Mental Health Nursing BSc (Hons)
Study level: UndergraduateProfessionally Accredited Programmes

The Mental Health Nursing BSc (Hons) course is intended specifically to prepare you for a rewarding career where you can support people with their mental health.
Year of entry
2024-25
Location
Coventry University (Coventry)
Study mode
Full-time
Duration
3 years full-time
Course code
B760
Start date
September 2024
January 2025
Course overview
It is designed to help equip you with the hands-on clinical and care skills to prepare you to practise autonomously and compassionately, providing person-centred and compassionate care and support for service users to be physically safe and emotionally secure.
- Fully accredited by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) providing eligibility for registration as a nurse on successful completion of the course (additional costs may apply).
- All home students on this course can apply for a minimum payment from the Government of £5,000 per year, with additional payments for students incurring childcare costs6.
- Study in the state-of-the-art Alison Gingell Building which features hospital wards, operating theatre, critical care settings, community housing and other real-life nursing environments relevant to practice4.

Joint Top Modern University for Career Prospects
Guardian University Guide 2021 and 2022
5 QS Stars for Teaching and Facilities
QS Stars University Ratings
Top 5 UK Student City (Coventry)
QS Best Student Cities Index 2023Why you should study this course
Mental health nursing is a values-based profession working with children, young people and adults of all ages with a variety of mental health problems and from numerous cultures and backgrounds. These specialist nurses are usually based in hospitals or work in the community, for example, in community services, in-patient facilities, specialist forensic mental health services, residential care and patients’ own homes.
- This course aims to develop your knowledge of mental health, various disorders and innovative nursing care approaches. It is designed to equip you with the knowledge and competence to understand the experiences of people with mental health problems and to assist and facilitate their journey to recovery.
- A key element of this course is that your six placements5 will be relevant to mental health - we do not use ‘generic’ placements. You will gain hands-on experience with real service users under supervision from qualified practitioners, spending 50% of your time on clinical practice placements. These will take place in a range of healthcare environments within the NHS in hospitals and community placements, at private hospitals and independent care providers. In the past we have also been able to offer specialist placements to services such as Broadmoor high security hospital to students with an interest in this area of work. While the placements on this course are all sourced by the university, please note that additional costs may be incurred in this regard, for example, travel costs, accommodation and visa costs depending on your specific circumstances.
- While the course has a clear focus on mental health nursing, a key benefit of our curriculum is the notion of collaboration across all areas of health and social care. Your studies will be complemented with significant insights into a range of potential challenges to health and wellbeing throughout the lifespan, such as learning disabilities, complex care and life-limiting conditions. These collaborative elements, which you’ll study alongside students from our other health-related courses, have been developed in response to the need to produce professionals who are effective communicators, caring and compassionate, with good relationship-building skills.
- Throughout your studies, in groups and individually, you will undertake profession specific health and social care related projects and case studies. These may, for example, include an appraisal of the role of the nurse in ethical and legal decision-making, considering service improvement bids or complex care planning and delivery via the multi-disciplinary team. You will also participate in a group poster presentation demonstrating your understanding of research underpinning patient care.
Coventry University ranked 1st for Mental Health Nursing
Guardian University Guide 2023
Accreditation and professional recognition
This course is accredited1 and recognised by the following bodies:

UK Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC)
The course is currently fully accredited by the UK Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) for 2024/25 and, providing you also meet the NMC requirements, on successful completion you will be eligible to apply for registration with the Nursing and Midwifery Council (subject to additional costs).
Nursing at Coventry University
We have an excellent reputation for the quality of the education provided to trainee and qualified nurses.
Learn why you should study with us

What you'll study
We regularly review our course content, to make it relevant and current for the benefit of our students. For these reasons, course modules may be updated.
How you'll learn
This course uses a wide variety of stimulating approaches to teaching and learning to suit individual learning styles. All modules are mandatory to enable you to demonstrate the knowledge, values and skills to be able to work within integrated care settings and enhance the delivery of care for service users, their families and carers after successfully completing the course.
Gaining experience using simulation across a range of care settings is aimed at building your confidence and knowledge about how to act in these situations. You can practise and develop your clinical and interpersonal skills in a safe but realistic environment. We also use actors to enhance these experiences in scenarios such as breaking bad news, demonstrating emotional resilience, conflict, management of actual or potential aggression, teaching and child protection conferences.
Teaching methods include interactive lectures with associated seminars, skills lab activities and practical placements.
As 50% of the course is practice based, this requires 40 hours per week when you are on placement5. Over the duration of the course, you will have around 20 contact teaching hours per week, however this can vary. This will consist of lectures, seminars, workshops, practical skills training and online classes and tutorials. In addition, you will be expected to undertake a further 14 hours each week of private study which can include group learning and online activities.
As an innovative and enterprising institution, the university may seek to utilise emerging technologies within the student experience. For all courses (whether on-campus, blended, or distance learning), the university may deliver certain contact hours and assessments via online technologies and methods.
Since COVID-19, we have delivered our courses in a variety of forms, in line with public authority guidance, decisions, or orders and we will continue to adapt our delivery as appropriate. Whether on campus or online, our key priority is staff and student safety.
Assessment
This course will be assessed using a variety of methods which will vary depending upon the module.
Assessment methods include:
- Coursework
- Presentations
- Assessments within practice placements
- Formal examinations
- Individual assignments
- Group work
The Coventry University Group assessment strategy ensures that our courses are fairly assessed and allows us to monitor student progression towards achieving the intended learning outcomes.
International experience opportunities
Our course provides international learning experiences to help prepare you for the global employment market as well as strengthen and develop your broader intercultural, personal and professional skills2.
Our Mental Health Nursing students use innovative technology to simulate what it feels like for service users who hear voices. Find out more about their experience and how it can help them with patients.
Entry requirements
Typical offer for 2024/25 entry.
Fees and funding
2024/25 tuition fees.
Student | Full-time | Part-time |
---|---|---|
UK, Ireland*, Channel Islands or Isle of Man | £9,250 per year | Not available |
EU | £9,250 per year with EU support bursary** £19,850 per year without EU support bursary** |
Not available |
International | £19,850 per year | Not available |
A non-repayable grant of £5,000 and extra payments worth up to £3,000 may be available to eligible home students for each year of study. Read more about this in the NHS Learning Support Fund information booklet.
For advice and guidance on tuition fees and student loans visit our Undergraduate Finance page and see the university’s Tuition Fee and Refund Terms and Conditions.
We offer a range of International scholarships to students all over the world. For more information, visit our International Scholarships page.
Tuition fees cover the cost of your teaching, assessments, facilities and support services. There may be additional costs not covered by this fee such as accommodation and living costs, recommended reading books, stationery, printing and re-assessments should you need them. Find out what's included in your tuition costs.
*Irish student fees
The rights of Irish residents to study in the UK are preserved under the Common Travel Area arrangement. If you are an Irish student and meet the residency criteria, you can study in England, pay the same level of tuition fees as English students and utilise the Tuition Fee Loan.
**EU support bursary
Following the UK's exit from the European Union, we are offering financial support to all eligible EU students who wish to study an undergraduate or a postgraduate degree with us full-time. This bursary will be used to offset the cost of your tuition fees to bring them in-line with that of UK students. Students studying a Degree with a Foundation Year with us are not eligible for the bursary.
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How do you know if you need to pay UK or international tuition fees?
We carry out an initial fee status assessment based on the information you provide in your application. Your fee status determines your tuition fees, and what financial support and scholarships may be available to you. The rules about who pays UK (home) or international (overseas) fees for higher education courses in England are set by the government's Department for Education. The regulations identify all the different categories of student who can insist on paying the home rate. The regulations can be difficult to understand, so the UK Council for International Student Affairs (UKCISA) has provided fee status guidance to help you identify whether you are eligible to pay the home or overseas rate.
If you meet all the criteria required by any one category, including any residence requirements, your institution must charge you the home rate. You only need to find one category that you fit into.
Facilities
Our multi-million-pound Alison Gingell Building features a range of mock healthcare settings, including hospital wards, ambulance, therapy suites and community houses, giving you the opportunity to replicate real-life situations before you go on placement4.
You’ll have the opportunity to make use of our extensive simulation facilities – from basic life support manikins to high tech simulation manikins, which emulate patient responses and test resuscitation skills. You will also use healthcare devices found in the real world of practice.

Mock hospital wards
Our fully-equipped mock hospital wards are built to NHS standards and give you the chance to experience patient scenarios in a real-world environment.

Community houses
Learn how to work with patients outside of a hospital setting in our simulated, two full-size community homes, specifically built for teaching.

Mock operating theatre
Our Alison Gingell building includes a full-size mock operating theatre, containing scrub sinks and theatre lights.
Careers and opportunities
During your three years on the programme you will undertake six mandatory placements (two in each year) in a range of service settings, working with and alongside qualified mental health nurses, and therefore potential local and regional employers. These are sourced by the university5.
After successfully graduating from this course, you can apply for registration with the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) (additional costs apply), which enables you to practise immediately if successful.
As well as helping you to find suitable work placements and give you advice on how to get the most out of them, the university can support you when you are ready to begin your professional career for the time you are registered as a Coventry University student.
Coventry University is committed to preparing you for your future career and giving you a competitive edge in the graduate job market.
Where our graduates work
Our previous graduates have found employment as qualified Mental Health Nurses in the NHS, and private and charitable sector mental health services across the UK.
As your career progresses, a number of options may be open to you as a lecturer or specialist practitioner, advanced nurse practitioner, consultant nurse or manager. You could specialise as a primary mental health worker and work with children and adolescents, for example.
Recent graduates have gone on to work in such settings as child and adolescent mental health services, specialist forensic mental health units, and early intervention services.
How to apply
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UK students
Full-time students applying to start in September 2024 can apply for this course through UCAS. Read our application pages to find out your next steps to apply.
Part-time students should apply directly to the university.
If you'd like further support or more information about your course get in touch with us today.
Chat with our admissions team
Complete our contact form
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International students
International codes:
How to apply
HLSU198For further support for international applicants applying for an undergraduate degree view our International hub.
You can also download our International guide which contains lots of useful information about our courses, accommodation and tips for travel.
Get in touch with us today for further advice and guidance.
Chat with our admissions team
Complete our contact form
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Disclaimers
1Accreditations
The majority of our courses have been formally recognised by professional bodies, which means the courses have been reviewed and tested to ensure they reach a set standard. In some instances, studying on an accredited course can give you additional benefits such as exemptions from professional exams (subject to availability, fees may apply). Accreditations, partnerships, exemptions and memberships shall be renewed in accordance with the relevant bodies’ standard review process and subject to the university maintaining the same high standards of course delivery.
2UK and international opportunities
Please note that we are unable to guarantee any UK or International opportunities (whether required or optional) such as internships, work experience, field trips, conferences, placements or study abroad opportunities and that all such opportunities may be subject to additional costs (which could include, but is not limited to, equipment, materials, bench fees, studio or facilities hire, travel, accommodation and visas), competitive application, availability and/or meeting any applicable travel COVID and visa requirements. To ensure that you fully understand the visa requirements, please contact the International Office.
3Tuition fees
The University will charge the tuition fees that are stated in the above table for the first Academic Year of study. The University will review tuition fees each year. For Home Students, if Parliament permit an increase in tuition fees, the University may increase fees for each subsequent year of study in line with any such changes. Note that any increase is expected to be in line with inflation.
For International Students, we may increase fees each year but such increases will be no more than 5% above inflation. If you defer your course start date or have to extend your studies beyond the normal duration of the course (e.g. to repeat a year or resit examinations) the University reserves the right to charge you fees at a higher rate and/or in accordance with any legislative changes during the additional period of study.
4Facilities
Facilities are subject to availability. Since COVID-19, we have delivered our courses in a variety of forms, in line with public authority guidance, decisions, or orders and we will continue to adapt our delivery as appropriate. Whether on campus or online, our key priority is staff and student safety.
5Placements
Satisfactory health clearance and enhanced criminal record disclosure is also required. As part of the health clearance checks you will be required to provide information about your immunity and vaccination status. You will also be required to provide information about your COVID-19 vaccination status. We therefore recommend that you are fully vaccinated including the COVID-19 vaccine. The information you provide will be used to determine your eligibility to go on placement(s). Placements are provided at the placement provider’s discretion. The University is therefore unable to guarantee the provision of placements or the location and type of placement offered.
6NHS payment
The rules may be subject to review by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) in the future and as a result may change. Please therefore check the NHSBSA website for up-to-date information before applying.
Student Contract
By accepting your offer of a place and enrolling with us, a Student Contract will be formed between you and the university. A copy of the 2023/24 contract can be found here. The Contract details your rights and the obligations you will be bound by during your time as a student and contains the obligations that the university will owe to you. You should read the Contract before you accept an offer of a place and before you enrol at the university.
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