Program Overview

MSc Educational Research

Overview

The MSc Educational Research programme is designed to prepare students for the independent conduct of educational research. Students will acquire general social science research skills that can be used in different contexts and applied to a variety of problems, and also have the opportunity to specialise in a particular field of education within a research preparation framework.

Entry Requirements

• A 2:2 Honours degree or above in a relevant area such as social sciences, humanities or management, and to have demonstrable interest in educational research.
• Accepted social science subjects include:
  • Anthropology
  • Archaeology
  • Area and Development Studies
  • Criminology
  • Demography
  • Development Studies
  • Economics
  • Economic and Social History
  • Education
  • Environmental Planning
  • Human Geography
  • International Relations
  • Law
  • Linguistics
  • Management and Business Studies
  • Media and Communication Studies
  • Philosophy
  • Politics and International Studies
  • Psychology
  • Science and Technology Studies
  • Social Policy
  • Social Statistics, Methods, and Computing
  • Social Work
  • Socio Legal Studies
  • Sociology

Course Content

• The overall purpose of this MSc is to prepare students for the independent conduct of educational research.
• Students will acquire general social science research skills that can be used in different contexts and applied to a variety of problems, and also have the opportunity to specialise in a particular field of education within a research preparation framework.
• The programme consists of 180 credits of compulsory modules, including:
  • The Nature of Educational Enquiry (30 credits)
  • Qualitative Methods in Educational Research (30 credits)
  • Quantitative Methods in Educational Research (30 credits)
  • Designing and Communicating Research (30 credits)
  • Dissertation (60 credits)

Fees

• UK fees per year: £11,200 full-time
• International fees per year: £23,600 full-time
• Scholarships: The University of Exeter has many different scholarships available to support education, including £5 million in scholarships for international students applying to study with us in the 2025/26 academic year.

Careers

• Career support: Our postgraduate programmes are designed to give students career progression in their specialist educational area of choice and completion of this programme can lead to a variety of research roles within educational and social science fields.
• Progression to PhD study: This course is ideal if students wish to progress onto PhD study. Progression from this MSc to our PhD in Education is dependent on achieving 60% as an average mark overall and an individual mark of 60% for the dissertation.
• Graduate destinations: The University has an excellent reputation with graduate recruiters and our students compete very successfully in the employment market. Our graduates have gone on to a range of careers in the UK and overseas.