outcomes please see the course specification.
Program Tuition Fee
Career Opportunities
Our Developmental Psychology MSc graduates commonly go into the fields of health, teaching or further education. Many of our graduates take up roles as assistant psychologists in the NHS to become a professional clinical psychologist, or pursue doctoral study and academic careers at higher education institutions. Because the MSc Developmental Psychology programme is taught by academics and professionals, it offers students wide opportunities to pursue a variety of careers.
The programmes we offer help you to develop general critical, analytic, and problem-solving skills that can be applied in a wide range of settings. For example, last year’s graduates have taken up full-time salaried/funded positions as assistant psychologists, as PhD trainees, as healthcare advisers/workers in the private sector and in Childhood and Adolescent Mental Health Services, and as specialist charity workers.
Professional Recognition
All of our taught Master’s (MSc) programmes have been recognised by the UK Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) as meeting the nationally recognised criteria for preparation training for PhD research.
Program Admission Requirements
Show your commitment and readiness for Grad school by taking the GRE - the most broadly accepted exam for graduate programs internationally.