In your first year you’ll learn the foundations of sports coaching, aspects related to physical activity and sports development and begin to understand the sports industry. You’ll also learn about national and international sports business management and sports within a global world. To help you settle into University life, you’ll take a module focused on developing the academic skills you need to be a successful student.    

Your second year builds on what you learnt in the first year. You’ll study global perspectives of sports development, applied sports coaching and management of sports events. The module on research methods helps you to understand the principles and methods that underpin social science research. You’ll be able to use this to critique and understand the research done in the areas of sports development, sports coaching, or the sports business management field. It will also come in handy for your final year dissertation. In addition, we also offer optional modules for you to choose from e.g., process and practices in high-performance sport, sports ethics or facilities and funding.  

Work placement/study abroad option*: Between your second and final year, you’ll have the option to study abroad or complete a work placement for up to a year. Not only will this give you an amazing experience to talk about, but it will also give your CV a boost. If you would rather go straight to your final year, that’s fine too. You can decide in your second year with us, so there is still plenty of time to think about this.  

In your final year, you’ll be able to develop your research skills through our research dissertation module and/or focus on a work experience dissertation. You’ll get a personal supervisor to support you with the research and/or work experience dissertation. Here, you’ll design and undertake your own project on a topic relevant to your area of study, and more importantly, it will be aligned to an area that interests you. You’ll also be able to study other modules in the final year, such as enterprise and entrepreneurship, behaviour change for physical activity and advanced sports coaching.  

Work placement

Graduate with invaluable work experience alongside your degree and stand out from the crowd.  

This course offers you the opportunity to enhance your study and CV with a work placement sandwich year. It’s a chance to explore career possibilities, make valuable contacts and gain sought after professional skills.  

Our dedicated Careers and Employment team are here to help guide you through the process.

If you take up a work placement between your second and third year of study, at the University of Hertfordshire you’ll pay no tuition fee for this year. We’ll ask you to make your decision in your second year, so there is plenty of time to think about it. 

What's next for my career?

There are a variety of career opportunities in sports related employment for Sports Studies graduates including sports coaching, sports development, sports management, sports administration, sports media, sports promotion, health promotion, sports business, and sports instruction/teaching/lecturing/research.