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Aquaculture and Fishery Management

University Centre Sparsholt

UCAS Code: D480 | Bachelor of Science (with Honours) - BSc (Hons)

Entry requirements


A level

C,C,E

Including a relevant subject/science @ C or above (80 UCAS tariff points)

Access to HE Diploma

M:45

Merit in a relevant subject/science (96 UCAS tariff points)

International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme

24

Including a relevant subject/science and one other at H4 or above with Maths and English at S3 if no GCSE or equivalent (112 UCAS tariff points)

Leaving Certificate - Higher Level (Ireland) (first awarded in 2017)

H4,H4,H4,H4

Including one in a relevant subject/science (90 UCAS tariff points)

OCR Cambridge Technical Extended Diploma

DMM

In a relevant subject/science (112 UCAS tariff points)

Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Diploma (first teaching from September 2016)

DMM

In a relevant subject/science (112 UCAS tariff points)

Scottish Advanced Higher

C,C

Including one in a relevant subject/science (80 UCAS tariff points)

T Level

M

In a relevant subject/science (120 UCAS tariff points)

UCAS Tariff

80-112

Dependant on qualifications

About this course


This course has alternative study modes. Contact the university to find out how the information below might vary.

Course option

3years

Full-time | 2024

Other options

4 years | Sandwich including industrial placement | 2024

Subject

Aquaculture

**Why choose this degree?**
- One course that will develop you from introductory level in year 1 through to independent research and application in year 3

- Gain a wide range of practical experience and knowledge in subjects such as fish anatomy and physiology, business and environmental management and aquaculture

- Take part in work placements in places such as Fiji, South Africa or closer to home in Scotland

- Be taught by leading industry experts in unrivalled on-site facilities, including the 650m² purpose-built Aquatic Research and Conservation Centre (ARCC), the Salmonid Rearing and Trials Centre and our own mixed coarse fishery lake.

**What makes UCS special?**
University Centre Sparsholt is recognised worldwide for its expertise in providing education in fishery, aquaculture and marine studies. Our lecturing staff are known to be the **experts in the industry** and can often be found at conferences and industry forums discussing the latest techniques and their supporting research.

Students gain real industry experience on and off-site that is underpinned by the high level of technical lecture content to prepare them for a range of careers or progression to courses at Master’s level. Our industry contacts enable **great employment prospects**. Typically over 50% of our 3rd year students return from work placements to sit their final exams with jobs already secured for graduation.

**What will I learn?**
The programme combines scientific, managerial and practical skills that are developed in a range of subjects such as water quality, fish anatomy and physiology, fishery management and ecology, aquaculture, fish health and nutrition, business and environmental management.

During the course there are also extensive periods of **work experience**. Recent placements have included carp fisheries in Spain and France, salmon farms in Tasmania and New Zealand, goldfish farms in the United States, Royal aquariums in the Middle East, research into ornamental fish welfare in the Philippines, **Coral Cay Conservation** in Fiji and research for the **Natal Shark Board** in South Africa.

Closer to home, University Centre Sparsholt has excellent links with potential placement destinations including public aquariums, coarse and game fisheries, government fishery laboratories and numerous fish farms.

As part of the course UCS students undertake innovative and exciting research. Recent examples include:

- Testing different feed rates for maximum growth in carp

- Trialling a novel method of controlling the fish louse (Argulus) in a fishery

- Testing the effect of magnetic water on fish growth and pigmentation

- Assessing shell production in marine prawns

- Testing novel feed ingredients (fly larvae in carp diets)

- Assessing levels of plastic pollution in the sediments of the river Kennet

- Use of novel sustainable replacements for fish meal in fish diets

- Testing novel water treatment methods in aquaria

- Assessing the relative pollution effect of different baits in a fishery

**How will I be assessed?**
Assessment at level four and five is primarily by exams and coursework which includes practical portfolios, laboratory reports, case studies and essay style assignments. At level six there is a greater emphasis on group projects and independent research.

**Where can I go from here?**
You can move onto a MSc or PhD programme. Sparsholt graduates now work as aquatic and fishery management consultants, in specialist angling publications, tackle and bait manufacturers, public aquaria, fisheries enforcement and product development, as lab and research technicians, in education and teaching and as fish farmers and fishery managers.

Modules

• LEVEL 4
• Principles in Aquatic Biology
• Fishery Science
• Industrial Experience
• Introductory Fishery Management
• Salmonid Aquaculture
• Academic Skills
• LEVEL 5
• Tropical Aquaculture
• Fish Health And Nutrition
• Marine Fish Farming (optional)
• Aquarium Design and Husbandry (optional)
• Fishery Appraisal
• Financial Studies
• Statistics And Research Methods
• Industrial Development

LEVEL 6
• Applied Fishery Science
• Developments In Fish Production & Processing
• Enterprise & Management
• Environmental Management
• Dissertation
• Further Statistics
• Professional Industrial Development

Assessment methods

Assessment at level four and five is primarily by exams and coursework which includes practical portfolios, laboratory reports, case studies and essay style assignments. At level six there is a greater emphasis on group projects and independent research.

Tuition fees

Select where you currently live to see what you'll pay:

Channel Islands
£9,800
per year
England
£9,250
per year
EU
£9,800
per year
International
£9,800
per year
Northern Ireland
£9,250
per year
Republic of Ireland
£9,250
per year
Scotland
£9,250
per year
Wales
£9,250
per year

Extra funding

If your household income is under £32,960 you could receive a bursary of up to £750 per annum. This can be used to help towards travel costs, books and equipment or anything else that will help you during your course.

Depending on the financial information disclosed in your Student Loan application, UCS may make an automatic bursary award based on specific criteria as set out in our Access and Participation Plan. If this is not the case you may still be able to apply for financial support to the UCS HE Hardship fund by completing a Bursary Application Form (available from end of |Term 1).

For more information please [email protected].

The Uni


Course location:

University Centre Sparsholt

Department:

Aquaculture, Fisheries and Marine Ecology

Read full university profile

What students say


We've crunched the numbers to see if overall student satisfaction here is high, medium or low compared to students studying this subject(s) at other universities.

86%
Aquaculture

How do students rate their degree experience?

The stats below relate to the general subject area/s at this university, not this specific course. We show this where there isn’t enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.

Agriculture

Teaching and learning

95%
Staff make the subject interesting
95%
Staff are good at explaining things
84%
Ideas and concepts are explored in-depth
81%
Opportunities to apply what I've learned

Assessment and feedback

Feedback on work has been timely
Feedback on work has been helpful
Staff are contactable when needed
Good advice available when making study choices

Resources and organisation

67%
Library resources
86%
IT resources
79%
Course specific equipment and facilities
67%
Course is well organised and has run smoothly

Student voice

Staff value students' opinions
Feel part of a community on my course

After graduation


We don't have more detailed stats to show you in relation to this subject area at this university but read about typical employment outcomes and prospects for graduates of this subject below.

What about your long term prospects?

Looking further ahead, below is a rough guide for what graduates went on to earn.

Agriculture

The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.

£20k

£20k

£20k

£20k

£21k

£21k

Note: this data only looks at employees (and not those who are self-employed or also studying) and covers a broad sample of graduates and the various paths they've taken, which might not always be a direct result of their degree.

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Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF):

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This information comes from the National Student Survey, an annual student survey of final-year students. You can use this to see how satisfied students studying this subject area at this university, are (not the individual course).

This is the percentage of final-year students at this university who were "definitely" or "mostly" satisfied with their course. We've analysed this figure against other universities so you can see whether this is high, medium or low.

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This information is from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), for undergraduate students only.

You can use this to get an idea of who you might share a lecture with and how they progressed in this subject, here. It's also worth comparing typical A-level subjects and grades students achieved with the current course entry requirements; similarities or differences here could indicate how flexible (or not) a university might be.

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Post-six month graduation stats:

This is from the Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education Survey, based on responses from graduates who studied the same subject area here.

It offers a snapshot of what grads went on to do six months later, what they were earning on average, and whether they felt their degree helped them obtain a 'graduate role'. We calculate a mean rating to indicate if this is high, medium or low compared to other universities.

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Graduate field commentary:

The Higher Education Careers Services Unit have provided some further context for all graduates in this subject area, including details that numbers alone might not show

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The Longitudinal Educational Outcomes dataset combines HRMC earnings data with student records from the Higher Education Statistics Agency.

While there are lots of factors at play when it comes to your future earnings, use this as a rough timeline of what graduates in this subject area were earning on average one, three and five years later. Can you see a steady increase in salary, or did grads need some experience under their belt before seeing a nice bump up in their pay packet?

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