Biology with foundation year

Why study Biology at Aberystwyth University?

• Following the Foundation Year, the remaining syllabus of the course is identical to its sister course, BSc Biology (C100);
• Aberystwyth is situated among hills, wooded valleys, wetlands, sandy and rocky shores and, of course alongside the pristine waters of Cardigan Bay;
• You might be studying microbiology in the morning, and investigating the life found in sand dunes in the afternoon. You don’t have to limit yourself to just one area of Biology. You can keep your options open or specialise. Our degree structure allows you to do either;
• You will be taught by passionate, engaged, friendly and staff with expertise across the full range of Biological topics;
• Your academic studies will be bolstered by a wealth of laboratory and field classes which build real scientific skills essential for your future;
• Our teaching and E-Learning facilities provide you with an outstanding learning experience integrating the classroom sessions and a vast repository of study resources;
• You will be assigned a personal tutor who can guide you through your time at Aberystwyth and help you to settle in when you first arrive;
• We have invested heavily and over a number of years in our research facilities, and project students may get the opportunity to work in the research units on Penglais, or in our dedicated research facility at Gogerddan just outside Aberystwyth.

Our Staff

The majority of teaching staff at the Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences are qualified to PhD level and are research active. Vocational courses also have staff whose background lies within industry.  The Institute has a large number of research only staff with whom students may have contact.

What options are available to me after I graduate?

Our graduates are strong candidates in the following fields:

• Research scientist;
• Clinical molecular geneticist;
• Nature conservation officer;
• Education.

Students who have completed a biology degree could also progress to further training in:

• Dentistry;
• Medicine;
• Science writers.

The University has an excellent Careers Service and we have our own dedicated, professional Careers Advisor. We also have a member of staff who is Director of Employability for IBERS and we are constantly striving to embed and enhance the delivery of real-world skills into every module we offer.

What skill will I develop from studying Biology?

Employability is embedded in our teaching. Our students leave Aberystwyth University with the skills including:

• Research and data analysis skills;
• Enhanced mathematical and computational skills;
• Effective problem-solving and creative thinking skills;
• Thorough grounding in information technology skills;
• Ability to work independently;
• Time-management and organisational skills, including the ability to meet deadlines;
• Ability to express ideas and communicate information in a clear and structured manner, in both written and oral form;
• Self-motivation and self-reliance;
• Team-working, with the ability to discuss concepts in groups, accommodating different ideas and reaching agreement.

What work experience opportunities exist whilst studying?

Find out about the various opportunities that our Careers Service offer and how you can enhance your employability prospects with GO Wales and Year in Employment Scheme (YES).

What will I learn?

In the Foundation Year you will be introduced to basic Biological theory and practice.

In your first year of the degree you will explore a wide range of topics from Biochemistry to Animal Diversity, from Microbial Diversity to Vegetation and Ecosystems. These are all designed to give you a firm footing in your second and third years and allow you to try out topics you might never have considered before.

There is a wide range of modules on offer in years two and three, more so than in any other scheme we offer. In these years you can specialise, perhaps taking a more molecular or environmental route choosing modules such as Applied Molecular Biology and Bioinformatics or Ecological Surveying. On the other hand, you can keep your options open by mixing and matching topics like Biochemistry and Pharmacology with Population and Community Ecology. The latter approach is ideal if you are interested in a career in education. The second and third years are where you will also find our field courses ranging from Tropical Zoology to Animal Behaviour.

In your final year you will also undertake your dissertation. Because of the range of research done in IBERS, you will be able to find a project which really engages you and builds your scientific skills. The projects may be lab or field-based or data analysis studies, but all help you develop advanced analytical skills. You might be studying parasites, plant breeding, bird behaviour, or cancer to name but a few. 

How will I be taught?

It’s not all lectures and exams here at Aberystwyth. We place great emphasis on field and practical work to let you get your hands dirty and build practical and analytical skills. The skills are essential for a career in Biosciences and teaching, but they also make Biology graduates an attractive proposition for employers in many other sectors. Seminars, tutorials and residential field courses also play a role in teaching here.

We have a very well developed E-Learning environment which captures every lecture for you to revisit at your leisure and hosts a wide range of contents in all formats. We have an excellent Student Support team at Aberystwyth who can help arrange for additional teaching resources and alternatives for those students who need it. Our aim is to make everything we do fully accessible to everyone and our teaching and support staff are dedicated to this end.

There are, of course, exams, but every module has more than one form of assessment. In most modules coursework makes up a significant proportion of the marks (typically up to 50% although there are modules assessed entirely by coursework). Coursework assessments range from practical or field reports through to writing journal-style articles and making podcasts.

Our assessments are not just designed to test your knowledge and understanding, they also build real-world skills such as teamwork, presentation and report writing skills that are needed in any graduate-level job. When we teach and examine, we are aiming to create the scientists of the future and first-class potential employees at the same time.