The University of Edinburgh – College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine

International Animal Welfare, Ethics and Law (Online Learning) MSc, PgDip (ICL), PgCert (ICL), PgProfDev

Graduates can use their qualification to enhance their career prospects in:

• academia
• research
• governmental and non-governmental organisations and consultancies

The degree programme is structured to allow sequential progression from individual courses to Certificate, Diploma and MSc phases. Students may also exit the programme on completion of each phase.

The programme is designed to be taken part-time over three years at 20 hours per week, with the option to complete in up to six years if required.

The completion times are as follows:

• PgCert: 1-2 years
• PgDip: 2-4 years
• MSc: 3-6 years

Year 1: Certificate

You will take two compulsory courses - International Animal Welfare Science and Animal Ethics, Policy and Law - plus an optional course.

Year 2: Diploma

You can choose up to 60 credits of optional courses, which include:

• Production Animal Welfare
• Cat and Dog Welfare
• Captive and Free-ranging Wild Animal Welfare
• Animals in Research, Testing and Education
• Clinical Animal Behaviour
• Equine Behaviour and Welfare
• Equitation Science
• Anthrozoology
• Poultry Behaviour & Welfare in Commercial Systems
• Making Science Relevant to Policy and Decision-Making

Year 3: Masters

You complete a dissertation between 10,000-15,000 words which can be a research project or an extended systematic review of the literature on a topic of Animal Welfare Science, Ethics or Law.

Postgraduate Professional Development

Postgraduate Professional Development (PPD) is aimed at working professionals who want to advance their knowledge through postgraduate-level learning, without the time, or financial commitment, of a full award.

You may take a maximum of 50 credits worth of courses from within this degree over two years and gain a University of Edinburgh postgraduate award of academic credit.

It may also be possible to continue your studies after one year and put credits towards a postgraduate Certificate, Diploma or full master's degree. Any time spent taking courses through the PPD scheme will be deducted from the amount of time you have left to complete the higher award.

Although PPD courses have various start dates throughout a year you may only start a Masters, Postgraduate Diploma or Postgraduate Certificate programme in September.

Online learning

The University of Edinburgh has been delivering online postgraduate programmes since 2005 and is the largest provider of online programmes in the prestigious Russell Group of universities.

Online learning is aimed at people who want to study for a postgraduate qualification alongside ongoing personal and professional commitments. You can study at times most convenient to you and tailor the timeframe of your studies to suit your needs. Most of our students continue in their employment while they study.

Student support for online students is given as much emphasis as for our on-campus learners. The learning technology is fully interactive, and award-winning and enables you to communicate with our highly qualified teaching staff from the comfort of your home or workplace.

A dedicated e-learning team ensures the programme runs smoothly and the programme is supported by an experienced team of a programme director, co-ordinator, administrator and course leaders. Each student is provided with a personal tutor. Courses are taught and completed entirely online.

The varied teaching includes:

• online lectures
• tutorials
• specialist external lectures
• scientific group discussions
• case studies
• problem-based learning scenarios
• literature based research
• computer-assisted learning
• quizzes

Our online students not only have access to Edinburgh's excellent resources but also become part of a supportive online community, bringing together students and tutors from around the world.