Programme Summary
We are flexible in the way you complete your course units, you can either attend the one week taught course unit or take the distance learning version, as long as you complete the correct number of course units required for the award you are registered for. Full time UKVI students must only attend the one week taught course units, other full time students can take a maximum of two course units via distance learning.
Individual subjects are presented in ‘short course’ modular format, providing excellent access to the programme for engineers and managers in full-time employment who wish to advance their skill and knowledge base on a part time basis, either over two or three years.
As a full time student, although you will only be in actual teaching for eight weeks of the year, there will be plenty of work for you to do. Four weeks before each course unit, you will receive pre-course reading and possibly pre-course assignments to be completed before the start of the course unit. There are also post course assignments to complete for the course units and revision for the exams. At points of the year, you will be working on pre-course work, post course assignments and revision at the same time.
A list of the course units is given below together with the institution responsible for their provision and where the course unit is held. You can find more information on the delivery formats here.
From 2023-24 – University of Manchester UKVI full time international students, will have to attend the student hub on campus twice a week to confirm their attendance on campus. You will not have to do this during weeks when you are attending a course unit.
List of Course Units and Providers
Course units available in 2025-26 will be listed here from July 2025
| Course Unit | Provider | Held in |
|---|---|---|
| N01 Reactor Physics, Criticality & Design | The University of Birmingham | Birmingham |
| N02 Nuclear Fuel Cycle | University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) | Preston |
| N03 Radiation & Radiological Protection | The University of Manchester | Manchester |
| N04 Decommissioning, Radioactive Waste and Environmental Management | University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) | Preston |
| N06 Reactor Materials & Lifetime Behaviour | The University of Manchester | Manchester |
| N07 Nuclear Safety Case Development | Nuclear Department, Navy Command | Manchester |
| N08 Particle Engineering in the Nuclear Industry | University of Leeds | Leeds |
| N09 Policy, Regulation & Licensing | The University of Manchester | Manchester |
| N10 Processing, Storage & Disposal of Nuclear Waste | The University of Sheffield | Sheffield |
| N11 Radiation Shielding | University of Liverpool | Liverpool |
| N12 Reactor Thermal Hydraulics | Nuclear Department, Navy Command | Manchester |
| N13 Criticality Safety Management | Nuclear Department, Navy Command | Manchester |
| N15 Severe Accidents | University of Manchester | Manchester |
| N16 Chemical Aspects of Nuclear Technology | University of Manchester | Manchester |
| N17 Tritium & the Fusion Fuel Cycle | University of Manchester | Manchester |
| N18 Control and Instrumentation (C&I) & Functional Safety | University of Manchester | Manchester |
| N19 Primary Circuit Materials & Manufacturing | University of Manchester | Manchester |
| N31 Management of the Decommissioning Process | The University of Birmingham | Birmingham |
| N32 Experimental Reactor Physics | The University of Manchester | Vienna, Austria / Prague, Czech Republic * |
* students wishing to take the N32 course unit must first take the N01 – Reactor Physics, Criticality & Design course unit as it is a pre-requisite
Presentation of course unit content
Course Units Explained