Applied Medical Sciences with a Foundation Year and Year Abroad

Our BSc Applied Medical Sciences with a Foundation Year is the perfect course for you If you’re interested in medical sciences but don’t have the required entry qualifications to join our BSc programme or are a mature student returning to education.

The foundation year of this four-year course will introduce you to the key concepts and knowledge you need to progress to the BSc in Applied Medical Sciences. Following successful completion of the Foundation Year with at least a 60% overall average, students will progress onto Year 1 of the BSc. Students may also progress onto Year 1 of the Medical Pharmacology BSc programme (B210) or Population Health and Medical Sciences BSc programme (B211).

You will cover the fundamentals of biological chemistry, metabolism and homeostasis, microbiology and disease, molecular biology, data handling and analysis, and laboratory skills.

Progressing to the full BSc programme, you will gain a thorough grounding in the science underpinning modern medicine, studying a wide range of topics including human anatomy and physiology, cell biology, genetics, pharmacology, and neuroscience, together with their clinical and applied relevance.

You will develop an in-depth understanding of how the human body works, what happens when it goes wrong, how we currently treat disorders, and the potential for novel therapeutics.

Our course is delivered via a mix of compulsory and optional modules give you the scope to tailor your studies to your particular interests, career goals, or plans for post-graduate study.

You will benefit from access to the state-of-the-art research and teaching facilities at the Medical School, including the anatomy suite and research laboratories.

This course provides a comprehensive grounding relevant to careers in lab research, medicine and commercial enterprise in the life sciences.

We have an outstanding reputation for Medicine at Swansea and are ranked 5th in the UK for Medicine according to the Times Good University Guide 2024.

• Year 0
• Foundation Biological Chemistry
• Metabolism and Homeostasis
• The Human Cell
• Introduction to Molecular Biology
• Fundamentals of Microbiology & Disease
• Foundation to data handling and analysis
• Foundation Skills Development 2

• Year 1
• Introduction to Genetics and Evolution
• Microbiology
• Introduction to Medical Psychology
• Anatomy
• Human Physiology
• Eukaryotic Cell Biology
• Skills for Medical Sciences
• Introductory Biochemistry

• Year 2
• Human Immunology
• Communicating Medical Sciences
• The Cardiovascular System
• Introduction to Neuroscience
• Neuroanatomy and Neurology
• Skills for Researchers
• Doctors, patients & the goals of medicine
• Enterprise and Creativity: Entrepreneurship in Practice
• Intermediate Medical Psychology
• Bioethics
• Pharmacology: Dynamics and Kinetics
• Introduction to Health Data Science
• Human and Medical Genetics
• Infectious Diseases
• Antimicrobial therapy and resistance
• Biostatistics

• Year 3
• Being a Medical Scientist
• Capstone Project
• Teaching Science
• Innovation Management - Fundamentals
• Advances in Pharmacology
• Nanotoxicology
• Reproductive Biology and Medicine
• The Sweet Sickness: Advances in Diabetes and Related Disorders
• Advanced Biostatistics
• Machine Learning in Healthcare
• Medical Genetics
• Human Biology and the Environment
• Cancer Pharmacology
• The Neuroscience of Learning, Memory and Cognition

Assessments will include Laboratory practicals, written exams, oral presentations, written assignments, and clinical skills assessments. The range of assessment methods is chosen to develop and demonstrate a range of skills transferable to the modern healthcare environment including reflection, oral and written communication, confidence and competence.