Biological Sciences, BSc (Hons), with industry placement

Course summary

Are you passionate about biology in all of its forms? Do you want to study a broad biology degree without the constraints of choosing a specialism too soon, with equal emphasis on lab and field skills? You will build an understanding of biology from viruses to mammals and from freshwater to rocky shores, gaining state-of-the-art practical and transferable skills highly sought by employers, graduating ready to shape the future of fields from ecosystem management to laboratory research.In the 2020 National Student Survey, 92% of students felt staff on this course were good at explaining things and 96% found the course intellectually stimulating. This programme focuses on biology of a wide range of environments from soils and the oceans to hydrothermal vents and volcanic lakes.

• Study the whole spectrum of contemporary biology, on a course consistently praised externally for its outstanding teaching quality and well-constructed programme.

• Gain theoretical and practical skills in the laboratory and dig deeper into the interplay between biology and real life so you'll graduate with the skills to immediately enter the world of work.

• Learn on location, through day trips to field courses.

• Experience practical biology in the real world with an optional work placement between your second and final year.

• Build the knowledge, skills and practical awareness for a variety of careers.

• Work with your personal and course tutors to develop key graduate skills to boost your employability.

• Keep pace with the ever changing discoveries, insights and thinking in ecology, biodiversity, cell biology, animal behaviour and physiology.

• Be inspired by staff who are leading the way in their subjects, carrying out research that turns heads worldwide.

• Boost your practical skills using our specialised facilities including controlled environment chambers, experimental glasshouses, and an electron microscopy unit.

In your first year, you will obtain a strong foundation across the spectrum of the biological sciences. You will begin with an intensive 4 week induction module through which you will obtain key skills in use of the scientific literature, data analysis and interpretation, academic writing and presenting and communicating your findings in both written and oral formats. You will then study cell biology, microbiology and the physiology of animals and plants, whilst furthering your transferable skills. You will undertake laboratory based practicals in a range of different areas that underpin and complement your lecture-based learning. You will have the opportunity to undertake a residential field course or alternative. Recently this has been to Slapton in South Devon, where we studied natural history and taxonomy of wild animals and plants, whilst learning to design and carry out experimental work in the field. In your second year, you’ll build on your growing knowledge of physiology, plant biology, microbiology and the methods and techniques of biological science. You will undertake a team-based microbiology research project through which you will gain core transferable skills in team work and working with new people alongside core research and bench skills. You will customise your studies through optional modules in ecology and the molecular basis of disease. A key part of your second year is a residential field trip to the Azores which takes place in late August or early September just before your second year start. During this course you will study life in extreme environments at geothermal springs and volcanic lakes and will undertake ecological studies of invasive and endemic species in the broad range of unique ecosystems that the Azores offers. You can alternatively undertake your second year at one of a selection of overseas universities through our Year Abroad scheme. When you return, you will go straight into your final year, so you degree still takes 3 years overall. Many of our students carry out an optional placement year between their second and final years. You can undertake either two 3 month work placements or one 6 month placement, though many of our students opt to spent up to 12 months at their placement provider. Given the opportunities a Placement Year gives and the positive impact it brings to employability, we strongly encourage all students to give serious consideration to undertaking a Placement Year. In your final year of study, you will study from a range of optional modules, allowing you to specialise in plant biotechnology, environmental microbiology, global change biology, bioprospecting, animal nutrition, animal and society and eco toxicology. You will also study our Advanced Skills and Concepts module, within which you will select three 'podules', allowing you to specialise in key practical-focused areas that have been developed to give you industry-relevant skills not typically found within undergraduate programmes. In common with all honours degrees in the UK, a major part of your final year is your research project, in which you will apply the skills and understanding you have developed through your studies to a piece of research, supervised by a member of academic staff.