Masters applications for 2023 entry are now closed.
Applications for September 2024 will open on Monday 25 September. Applications are now open for programmes with a January 2024 start. View our programmes »
| UCAS code |
1234 |
| Duration |
1 year part time |
| Entry year |
2025 |
| Campus |
St Luke's Campus
|
| Discipline |
Healthcare and Medicine
|
| Contact |
|
Overview
- For primary healthcare practitioners and policymakers looking to gain a qualification in primary care
- Learn the skills necessary to engage successfully in changing and strengthening primary care, wherever you are in your healthcare career
- Gain an understanding of the principles behind primary care that apply to clinical conditions present in generalist medicine
- Develop expert, up-to-date knowledge using cutting-edge technology
Our Public Health research is 11th in the UK for research power
Top 10 in the UK for our world-leading and internationally excellent Clinical Medicine research
Our Public Health research is 11th in the UK for research power
Top 10 in the UK for our world-leading and internationally excellent Clinical Medicine research
Entry requirements
Normally a minimum 2.2 Honours degree (or equivalent) in a relevant discipline. A personal statement, detailing your reasons for seeking to undertake this subject, will be required. Relevant clinical or professional experience may be taken into consideration as evidence of equivalency.
Applicants will be experienced healthcare professionals from any registered healthcare discipline, such as medicine, nursing, midwifery and the allied health professions (including pharmacists and healthcare scientists), or policy makers interested in primary healthcare.
Please also see our guidance on essential documentation required for an initial decision on taught programme applications.
Entry requirements for international students
English language requirements
International students need to show they have the required level of English language to study this course. The required test scores for this course fall under Profile B2. Please visit our English language requirements page to view the required test scores and equivalencies from your country.
Course content
The programme aims to provide you with a qualification that evidences advanced clinical primary care practice, together with mastery of the evidence and theories that lie behind modern primary care. You will be provided with the necessary skills to engage successfully in changing and strengthening primary care – wherever you are and at whatever level you decide to operate.
Compulsory modules will cover areas such as the principles of leading change, and designing practical solutions to key issues, for example the tension between accessibility and continuity of care. Modules cover the principles relating to care of individual patients, as well as the care of groups of patients. Content also includes practical experience in the design of clinics, tackling inequality, and making interventions to improve the health of communities, such as prevention and health maintenance.
You’ll also choose from a range of optional modules covering change in health services, management in healthcare, education essentials and the principles of supervision, mentoring and coaching.
Contact Days
View the draft timetable of PGCert Primary Care contact days 2025/26
Modules
30 credits of compulsory modules and 30 credits of optional modules
Compulsory modules
| Code | Module |
Credits |
|---|
| HPDM127 |
Principles of Primary Care | 15 |
| HPDM185 |
Applied Principles of Primary Care | 15 |
Optional modules
| Code | Module |
Credits |
|---|
| HPDM103 |
Teaching Practitioner | 15 |
| HPDM104 |
Assessing Learning | 15 |
| HPDM105 |
Education Essentials | 15 |
| HPDM061 |
Researching Clinical Education | 15 |
| HPDM095 |
Introduction to Literature Reviews | 15 |
| HPDM142 |
Principles of Supervision, Mentoring and Coaching | 15 |
| HPDM154Z |
Future Health: Beyond Data | 15 |
| HPDM155Z |
Future Health: Reimagining Systems | 15 |
| HPDM198 |
Improving Care in Developing Nations | 15 |
| HPDM057 |
Health Economics | 15 |
| HPDM055 |
Qualitative Methods and Process Evaluations | 15 |
| HPDM092 |
Fundamentals of Research Design | 15 |
| HPDM093 |
Systematic Reviews for Policy and Practice | 15 |
| HPDM136 |
Evidence to Decision: Health Technology Assessment, Health Policy and Resource Allocation | 15 |
| HPDM118Z |
Structuring and Solving Public Health Problems | 15 |
Fees
2025/26 entry
UK fees per year:
£4,050 part-time
International fees per year:
£9,550 part-time
Scholarships
The University of Exeter has many different scholarships available to support your education, including £5 million in scholarships for international students applying to study with us in the 2025/26 academic year, such as our Exeter Excellence Scholarships*. For more information on scholarships and other financial support, please visit our scholarships and bursaries page.
University of Exeter Alumni Scholarship
We are pleased to offer University of Exeter alumni beginning a standalone taught Masters degree (eg MA, MSc, MRes, MFA, LLM, PGCert, PGDip) or research degree (eg MPhil, PhD) with us a scholarship towards the cost of their tuition fees. These scholarships are worth 20% of the first year tuition fee for students enrolling on a postgraduate taught or research programme of study in 2025/26. Full details can be found here.
*Terms and conditions apply. See online for details.
Funding and scholarships
Funding is available through the Southwest School of Primary Care for approved Southwest Primary Care Clinicians who are registered on the programme for September 2025 – subject to availability. For more details, please contact Dr Shelley Rhodes, Primary Care Programme Manager.
Information about other financial support available can be found on the PGT funding database.
Teaching and research
Our purpose is to deliver transformative education that will help tackle health challenges of national and global importance.
Teaching
This programme is taught using a blended approach to learning of lectures, classroom discussion, bespoke tutorials and practical exercises, supported by on-line resources accessed via the University of Exeter’s electronic learning environment (ELE).
Throughout this programme, we will provide you with a safe ‘practitioner researcher’ led environment of learning for you to share your ideas, perspectives and current experiences in response to realistic scenarios.
Teaching methods
Teaching methods include:
- Interactive arena sessions
- Masterclasses from highly experienced teachers and educational researchers
- Practical classes; Practice delivering teaching in a variety of styles
- Tutorial / small groups
- Lectures using PowerPoint and other technologies
- Work-based teaching and learning
- Using webcams to record your teaching
- Viewing the teaching of others and giving feedback
- Practical classes; Practice designing you own assessments
- Maintaining a teaching portfolio. Collect evidence of your teaching as the course progresses and use it to apply for Membership of professional teaching bodies (HEA and AoME)
Learning
This programme enables students to interact with learners from every branch of medicine and at every stage. There are practical sessions on each module and the flipped classroom and hybrid learning approach offers something to suit everyone.
Face-to-face teaching is typically delivered over two days per module, with pre-reading, teaching practice, project work and assessments making up the remainder of learning activities.
Assessment
Short assessments are tailored to each module, with some assessment taking place in class, and others requiring electronic submission of assignments towards the end of a module.
Research
At the University of Exeter, our research is globally recognised and our partnerships with healthcare providers, industry and above all, the public, mean that this work is constantly at the cutting-edge of innovation in improving lives.
Explore some of the many highlights of our research on our research impact page.
Facilities
This programme is based at the St Luke’s campus in Exeter, just a 15 minute walk from the city centre and just over a mile away from the Streatham Campus. The campus is close to the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital and RILD building, which is home to the NHS funded Exeter Health Library. Students have studied at St Luke’s campus for over 150 years and the campus enjoys a vibrant atmosphere set around the lawns of the quadrangle.
Facilities at St Luke’s campus include:
The facilities at the University of Exeter have been specifically designed for delivering high quality teaching in this area, with bespoke lecture theatres and seminar rooms.
Read more
Professor Alex Harding
Dr Rob Daniels
Rob Bethune
Sarah Bradley
Jane Rowe
Professor Alex Harding
Alex is course director of the Primary Care Programmes and is Professor of Primary Care Education at Exeter University. He has worked as a GP in Exeter for the last thirty years as a partner in a city centre practice.
He is involved at the Medical School as a Sub-Dean, making sure the community part of the medical school programme runs smoothly. He is also involved in curriculum development and innovation and is course director of the Masters in Clinical Education and also Principles of Primary Care International.
Alex has extensive experience in research-informed educational policy development, having worked with several Governments, the RCGP, EU, WHO and other organisations to strengthen Primary Care through education.
Profile page
Dr Rob Daniels
Rob is a GP and Senior Clinical Lecturer in the College of Medicine & Health. He is module lead for Advanced Clinical Assessment and Decision-Making Skills, Acute Presentations in Practice, and From Theory to Practice to Quality, and module Co-Lead for Independent Prescribing, as well as long term contributor to the MSc Extreme Medicine, drawing on his experience of practicing medicine overseas and his work with Devon Doctors in the UK.
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Rob Bethune
Rob is a Colo-Rectal Consultant Surgeon at the Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust. He is primarily a laparoscopic bowel cancer surgeon as well as dealing with the surgical side of inflammatory bowel disease.
He has had a significant role in improving the delivery of health care services. After spending a year as a surgeon in a rural mission hospital in Zambia he took time out of his surgical training to work as a manager at the South West Strategic Health Authority. During this year he worked on a 17 hospital quality improvement and safety collaborative improving the standards of peri-operative care. He continues this role with the South West Academic Health Science Network (AHSN), where he set up a region wide quality improvement and patient safety collaborative and continues to support this as a clinical advisor.
Sarah Bradley
Sarah Bradley is Programme lead for the Masters in Healthcare Leadership and Management, module lead for the Education Essentials, Assessing Learning and Researching Clinical Education modules of the Masters in Clinical Education, and module lead for the Advanced Skill Development module of the MSc Advanced Clinical Practice. Previously, as Senior Clinical Skills Tutor for the Medicine programme, she had responsibility for a range of Clinical Skills teaching and assessment, including procedural skills, physical examination, clinical communication, resuscitation and simulation. She has 18 years’ experience as a medical educator and has a particular interest in clinical communication, skill development, assessment of clinical competence and professional identity formation. Her research interest is in qualitative assessment methods and she is currently working towards a doctorate.
Sarah is a registered nurse and prior to working in medical education worked for the NHS specialising in Coronary Care and Research Nursing.
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Jane Rowe
Jane Rowe is module lead for the Principles of Supervision and Mentoring module.
She has a background as an education adviser and academic developer, and since 2006 has designed, led and contributed to a range of postgraduate and faculty development programmes.
Jane has had a significant role in enhancing the quality of postgraduate provision, through funded projects, staff development and external engagement.
Currently, she co-leads a Special Interest Group in Postgraduate Taught Programmes for the Association for the Study of Medical Education (ASME) and is external examiner for the Teaching and Learning for Health Professionals programme at the University of Bristol.
Jane is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.
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Careers
Graduates of this course will leave with a career enhancing qualification. Backed by the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan to expand the primary healthcare workforce, they will be able to apply their expert, up to date knowledge to shape and strengthen primary care at local and global levels.
