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University of Chester

UCAS Code: D326 | Bachelor of Science (with Honours) - BSc (Hons)

Entry requirements

A level

B,C,C-B,B,C

The Department requires one of the following subjects as essential for entry: GCE A Level: Biology or Applied Science

Access to HE (Science) Diploma, to include 45 credits at level 3, 30 of which must be at Merit.

International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme

28

including 5 in HL Biology

Leaving Certificate - Higher Level (Ireland) (first awarded in 2017)

H3,H3,H3,H3,H4

Including H3 in Biology

Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Diploma (first teaching from September 2016)

DMM

Animal Care/Management or Applied Science

Scottish Higher

B,B,B,B

including Biology or Human Biology

T Level

M

T Level must be in Science

UCAS Tariff

112

About this course

Course option

3years

Full-time | 2025

Subject

Animal behaviour

Explore the fascinating science of animal behaviour, focusing on animals in their natural habitats, including ecological, conservation and welfare contexts.
Develop vital employer-desired skills while studying the ever-interesting field of animal behaviour. With an emphasis on free-living wild animals, you will follow a scientifically driven course that develops your fundamental skills and knowledge and then uses them in cutting-edge applied contexts such as conservation and welfare sciences.

Whilst the emphasis is mainly on wild animals, you can study behaviour in more managed environments: e.g. determining best husbandry and conservation breeding for endangered animals in zoos; best practice pet welfare; and farm animal management. Our staff have real enthusiasm for their subject and bring great expertise from their research fields.

This course is firmly rooted in the biological sciences and adopts a rigorous scientific approach to the study of the behaviour of animals. As well as exploring the behaviour of charismatic animals, we embrace a wide taxonomic range of species and have a good focus on some of the groups less emphasised elsewhere, such as amphibians and invertebrates. These groups have really interesting behaviour in their own right, but are also a crucial part of temperate and tropical ecosystems – understanding their behaviour is vital for wider habitat conservation.

Modules

For the latest example of curriculum availability on this degree programme please refer to the University of Chester's Website.

Assessment methods

Assessment is via exams – MCQs/essays (roughly 50%) – and innovative coursework, including news items, tweets, blogs and mind maps alongside more traditional critiques, scientific reports and essays.

Tuition fees

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

Channel Islands
£9,250
per year
England
£9,250
per year
EU
£9,250
per year
Northern Ireland
£9,250
per year
Scotland
£9,250
per year
Wales
£9,250
per year

The Uni

Course location:

Chester

Department:

Natural 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.

67%
Animal behaviour

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.

Animal science

Teaching and learning

71%
Staff make the subject interesting
78%
Staff are good at explaining things
70%
Ideas and concepts are explored in-depth
62%
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

61%
Library resources
88%
IT resources
70%
Course specific equipment and facilities
43%
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?

95%
UK students
5%
International students
18%
Male students
82%
Female students
71%
2:1 or above
12%
First year drop out rate

Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)

D
C
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.

Animal science

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.

£15,600
med
Average annual salary
94%
low
Employed or in further education
35%
low
Employed in a role where degree was essential or beneficial

Top job areas of graduates

31%
Animal care and control services
19%
Sales assistants and retail cashiers
12%
Other elementary services occupations

These stats refer to the prospects for graduates from both general animal studies courses and those for particular animals (such as equine science). Graduates don't generally get jobs as vets when they graduate; much the most common jobs tend to be roles caring for animals, such as veterinary nurses. Some of these jobs are not currently classified as professional level occupations, but in reality, you need a degree to get these jobs (and probably always have done), and graduates in them report that they got the jobs that they wanted. So the stats you see might not completely represent just how useful these degrees are for getting into animal care careers.

What about your long term prospects?

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

Animal science

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

£16k

£16k

£18k

£18k

£19k

£19k

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.

This is what the university has told Ucas about the criteria they expect applicants to satisfy; some may be compulsory, others may be preferable.

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This is the percentage of applicants to this course who received an offer last year, through Ucas.

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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:

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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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