5 reasons to study foundation nursing at Surrey
On our undergraduate nursing courses, ranked top 5 in the UK by both The Complete University Guide 2020 and The Times and The Sunday Times Good University Guide 2020, you’ll complete an additional year of study, access our state-of-the-art facilities, gain clinical experience, learn from practitioners and enhance your employability.
During your foundation year, you’ll complete experience days in hospital and community care settings, to understand more about working in the NHS and the role of a Nurse.
You’ll practise real scenarios using lifelike mannequins and actors as patients, fitting cannulas, checking for heart murmurs, monitoring breathing and much more.
You’ll spend half of your training in clinical placements, allowing you to practise the skills you’ll learn in the classroom out in the real-world, under the supervision of qualified practitioners.
We have a clinical-led focus to our teaching, ensuring everything you learn is up-to-date and relevant to an NHS care setting.
Our nursing courses are accredited by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), giving you the academic requirements needed to register to work as a Nurse once you’ve graduated.
1. Complete an additional year of study
We offer three different nursing courses - adult, child and mental health - each with a core focus on patient care. All of these have a foundation year, designed to develop your skills and make it easier to get started at university. This access route is ideal if:
- You don’t have the grades for our three-year nursing courses
- You have non-traditional qualifications or experience
- You’re starting university after some time away from education
- You’re looking for more support during the transition into university study.
As a foundation student, you’ll study full-time for one year at foundation level. During this time, you’ll complete experience days in hospital and community care settings, to understand more about working in the NHS and the role of a Nurse. After successful completion of the year, you’ll move onto the next three years of study for your chosen nursing course.
2. Access state-of-the-art facilities
Our facilities have recently undergone a multi-million pound investment, giving you access to the latest industry equipment including our Clinical Simulation Centre, consisting of two large wards, an operating theatre, a community flat and an ambulance bay. Here you’ll get to practise real scenarios using lifelike mannequins and actors as patients, fitting cannulas, checking for heart murmurs, monitoring breathing and much more. You’ll also take your Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCEs) here, which assess your clinical technique.
As one of our students, you’ll also get exclusive access to our independent clinical learning room. The room is set up each week with the necessary equipment required to practise the techniques you’ll be learning.
3. Gain clinical experience
Our nursing courses are 50% theory and 50% practice. You’ll spend half of your training in clinical placements, allowing you to practise the skills you’ll learn in the classroom out in the real-world, under the supervision of qualified practitioners. Your placements will take place across Surrey, Sussex and Hampshire, exposing you to a wide variety of scenarios and patients. You’ll develop an awareness of working in the NHS, and the role of a Nurse, before building up your knowledge, skills and professional abilities.
Previous students have undertaken their placements in the NHS, with private healthcare organisations, and with charities. These have been across several settings, including medical and surgical environments, high dependency wards, older people’s services, and out in the community.
4. Learn from practitioners
We have a clinical-led focus to our teaching, ensuring everything you learn is up-to-date and relevant to an NHS care setting. Our lecturers are all practising healthcare professionals working in the NHS, and many are active researchers, investigating topics such as cancer, dementia, ethics and compassionate practice. You’ll also be taught by a multidisciplinary team of guest lecturers, made up of local doctors, nurses, midwives and other healthcare workers.
Throughout your placements, you'll have an educational supervisor, who is a senior clinician. They'll guide you through your experience and feed into your evidence portfolio.
5. Enhance your employability
Our nursing courses are accredited by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), giving you the academic requirements needed to register to work as a Nurse once you’ve graduated. 100% of our BSc (Hons) Nursing Studies (Registered Nurse Adult Nursing) graduates go on to full-time employment or further study.* Our alumni can be found working for NHS trusts across the UK, with recent graduates working for Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, and Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust.
Nursing is the largest healthcare profession in the UK and is home to a diverse range of roles in hospitals, practice surgeries, people’s homes and the wider community. There are also specialist areas that nurses occupy in care homes, schools, mental health agencies, hospices, the military and in industry. Visit the NHS Careers website for further information.
Find out more about our undergraduate nursing courses
*Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education Survey 2016-2017
