Key information
The MSc Psychology with Coaching programme at Heriot-Watt University is the most established master’s degree of its kind in Europe as it has a well-earned reputation for producing graduates who can improve the performance and behaviour of individuals and teams.
- Level
- Postgraduate Taught
- Delivery type
- Full Time, Part Time
- Degree qualification
- MSc
- Mode of delivery
- On-Campus
- Duration
- 1 year
- Location
- Edinburgh
- Start date
- September
The MSc Psychology with Coaching programme at Heriot-Watt University is the most established master’s degree of its kind in Europe as it has a well-earned reputation for producing graduates who can improve the performance and behaviour of individuals and teams.
Coaching psychology is a thriving area of applied psychology which deals with professional and personal issues practically. There is a growing demand for experts in evidence-based coaching who can offer effective non-clinical interventions to help individuals and teams by increasing productivity, managing talent and dealing with conflict, stress and change. This demand exists across several sectors and areas of performance, including:
- occupational
- educational
- health
- counselling
- sports psychology
- leadership
- management
- organisational development
- human resources
This degree programme balances practical and theoretical learning to ensure that you’ll make positive and effective contributions that help people and organisations flourish. You’ll learn to apply positive psychology through tried and tested coaching practices and combine this with an understanding of established theory from business psychology.
You’ll develop numeracy and ICT skills using statistics software packages and by conducting quantitative and qualitative analysis. You’ll also be able to develop communication skills through coursework and group discussions/presentations.
You’ll learn key skills that can be applied in the workplace through various wider roles such as management, consultancy and HR, as well as specialised coaching roles such as executive coach, talent management, career coaching and mentoring.
Your student experience
Our MSc Business Psychology with Coaching degree is taught by experienced researchers and practitioners from the fields of psychology, counselling and coaching. Their expertise and experience will help you develop key skills for a career in coaching in the workplace or as a step to becoming an accredited coach for other contexts such as education, counselling or sports.
Go Global
With Go Global, Heriot-Watt's global student programme, you can carry your studies to new places and experience new cultures, expanding your horizons on the way. You'll discover what it means to be a true global citizen and emerge prepared for wherever your career journey will take you.
Inter-Campus Transfer: Dubai
Course content
September Intake - Edinburgh
Mandatory September
- Intercultural Communication in the Workplace
- Coaching Psychology
- Organisational Culture
- Social and Organisational Change
Mandatory January
- Coaching Psychology Practice
- Diversity
- Psychology of Leadership
- Research Methods
Mandatory May
- Independent Project in Psychology
Programme Video
Psychology at Heriot-Watt
Fees and funding
| Status | Full Time | Part Time |
|---|---|---|
| UK | £10,528 | £5,264 |
| International | £21,192 | £10,596 |
- Status: Your residency status is usually defined as the country where you have been ordinarily resident for the three years before the start of your course.
- International: 'International' includes applicants from European Union countries who do not hold Pre-Settled or Settled status in UK. (This does not include students from the Republic of Ireland - see above).
Scholarships and bursaries
Postgraduate scholarships and bursaries
We aim to encourage well-qualified, ambitious students to study with us and we offer a wide variety of scholarships and bursaries to achieve this. Over £6 million worth of opportunities are available in fee and stipend scholarships, and more than 400 students benefit from this support.
Entry requirements
We have standard entry requirements for all of our courses that you will have to meet.
A minimum of honours degree at 2:2 or non-UK equivalent in a relevant subject. Whilst we can consider applicants from a wide range of academic backgrounds such as psychology, sociology, politics, business, linguistics, journalism, we hope to see demonstrable evidence of numeracy through statistics or maths.
We hope to see evidence of having undertaken an empirical research project or research design and analysis module. Applicants with work or project experience in a related helping professions role will be taken into consideration, please include your CV as part of your application.
We welcome applications from international students and accept qualifications from around the world. Please refer to the entry requirements for your country for more details.
Why Heriot-Watt
We're the top university in Scotland for graduate outcomes which means that more of our graduates are employed or in postgraduate education than any other institution in the country and we ranked 5th in the UK.
We're also rated number one in the UK for CEO or MD roles, meaning more of our graduates go on to become CEOs or MDs than any other university in the whole of the UK. On top of that, we have beautiful campuses, across the globe, so you'll get a truly international education. Our Edinburgh Campus is home to Oriam, Scotland's National Sports Performance Centre combined with plenty of wellbeing resources, prioritising fitness and mental health for all students. Our Global Research Institutes look at solving real world issues such as climate change and saving our oceans as well as working on the next medical technological breakthrough and the future of AI and robots.
Student life
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