Biology with Integrated Foundation Year
Royal Holloway, University of London
UCAS Code: C10F | Bachelor of Science (with Honours) - BSc (Hons)
Entry requirements
A level
Where an applicant is taking the EPQ alongside A-levels, the EPQ will be taken into consideration and result in lower A-level grades being required. Socio-economics factors which may have impacted an applicant's education will be taken into consideration and alternative offers may be made to these applicants. A Pass is required in the practical element of all Science A-levels taken.
International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme
25 points overall.
Leaving Certificate - Higher Level (Ireland) (first awarded in 2017)
including Biology.
Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Diploma (first teaching from September 2016)
in Health and Social Care plus A-Level grade C in Biology with a pass in the practical elements
Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Certificate (first teaching from September 2016)
Distinction in BTEC Level 3 National Extended Certificate plus A-Level grades CC.
Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Diploma (first teaching from September 2016)
in Applied Science or Sport Science
Scottish Advanced Higher
Scottish Higher
UCAS Tariff
We've calculated how many Ucas points you'll need for this course.
About this course
Our Integrated Foundation Year will take you through a carefully-designed course to help you to progress confidently onto your undergraduate degree.
The Biology Foundation Year provides progressive structures in which you are able to gain knowledge and understanding of approaches to scientific study and your chosen degree subject.
Once you have completed your Foundation year, you will normally progress onto the full degree course, BSc Biology. There may also be flexibility to move onto a degree in another department (see end of section, below).
Biology helps us to understand the world around us – the way that plants and animals interact, the way that different living things evolve and adapt and our own role in the wider natural world. Biology at Royal Holloway, University of London gives you a sound understanding of the structure, function, evolution and diversity of living organisms and the interactions between them.
On BSc Biology you will study a diverse range of biology modules, from molecular biology to learning the science to help overcome the challenges of climate change. You can choose a pathway to tailor your degree to your own biological interests from a huge range of options taught by experts in their fields, across the spectrum of ecology or molecular sciences.
You will learn on a biodiverse campus in reach of sites of special scientific interest and put your learning into practice through fieldwork opportunities. You will develop an understanding of how to design and analyse experiments and gain invaluable laboratory experience and data handling skills.
On successful completion, you’ll be equipped with:
- a broad understanding of the fundamental knowledge base and the terminology of Biological Sciences
- an awareness of current areas of debate and discovery in Biological Sciences and how scientific knowledge and methods can be applied to investigate them.
- the skills needed to work in a wide range of sectors.
From time to time, we make changes to our courses to improve the student and learning experience, and this is particularly the case as we continue to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic. If we make a significant change to your chosen course, we’ll let you know as soon as we can.
Modules
Please refer to our website for information: https://royalholloway.ac.uk/studying-here/2022/undergraduate/biological-sciences/bsc-biology-with-integrated-foundation-year/
Assessment methods
In your Foundation Year, teaching methods include a mixture of lectures, practical classes and workshops, laboratory classes, individual tutorials, and supervisory sessions. Outside of the classroom you’ll undertake guided and independent practice. You will be assigned a Personal Tutor in the Department of Biological Sciences and will have regular scheduled sessions. In the Foundation Year, you’ll also be assigned a Personal Tutor in the Centre for the Development of Academic Skills (CeDAS). Assessments are varied; practical exercises, weekly problem sheets, set exercises, written examinations, laboratory reports. In addition the Foundation Year offers a full range of skills-based training.
For your degree course, teaching methods will include a mixture of lectures, seminars, individual tutorials, and practical field and laboratory work. Outside the classroom, students will be expected to undertake study to understand the taught material, and to carry out the assessed coursework. Assessment will be through a combination of examinations, project(s) and practical work.
Tuition fees
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The Uni
Royal Holloway, University of London
Biological Sciences
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.
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.
Biology (non-specific)
Teaching and learning
Assessment and feedback
Resources and organisation
Student voice
Who studies this subject and how do they get on?
Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)
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.
Biology (non-specific)
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.
Top job areas of graduates
The recession was tough on biology graduates, and although the jobs market has improved for them - a lot - it's still not back to where it was a few years ago. If you want a career in biology research — and a lot of biology students do - you'll need to take a doctorate, so give some thought as to where you might do it and how you might fund it (the government still funds doctorates for good students). A lot of graduates also take 1 year Masters courses to specialise in this wide and deep subject - most students take a standard biology course for their first degree and then specialise in subjects like ecology, conservation or marine biology later. Hospitals, universities, biotech firms, zoos and nature reserves and clinical and scientific testing are common industries of employment for biology graduates.
What about your long term prospects?
Looking further ahead, below is a rough guide for what graduates went on to earn.
Biology (non-specific)
The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.
£21k
£27k
£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 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?
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