Biology with Psychology (with Foundation Year)
Entry requirements
A level
A successfully completed Access diploma
Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Diploma (first teaching from September 2016)
UCAS Tariff
A science subject is preferred
About this course
If you are fascinated by the way in which the mind can affect the functioning of the body, this degree places you at the interface between human biosciences and psychology, exploring its impact on human health. On the course, you focus on interactions at a molecular level and the effect they can have on mind and behaviour. This involves understanding how the human body, nervous system and brain function in health and disease, and the ways in which they can malfunction. You start the course with introductions to psychology, anatomy and physiology as well as the biosciences – including biochemistry and microbiology – which can be linked to mind and consciousness. Later you explore areas such as immunology, pharmacology, nutrition, and biological and cognitive psychology.
As this course is jointly delivered by our Psychology and Life Sciences academics, it is accredited by the Biomedical Science and British Psychological Society. In addition, through the Life Sciences Liaison Board, we have strong links to external stakeholders in industry and practice sectors. At Bedfordshire we are proactively working to create opportunities for placements and external visits so you get the best opportunities to engage with industry. A number of recent graduates are currently employed in diverse sectors including healthcare, pharmaceutical, research, science and education, whilst others have received funding to pursue PhDs in medicine.
We are continuing to invest in our laboratory environments and on top of £830,000 development we have invested £40million pounds into our new STEM building.
**Why choose this course?**
- Learn the techniques and practical laboratory skills essential for the study of biosciences and psychology
- Work at the cutting edge of the disciplines you study, with an academic team actively involved in research and feeding the latest advances into your learning
- Develop your understanding and ability to discuss the ethical issues surrounding this complex area
- Benefit from learning a range of key analytical and organisational skills, relevant to a wide range of career choices
**Foundation year**
A Degree with a Foundation Year gives you guaranteed entry to an Undergraduate course. Whether you’re returning to learning and require additional help and support to up-skill, or if you didn’t quite meet the grades to pursue an Undergraduate course, our Degrees with Foundation Year provide a fantastic entry route for you to work towards a degree level qualification.
With our guidance and support you’ll get up to speed within one year, and will be ready to seamlessly progress on to undergraduate study at Bedfordshire. The Foundation Year provides an opportunity to build up your academic writing skills and numeracy, and will also cover a range of subject specific content to fully prepare you for entry to an Undergraduate degree. This is an integrated four-year degree, with the foundation year as a key part of the course. You will need to successfully complete the Foundation Year to progress on to the first year of your bachelor’s degree.
Modules
Areas of study include:
- Cell Biology
- Foundations to Psychology
- Human Anatomy and Physiology
- Microbiology and Biochemistry
- Molecular Genetics
- Biological and Cognitive Psychology
- Immunology
- Nutrition, Brain and Behaviour
- Pharmacology
- Physiology and Endocrinology
- Skills in Science
- Applications of Immunology
- Biology with Psychology Research Project
- Cognitive Neuropsychology
- Immunology and Clinical Nutrition
- Neurophysiology
- Psychology of Language and Vision
- Toxicology
Every effort is made to ensure this information is accurate at the point of publication on the UCAS website. For the most up-to-date information, please refer to our website:
https://www.beds.ac.uk/howtoapply/courses/undergraduate/next-year/biology-with-psychology/
Tuition fees
Select where you currently live to see what you'll pay:
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.
Psychology (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)
Zoology
Sorry, no information to show
This is usually because there were too few respondents in the data we receive to be able to provide results about the subject at this university.
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.
Psychology (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
20 years ago, this was a specialist degree for would-be psychologists but now it is the model of a modern, flexible degree subject. One of the UK's fastest-growing subject at degree level, and the second most popular subject overall (it recently overtook business studies), one in 23 of all graduates last year had psychology degrees. As you'd expect with figures like that, jobs in psychology itself are incredibly competitive, so to stand a chance of securing one, you need to get a postgraduate qualification (probably a doctorate in most fields, especially clinical psychology) and some relevant work experience. But even though there are so many psychology graduates — far more than there are jobs in psychology, and over 13,800 in total last year — this degree has a lower unemployment rate than average because its grads are so flexible and well-regarded by business and other industries across the economy. Everywhere there are good jobs in the UK economy, you'll find psychology graduates - and it's hardly surprising as the course helps you gain a mix of good people skills and excellent number and data handling skills. A psychology degree ticks most employers' boxes — but we'd suggest you don't drop your maths modules.
Zoology
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
Unsurprisingly, the most common job for a zoology graduate on leaving is to work in a zoo or similar organisation - but there are a lot of other options available if you take this subject. Nearly a quarter of graduates take some kind of further qualification when they leave — mostly Masters degrees in zoology or related subjects, like biology or ecology — but a graduate from a zoology course can go into pretty much anything, with science, conservation, management, finance and marketing some of the most popular areas. Zoology graduates are also rather more likely than others to get a job overseas so if an international career appeals to you, this might be a degree to consider.
What about your long term prospects?
Looking further ahead, below is a rough guide for what graduates went on to earn.
Psychology (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.
£18k
£22k
£23k
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.
Zoology
The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.
£20k
£22k
£26k
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.
Explore these similar courses...
This is what the university has told Ucas about the criteria they expect applicants to satisfy; some may be compulsory, others may be preferable.
Have a question about this info? Learn more here
This is the percentage of applicants to this course who received an offer last year, through Ucas.
Have a question about this info? Learn more here
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.
Have a question about this info? Learn more here
Course location and department:
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.
Have a question about this info? Learn more here
Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF):
We've received this information from the Department for Education, via Ucas. This is how the university as a whole has been rated for its quality of teaching: gold silver or bronze. Note, not all universities have taken part in the TEF.
Have a question about this info? Learn more here
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.
Have a question about this info? Learn more here
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.
Have a question about this info? Learn more here
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.
Have a question about this info? Learn more here
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
Have a question about this info? Learn more here
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