Biosciences Foundation Year

Our full-time Biosciences Foundation Year will provide you with the necessary skills and knowledge to progress with confidence to your chosen degree course.

What you will study

This foundation year is designed to develop the knowledge, skills and capabilities that you will require to successfully complete an undergraduate degree in the biosciences.

You will explore fascinating processes of life, from evolutionary genetics and cells to organ systems through to human impact on ecosystems. You will also study topics in chemistry and mathematics – the principles that underpin biological sciences.

You’ll put theory into practice through laboratory sessions and fieldwork, and you’ll have the opportunity to immerse yourself in a topic of your choice, researching something you find interesting that relates to your degree course.

My foundation year was so exciting and enjoyable. The workload was manageable, and it helped me massively to start living and studying independently. Emily

Teaching and learning

You’ll be taught by a small team of dedicated specialists equipped to give you everything you need to excel in your foundation year:

Dr Sam Hopkins, Senior Lecturer and Programme Lead for the Biosciences Foundation Year
Dr Andrea Markou, Lecturer in Biosciences
Sarah Dolman, Lecturer in Biosciences
Dr Shelini Surendran, Associate Dean International FHMS and Associate Professor in Biosciences
Dr Nathaniel Bingham, Lecturer in Chemistry.

Day-to-day learning

In addition to lectures and tutorials, you will spend time learning in our state-of-the-art teaching labs, conducting field work, taking part in writing café sessions, problem-based scenarios and skills-based workshops.

The foundation year prepares you for university-level learning with a structure that ensures you are always supported. You will be assigned a personal tutor throughout your studies.

Assessment

During your foundation year, you’ll be introduced to the full range of challenges and methods of assessment that you’ll encounter during your degree, but with additional support and feedback so that you can develop your skills quickly and get the best level of preparation.

Three of the assessments – e-portfolio, ‘My future discipline’ investigation and teamworking skills – will run throughout the year and there will be multiple assessment points to allow you to improve your performance.

Several assessment methods (especially the e-portfolio) encourage you to analyse your thinking processes and nurture reflective practices.

I'm so glad I did a foundation year. Being taught the same concepts but in a different way to sixth form was revolutionary to me and allowed me to excel in fields I had previously not performed very well in. Jessica