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What makes Biomedical Science BSc at Worcester special?

Our Biomedical Science degree is at the forefront of understanding, diagnosing and treating human disease through laboratory and scientific investigations. Qualified biomedical scientists are highly sought after in pathology centres, forensic science laboratories, research institutions and in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries.

You'll gain the scientific and practical knowledge and skills to diagnose disease, evaluate disease progression and the effectiveness of medical interventions. Investigating potential treatments, researching drug and equipment development, testing emergency blood transfusions and screening for diseases are just a few examples.

Our teaching staff have an excellent research portfolio, which includes working in NHS diagnostic pathology laboratories. The team place a strong emphasis on biomedical diagnostics, so research opportunities will be available throughout the course.

Overview

Overview

Key features

  • Accredited by the Institute of Biomedical Science (IBMS)
  • Professional links give you the chance to put theory into practice through projects linked to the NHS and the wider industry of biomedical science
  • Brand new laboratories and specialist equipment - an inspiring environment for you to gain practical skills and to develop your research ideas
  • Taught by internationally recognised scientists
  • Strong emphasis on practical and laboratory work

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Biomedical Science BSc: Our biomedical science degree is accredited by the Institute of Biomedical Science.

This course is accredited by the Institute of Biomedical Science (IBMS).

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Entry requirements

What qualifications will you need?

Entry requirements

  • 96 UCAS Tariff points MUST include A Level Biology, Human Biology or Chemistry and A Level in another science, Maths or Statistics.
  • 104 UCAS Tariff points MUST include A Level Biology, Human Biology or Chemistry. 

Other qualifications, such as BTEC in Applied Science or equivalent, and Access to Higher Education (with at least 15 credits of Biological Sciences gained), will also be considered.

Don't quite meet the entry requirements or returning to education? Consider studying a Biological Science with Foundation Year.

Other information

The University will consider each application on its individual merits and will recognise a range of qualifications not currently included in the Tariff, including pre-2002 qualifications such as GNVQ. Non-standard entry via the exploratory essay route is also available.

If your qualifications are not listed, please contact the Admissions Office for advice on 01905 855111 or email admissions@worc.ac.uk for advice.

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Course content

What will you study?

Our courses are informed by research and current developments in the discipline and feedback from students, external examiners and employers. Modules do therefore change periodically in the interests of keeping the course relevant and reflecting best practice. The most up-to-date information will be available to you once you have accepted a place and registered for the course. If there are insufficient numbers of students interested in an optional module, this might not be offered, but we will advise you as soon as possible and help you choose an alternative. 

Year 1

Mandatory

  • Introduction to Human Anatomy and Physiology
  • Cell Biology
  • Health and Disease
  • Introduction to Biological Chemistry and Genetics
  • Professional and Technical Development in Biomedical Science

Year 2

Mandatory

  • Systems Physiology 1
  • Immunology
  • Molecular and Cellular Biology
  • Project Development
  • Professional Aspects of Biomedical Science
  • Microbiology

Year 3

Mandatory

  • Research Project 
  • Clinical Biochemistry
  • Infection Science and Antimicrobial Resistance
  • Haematology and Transfusion Science
  • Cell Pathology
  • Neuroendocrinology

Optional

  • Pharmacology
  • The Biochemistry of Cancer
  • Diseases of the Ageing Brain
Teaching and assessment

How will you be taught?

We enable you to develop the independent learning capabilities that will equip you for lifelong learning and future employment, as well as academic achievement.

A mixture of independent study, teaching and academic support through the personal academic tutoring system enables you to reflect on progress and build up a profile of skills, achievements and experiences that will enable you to flourish and be successful.

Teaching

You are taught through a combination of lectures, seminars, group work, interactive workshops and laboratory practicals. Interactive workshops take a variety of formats and are intended to enable the application of learning through discussion and small group activities. Seminars enable the discussion and development of understanding of topics covered in lectures, and laboratory practicals are focused on developing subject specific skills and applied individual and group project work.

In addition, meetings with personal academic tutors are scheduled on at least 4 occasions in the first year and three occasions in each of the other years of a course.

You have the opportunity to engage with professional Biomedical Science practitioners and visit relevant potential employers in a range of different modules in each year.

You will use a range of excellent laboratory facilities, computing suites and software relevant to Biomedical Science throughout the course.

Contact time

In a typical week you will have around 16 contact hours of teaching and in the final year you will have slightly less contact time in order to do more independent study.

The nature of your contact time will vary from module to module but for a 15-credit module it will typically be structured around:

  • 8 hours of interactive workshops
  • 7 hours of supervised laboratory practicals
  • 1 hour of group workshops
  • 1 hour of Study Skills (first year only)

Independent self-study

In addition to the contact time you are expected to undertake around 8-9 hours of personal self-study per week. Typically, this will involve completing online activities, reading journal articles and books, working on individual and group projects, undertaking research in the library and online, preparing coursework assignments and presentations, and preparing for examinations.

Independent learning is supported by a range of excellent learning facilities, including the Hive and library resources, the virtual learning environment, and extensive electronic learning resources.

Teaching staff

You will be taught by a teaching team whose expertise and knowledge are closely matched to the content of the modules on the course. Our biomedical team is made up of senior academics, professional practitioners with clinical experience, demonstrators and technical laboratory officers. The team includes internationally-recognised scientists whose specialist areas include: cardiovascular disease, wound healing, cancers, diabetes and dementia-related disorders.

Postgraduate research students who have undertaken teacher training may also contribute to the teaching of seminars under the supervision of the module leader. Teaching is informed by research and consultancy, and 56 per cent of University lecturers have a higher education teaching qualification or are Fellows of the Higher Education Academy. You can learn more about the staff by visiting our staff profiles.

Assessment

The course provides opportunities to test understanding and learning informally through the completion of practice or 'formative' assignments.

Each module has one or more formal or 'summative' assessments which are graded and count towards the overall module grade. Assessment methods include written examinations and a range of coursework assessments such as essays, laboratory reports, portfolios, presentations and a final year independent study project.

The precise assessment requirements for an individual student in an academic year will vary according to the mandatory modules taken, but a typical formal summative assessment pattern for each year of the course is:

Year 1

  • 3 formal examinations of 2 hours and 3 formal examinations of 1.5 hours duration
  • 1 practical test of 2 hours duration
  • 1 essay
  • 6 x practical files/reports
  • 2 x individual or group presentations

Year 2

  • 3 x formal examinations of 2 hours and 4 formal examinations of 1.5 hours duration
  • 1 essay
  • 4 practical reports
  • 4 reports
  • 2 individual or group presentations
  • 1 research proposal

Year 3

  • Major independent study project of 7000 - 9000 words
  • 1 poster
  • 1 formal examinations of 2.5 hours and 4 formal examinations of 1.5 hours duration
  • 2 practical examinations of 1.5 hours
  • 3 essays
  • 2 reports

Feedback

You will receive feedback on practice assessments and on formal assessments undertaken by coursework. Feedback on examination performance is available upon request from the module leader. Feedback is intended to support learning and you are encouraged to discuss it with personal academic tutors and module tutors as appropriate.

We aim to provide you with feedback on formal course work assessments within 20 working days of hand-in.

Programme specification

For comprehensive details on the aims and intended learning outcomes of the course, and the means by which these are achieved through learning, teaching and assessment, please download the latest programme specification document.

Meet the team

You will be taught by a teaching team whose expertise and knowledge are closely matched to the content of the modules on the course.

Here are a few members of the department who currently teach on this course:

ray-camilleri

Dr Ray Camilleri

Ray joined the academic staff at the University of Worcester in September 2017 as a Senior Lecturer, Course Leader and Admissions Tutor of our biomedical course.

He is also a member of the Worcester Biomedical Research Group and Health, Life and Environment Research Ethics Committee.

Ray’s research has been focused on the genetic and phenotypic links between von Willebrand factor-cleaving protease and thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura.

 

dr-allain-bueno

Dr Allain Bueno

Course Leader for the BSc and MBiol Human Biology course

Course Leader and Admissions Tutor for the BSc Medical Sciences course

Dr Allain Bueno joined the University of Worcester in January 2012, after 4 years of Post-doctoral experience at the Institute of Brain Chemistry and Human Nutrition in London, working with Prof Michael Angus Crawford, one of the pioneers in fatty acid metabolism and brain composition.

Dr Bueno investigated in his PhD the effects of dietary fats on adipose tissue metabolism, and how different types of fat can influence disorders such as inflammation and diabetes. In his MPhil Dr Bueno investigated the impact of surgical removal of fat pads on metabolic adaptations in obesity induced by diet and by neurochemical malfunctioning.

Dr Bueno graduated as a Biomedical Scientist – Medical Modality – from Paulista School of Medicine, Sao Paulo Federal University in Brazil. He holds strong experience in clinical sciences, having worked and taught in a leading Tertiary Referral Hospital. His current area of research includes the biochemistry of dietary fats and their role in oxidative stress, brain metabolism and function.

Dr Bueno is a Scientific Advisor of the Food Standards Agency.

dr-steven-j-coles

Dr Steven J Coles

Steve joined us in February 2013 and is our award leader for the BSc Biochemistry programme. Since joining us, Steve has introduced several new modules to the bioscience degree programmes which are informed by his research and expertise, including: BIOS2110 Immunology and BIOS3113 Biochemistry of Cancer.

Steve's research interests include, cancer immunology, exercise immunology, diagnostics and the role of oxidative stress in disease pathogenesis. Since joining us, Steve has established an independent research profile and is the Worcester Biomedical Research Group (WBRG) lead.

mike wheeler

Dr Mike Wheeler

Dr Mike Wheeler joined the University of Worcester in 2010 after researching in the area of plant molecular genetics. Mike developed a strong background in the biology of cell signalling in plants, with specific research into the mechanisms of self-incompatibility in poppy and the control of polarity in pollen tubes of tobacco. He is currently investigating the function of a large family of secreted proteins likely to be involved in cell-cell communication in the model plants, Arabidopsis thaliana and Physcomitrella patens.

In addition to his research into plant molecular genetics Mike is also developing means of using molecular biology to solve problems in conservation biology which is a longstanding passion of his. In this area Mike is currently developing eDNA (environmental DNA) techniques to assess the effect of invasive and non-native species on species of conservation concern.

Mike is a member of the Sustainable Environments Research Group.

dr-amy-cherry

Dr Amy Cherry

Dr Amy Cherry joined the University of Worcester following postdoctoral positions at the National Institute of Medical Research and the Karolinska Institute, Stockholm. Her research focuses on understanding how proteins work at the molecular level and on how one can use knowledge of protein structure to tackle disease.

Careers

Where could it take you?

Employability

Your Biomedical Science degree will prepare you to work in high-tech hospital laboratories in the NHS or private sector. You'll also gain the skills necessary to work in laboratory services and research in an industrial setting.

Graduates of our Biomedical Science BSc will go on to work in areas such as:

  • clinical biochemistry
  • clinical immunology
  • cytology
  • haematology and transfusion science
  • histology
  • microbiology
  • or virology diagnostic pathology laboratories. 

Alternatively, you'll have the opportunity to branch out into related areas such as patent law, medical sales, teaching or other healthcare professional careers such as medicine. This degree is also an ideal platform to launch a research career and progress to a postgraduate qualification.

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Costs

How much will it cost?

Full-time tuition fees

UK students

The standard tuition fee for full-time UK students registering in the academic year 2021/22 is £9,250 per year.

For more details, please visit our course fees page.

International students

The standard tuition fee for full-time international students registering in the academic year 2021/22 is £13,100 per year.

For more details, please visit our course fees page.

Part-time tuition fees

UK students

The standard tuition fees for part-time UK students registering on this course in the academic year 2021/22 are £1,156 per 15-credit module, £1,542 per 20 credit module, £2,313 per 30-credit module, £3,083 per 40-credit module, £3,469 per 45-credit module and £4,625 per 60 credit module.

For more details, please visit our course fees page.

Additional costs

Every course has day-to-day costs for basic books, stationery, printing and photocopying. The amounts vary between courses.

If your course offers a placement opportunity, you may need to pay for a Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) check.

Accommodation

Finding the right accommodation is paramount to your university experience. Our halls of residence are home to friendly student communities, making them great places to live and study.

We have over 1,000 rooms across our range of student halls. With rooms to suit every budget and need, from our 'Traditional Hall' at £105 per week to 'En-suite Extra' at £169 per week (2020/21 prices).

For full details visit our accommodation page.
How to apply

How do you apply?

Applying through UCAS

Biomedical Science BSc (Hons) - B900

UCAS is the central organisation through which applications are processed for entry onto full-time undergraduate courses in Higher Education in the UK.

Read our How to apply pages for more information on applying and to find out what happens to your application.

UCAS Code

B900

Apply Via UCAS

Get in touch

If you have any questions, please get in touch. We're here to help you every step of the way.

Admissions office

admissions@worc.ac.uk
01905 855111

Dr Ray Camilleri

Course Leader
r.camilleri@worc.ac.uk
01905 542973 Room EE 1030

Lorraine Weaver

Head of Biological Sciences
l.weaver@worc.ac.uk
01905 855598

SSE Academic Support Unit

sse@worc.ac.uk
01905 855201/02/23

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