All Life Sciences degrees are available as 3 or 4 year honours degrees. If suitably qualified you have the option of advanced entry - usually at Level 2, which will allow you to complete an Honours degree in 3 years. The choice is yours, and you do not need to commit yourself until you have discussed the options with your Adviser of Studies when you meet with him/her before the start of your first teaching period.
The curriculum has been designed so that, if you choose to take all of your required modules entirely from the menu offered by the College of Life Sciences (see Essential Modules Table), you will have most of the Life Sciences degree options open to you until half way through Level 2. Depending upon the choices that you make for Level 2 Semester 2, you may still have several degree options open to you at this point. In fact, you may not need to make your final choice of degree programme until you are entering your Honours year. In addition, you may be able to choose up to one third of your Level 1 and Level 2 modules from outside the Life Sciences module menu and take modules taught by the College of Art, Science and Engineering or the College of Arts and Social Sciences.
Information about the content of all modules can be found in the Module Descriptions.
Level 1 modules
If you intend to proceed to an Honours degree in a Life Science subject you take six 20 credit modules at Level 1, at least two of which must be selected from the Level 1 Semester 1 and two from the Level 1 Semester 2 Life Science core modules indicated in the Essential Modules Table. The core modules that you take will be dependent upon your planned Honours degree option(s). You will also take a 10 credit module in Skills, Professionalism and Employability in Life Sciences (SPELS 1), and you are likely to have the option of taking one module during each of Semesters 1 and 2 from subjects outside the Life Sciences. The outside options available will include subjects such as Environmental Science, Psychology, Geography, IT, Mathematics and modern languages, subject to timetable constraints.
Level 2 modules
You will take six 20 credit modules at Level 2, with at least two of these modules per semester being selected from the Level 2 Life Sciences modules indicated in the Essential Modules Table. Your choice of Level 2 modules must include all the essential modules indicated in the Essential Modules Table for your planned degree option(s). You will take a second 10 credit SPELS module (SPELS 2) and, depending upon your choice of degree, one of your modules during each semester of Level 2 can again be in a subject from outside the Life Sciences. The range of outside subjects available is similar to that at Level 1 (see above), with additional Level 2 modules in Career Planning and Internship also being available.
Level 3 modules
If you intend to proceed to an Honours degree within the College of Life Sciences, you will take two 30 credit modules in each of Semesters 1 and 2 at Level 3. This must include the essential modules indicated in the Essential Modules Table for your planned degree option(s). You will also take a 10 credit SPELS module.
