BSc (Hons) in Strength and Conditioning
Bedford, United Kingdom
BSc
DURATION
3 years
LANGUAGES
English
PACE
Full time
APPLICATION DEADLINE
EARLIEST START DATE
TUITION FEES
GBP 16,800 / per year
STUDY FORMAT
On-Campus
Fast-track counseling
By contacting the school, you'll get access to free priority counselling for any study and application questions.
Key Summary
This innovative course is designed for those who want to train athletes to maximise their physical potential and improve their performance. You learn from leading professionals who teach you the skills you need to be a confident and well-informed strength and conditioning coach, while covering a wide range of sports science disciplines including anatomy, physiology, biomechanics, sport psychology and nutrition.
Student experience
- Learn from leading professionals in the field who have worked with elite sports people, including GB Olympians, national organisations (such as the RFU and the FA) and professional sports teams.
- Enhance your learning and build your experience through field trips to destinations such as St George’s Park, the home of England Football; Northampton Saints Rugby Club; and the dissection rooms at King’s College London.
- As well as placements with our official partners, you will have opportunities to gain experience with other sporting organisations such as Ampthill Rugby Club, Northampton Town Football Club, MK Dons Football Club and Girls Academy, and Oundle School.
- Collaborate with our partners to deliver school and community-based projects.
- Hear from guest speakers (who also teach on the course) and attend our ISPAR seminar series. Previous speakers have included Jack Wells (PGA); Tom Bromley (MK Dons); Akash Modhwadia (S&C coach at MK Dons); Mark Finney (former head of S&C at Northampton Saints); and Phil Pask (consultant physiotherapist for England Rugby).
- Benefit from the support of your own personal academic tutor who will guide and support you throughout your student journey.
- Our Bedford campus is a small, thriving academic community where academic staff get to know you well.
Industry links
We are official partners of Luton Town FC and Bedford Blues RFC as well as other sporting organisations in the region such as Bedford Tigers RLFC, MK Dons, Cricket East and Be Active, giving you opportunities to build your employability through work placements.
We are also a Higher Education Partner of the Chartered Institute for the Management of Sport and Physical Activity (CIMSPA).
Course accreditation
The course is endorsed by the Chartered Institute for the Management of Sport and Physical Activity (CIMSPA), allowing you to gain additional qualifications in a gym instructor; personal trainer; working with people with long-term conditions; S&C trainer; and graduate S&C coach.
Once you complete your degree, you can apply for professional accreditation with the UK Strength and Conditioning Association (UKSCA).
Why choose the School of Sport Science and Physical Activity
| Our sport science courses rank in the UK top 15 in their subject field for graduate prospects (CUG and Guardian, 2025). | Our sports science courses rank in the UK top 15 in their subject field (Daily Mail university rankings, 2024). | One of the only courses in the UK to offer around £10,000-worth of additional qualifications at no extra cost. |
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Undergraduate Scholarships
You can find all our Undergraduate scholarships listed below.
- International Undergraduate Subject-specific Scholarships
- A level and IB Scholarship for International Students
- Advanced Placement (AP) Merit Scholarship
- Hong Kong Diploma (HKDSE) Merit Scholarship
- Undergraduate EU, EEA and Switzerland Qualifications Scholarship
- International Foundation Year Scholarship
- High Achievers Undergraduate Scholarship for Bangladesh
- High Achievers Undergraduate Scholarship for India
- High Achievers Undergraduate Scholarship for Nepal
- High Achievers Undergraduate Scholarship for Pakistan
Prompt Payment Discount
A discount of £500 is available for prompt payment of each year’s fees in full, before or at the point of registration, for both undergraduate and taught postgraduate programmes.
Postgraduate research students who pay their full tuition fee before or at registration will receive a £1,000 discount on that year’s fees.
The tuition fee pre-payment of 65% will be calculated on the full, published tuition fees and will not take into account any scholarships, bursaries or awards. These will be applied to the remaining balance of your fees.
Sport Scholarships
Our sports scholarships are designed to develop and support talented students at the University of Bedfordshire.
Our sports scholarships on offer provide financial and performance support services that utilise the University’s outstanding facilities.
Please contact us for more information.
What will you study?
Studying our Strength and Conditioning BSc (Hons) course will equip you with specialised knowledge and skills in the combined areas of strength and conditioning and sports science. To build your understanding in core areas of study, our unit in the Fundamentals of Strength and Conditioning will introduce you to the principles of strength and conditioning in relation to optimising sports performance. To apply this knowledge, you will learn to coach effective strength and conditioning programmes through high-volume, low-intensity exercise testing and coaching during our units in Applied Strength and Conditioning and Advanced Strength and Conditioning. Focusing on Biomechanics, you will acquire the skills for biomechanical measurement and assessment techniques in sports science practice while considering sports performance and injury prevention. Similarly, you will learn of the principles of human movement, anatomy and the application of sports biomechanics in our units in Anatomy and Biomechanics and Biomechanics for Sport and Exercise Science. This links closely with our Human Physiology unit where you will question how the human body adapts to exercise alongside studying physiological systems, major organs of the body and how they respond at rest.
You will look at this further in our Applied Exercise Physiology unit where you will consider the current measures of exercise performance and issues within applied physiology. Using both theory and practice, you will then examine the current factors that influence sport and exercise performance, how the human body adapts to different types of exercise and various training methods in our Physiology of Exercise and Adaptation unit. In areas of the mind, you will be given an Introduction to Sport and Exercise Psychology and how it contributes to performance enhancement and athlete wellbeing. Moreover, this course also gives you the flexibility to choose from a range of optional units. You can explore a variety of techniques in Applied Sport and Exercise Psychology, develop techniques for biomechanical analyses in our Applied Biomechanics unit, or learn how to safely prescribe exercise, particularly for individuals with low-risk diseases in our Exercise and Fitness Testing for Clinical Populations unit. Additionally, based on the latest research and trends in the fitness industry, our unit Advanced Applied Exercise Practice will allow you to build on practical and procedural elements of work.
Finally, you may complete a Dissertation for Sport Science and Physical Activity on a key issue relevant to your study and examine it using the skills and knowledge gained from your academic study. To help you with this, our units in Dissertation Preparation and Introduction to Research Methods will support you in reading and understanding research, and completing a proposal with ethical documentation. Alternatively, you may complete a Work Placement Project that will allow you to undertake work experience in the field that can be used to develop reflective practice, critical evaluation and work-based skills. To prepare you for your career, you will be provided with skills for the job application and interview process in our Professional Development and Employability unit. To add to this, you can also undertake a Professional Practice Year (Sports Science and Physical Activity) that will allow you to gain work experience while developing your professional skills.
How will you be assessed?
A wide range of assessment formats will be used within this course including Multiple Choice Questions (MCQ) tests open and closed book exams laboratory reports case studies portfolios practical exams and presentations. Level 4 will consist of more knowledge-based assessments including exams essays and simple practical competencies. Level 5 will have a more critical approach with an increase in the use of case studies reports and reviews of information while more advanced methods of practical competence will be assessed. At level 6 practical application of skills and knowledge gained at level 4 and 5 will be looked at through original research and athlete assessment creating data to be explored and analysed through reports and research dissertations while high-order practical competency (with problem-solving) will be examined in line with governing body competencies preparing students for potential accreditation and work opportunities.
Teaching learning and assessment are supported by the research and accreditation held by members of the course team. All team members are either Fellows or Senior Fellows of the HEA while all Strength and Conditioning-specific units are taught by UKSCA-accredited coaches. This helps to keep general teaching and assessment methods up to date and inclusive and Strength and Conditioning practices in line with professional accrediting bodies. Unit-specific knowledge is enhanced by the research profiles of unit co-coordinators. Peer-reviewed journal publications in the area of Strength & Conditioning including the effects of different preparation strategies on performance the relationships of physical capacities to performance and the effects of specific training interventions on performance have kept the unit content current and externally validated.
The focus on performance enhancement in the course will qualify you for many careers in the exercise industry including sports coaching; strength and conditioning; sport science support; and sports development.
This course also opens up the route to our postgraduate courses, including our Strength and Conditioning MSc.