Midwifery

Midwifery is the profession concerned with supporting women and birthing people through pregnancy, labour, birth and the postnatal period, and with the health and wellbeing of newborn babies. Midwives are autonomous practitioners who take responsibility for the care of healthy mothers and babies, and who work alongside obstetricians and other health professionals in the management of more complex situations. The role is clinically demanding, emotionally significant and ethically rich, requiring both rigorous scientific knowledge and exceptional interpersonal skill, compassion and the capacity to support people at transformative and sometimes highly pressured moments of their lives.

At the University of Surrey, this three-year full-time programme prepares you to register as a midwife with the Nursing and Midwifery Council. You will develop your knowledge of maternal physiology, fetal development, pharmacology, obstetrics, neonatal care and public health, alongside the clinical skills, assessment capabilities and professional values that midwifery practice requires. Surrey's approach integrates digital skills and analytical thinking throughout the curriculum, preparing you for a profession that increasingly draws on data, technology and evidence-based practice.

Extensive clinical placements are distributed across the three years, giving you direct experience of supporting women and families in a range of settings, from community and home births to hospital labour wards and neonatal units.

You will develop as a confident, evidence-based practitioner who can work autonomously and collaboratively, communicate with sensitivity and clarity, and make sound clinical judgements in situations that may evolve rapidly.

After qualifying, graduates register with the NMC and move into community midwifery, hospital midwifery, specialist practice in areas such as mental health in pregnancy, bereavement support, or neonatal care, and leadership and management roles. Research, education, and international midwifery are further pathways, and postgraduate study supports progression into advanced practice.