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Pharmaceutical and Cosmetic Science Foundation

Entry requirements


BTEC Applied Science

T Level

Pass (D or E)

Pass (D or E on the core)

UCAS Tariff

32

2 GCE A Levels grades EE, with Biology or Chemistry, or equivalent eg applied science BTEC

About this course


Course option

4years

Full-time | 2024

Subject

Pharmaceutical chemistry

The initial year of this course is taught by DMUIC, which occupies a single, specially-designed site in the heart of the DMU campus. As a DMUIC student, you will have full access to all the university’s facilities including the library, gym, bookshop, cafes and computer labs. During this year, you will be taught in small class sizes by experienced tutors, receiving excellent academic teaching and superb support to ensure that you get all the help you need to succeed and progress to the Pharmaceutical and Cosmetic Science BSc (Hons).

The first year of this full-time, four-year course is ideal for careers in the medical and healthcare professions or laboratory science, but do not have the relevant grades to study Pharmaceutical and Cosmetic Science at degree level. You will be taught the core skills in chemistry, biology, mathematics, IT and communication, providing you with the key requirements needed to study Pharmaceutical and Cosmetic Science BSc (Hons) at DMU.

Once you have successfully completed the Year Zero stage of your degree at DMUIC and have met the criteria for continuation, you will continue studying directly with the university on our Pharmaceutical and Cosmetic Science BSc (Hons) degree - a course which is renowned for our academic expertise, development training and world-leading research, we offer more than 100 years of teaching experience in the Leicester School of Pharmacy.

**Key features**
- Direct progression on to the Pharmaceutical and Cosmetic Science BSc (Hons) programme at DMU following successful competition of the Year Zero programme.

- You will study a range of topics including human biology, cell biology, chemistry and biochemistry and their relevance to health and life sciences in the wider context, as well as communication skills.

- Learn from experienced tutors, who combine academic teaching excellence with high levels of support to help you succeed.

- This is a specialist course in the UK and DMU is one of only a handful of universities nationally which combines pharmaceutics with a cosmetics element.

- Students have gained international experience through our DMU Global programme, which has previously organised a visit to a Chinese pharmaceutical manufacturing company and to Amsterdam where students learnt about the development of hashish based manufactured drugs.

- Our graduates have secured roles ranging from pharmaceutical scientists and product development scientists, to quality control managers in internationally recognised companies including GlaxoSmithKline, AstraZeneca and Boots.

Modules

Human Biology
Basic Microbiology
Introduction to Psychology
Study Skills 1 - Introduction to DMU
Study Skills 2 - Information Technology & Numeracy
Study Skills 3 - Communication Skills
Cell Biology
Chemistry 1
Chemistry 2
Introductory Biochemistry

All modules are indicative and based on the current academic session. Course information is correct at the time of publication and is subject to review. Exact modules may, therefore, vary for your intake in order to keep content current. If there are changes to your course we will, where reasonable, take steps to inform you as appropriate.

Assessment methods

Assessments come in three main forms:

- Diagnostic assessment allows you and your tutors to see your strengths and weaknesses so you can focus your efforts more effectively (e.g. your tutor may ask you to complete a task in class which you can then ‘mark’ yourself and see where your strengths and areas for focus lie).

- Formative assessment allows your tutors to give you feedback that you can use to improve (e.g. you may be asked to write a report for one of your earlier assignments). You will be given a mark and feedback for this which you can then use to improve your report writing in a later assignment or exam question.

- Summative assessment in which your grade or mark counts towards your final module mark (e.g. an exam at the end of a module).

In order to ensure that you can achieve your full potential, you will receive regular feedback on your assessed work. Feedback will be given in a variety of ways: written, verbal, audio-visual, email, and so on. Feedback has one purpose - to assist you in reflecting upon and revising your work. If you do not act on feedback, or choose not to engage in the different feedback opportunities, your grades are likely to suffer.

Tuition fees

Select where you currently live to see what you'll pay:

England
£9,250
per year
Northern Ireland
£9,250
per year
Scotland
£9,250
per year
Wales
£9,250
per year

The Uni


Course location:

Partner College DMUIC

Department:

Health and Life Sciences

Read full university profile

What students say


We've crunched the numbers to see if overall student satisfaction here is high, medium or low compared to students studying this subject(s) at other universities.

60%
Pharmaceutical chemistry

How do students rate their degree experience?

The stats below relate to the general subject area/s at this university, not this specific course. We show this where there isn’t enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.

Chemistry

Teaching and learning

56%
Staff make the subject interesting
67%
Staff are good at explaining things
69%
Ideas and concepts are explored in-depth
64%
Opportunities to apply what I've learned

Assessment and feedback

Feedback on work has been timely
Feedback on work has been helpful
Staff are contactable when needed
Good advice available when making study choices

Resources and organisation

89%
Library resources
89%
IT resources
91%
Course specific equipment and facilities
71%
Course is well organised and has run smoothly

Student voice

Staff value students' opinions
Feel part of a community on my course

Who studies this subject and how do they get on?

82%
UK students
18%
International students
24%
Male students
76%
Female students
67%
2:1 or above
12%
First year drop out rate

Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)

D
D
D

After graduation


The stats in this section relate to the general subject area/s at this university – not this specific course. We show this where there isn't enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.

Chemistry

What are graduates doing after six months?

This is what graduates told us they were doing (and earning), shortly after completing their course. We've crunched the numbers to show you if these immediate prospects are high, medium or low, compared to those studying this subject/s at other universities.

£19,000
med
Average annual salary
100%
high
Employed or in further education
61%
low
Employed in a role where degree was essential or beneficial

Top job areas of graduates

19%
Sales, marketing and related associate professionals
16%
Sales assistants and retail cashiers
14%
Science, engineering and production technicians

Chemistry graduates are in demand from a wide range of industries, from the food, oil, chemicals and pharmaceuticals to consultancy, technical analysis and teaching. They're also prized by business and finance employers for their research and data handling skills — anywhere there is research and data to be explained, you can find chemistry grads. If you want a career in research, you need a doctorate, so start planning now if you fancy one of these exciting and challenging jobs - but good students can usually get grants to take a doctorate, so don't worry about the financing if you think you have what it takes. The recession wasn’t too kind to chemists, particularly in the pharmaceutical industry (one of the key employers for chemists), but things are getting back to normal for this flexible group and it's one of the few degrees that is bucking the current trend and increasing graduate numbers.

What about your long term prospects?

Looking further ahead, below is a rough guide for what graduates went on to earn.

Chemistry

The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.

£22k

£22k

£24k

£24k

£31k

£31k

Note: this data only looks at employees (and not those who are self-employed or also studying) and covers a broad sample of graduates and the various paths they've taken, which might not always be a direct result of their degree.

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This is what the university has told Ucas about the course. Use it to get a quick idea about what makes it unique compared to similar courses, elsewhere.

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Course location and department:

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Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF):

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This information comes from the National Student Survey, an annual student survey of final-year students. You can use this to see how satisfied students studying this subject area at this university, are (not the individual course).

This is the percentage of final-year students at this university who were "definitely" or "mostly" satisfied with their course. We've analysed this figure against other universities so you can see whether this is high, medium or low.

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This information is from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), for undergraduate students only.

You can use this to get an idea of who you might share a lecture with and how they progressed in this subject, here. It's also worth comparing typical A-level subjects and grades students achieved with the current course entry requirements; similarities or differences here could indicate how flexible (or not) a university might be.

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Post-six month graduation stats:

This is from the Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education Survey, based on responses from graduates who studied the same subject area here.

It offers a snapshot of what grads went on to do six months later, what they were earning on average, and whether they felt their degree helped them obtain a 'graduate role'. We calculate a mean rating to indicate if this is high, medium or low compared to other universities.

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Graduate field commentary:

The Higher Education Careers Services Unit have provided some further context for all graduates in this subject area, including details that numbers alone might not show

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The Longitudinal Educational Outcomes dataset combines HRMC earnings data with student records from the Higher Education Statistics Agency.

While there are lots of factors at play when it comes to your future earnings, use this as a rough timeline of what graduates in this subject area were earning on average one, three and five years later. Can you see a steady increase in salary, or did grads need some experience under their belt before seeing a nice bump up in their pay packet?

Have a question about this info? Learn more here