Program Overview

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Chemistry with Integrated Master's MChem

Year of entry

• 2025 - for 2026 entry see here - for 2025 entry see here

UCAS code

• F102

Duration of study

• 4 years or 5 years with international or placement year

Course summary

Our Chemistry with Integrated Master's offers maximum flexibility in allowing you to explore topics across the full breadth of chemistry, with a focus on your development as an independent researcher. From undertaking a year-long research project, to extensive access to advanced laboratory facilities and research-grade instrumentation, you will gain the enhanced analytical techniques, data fluency, applied problem solving and employability skills to pursue a career as a professional chemist or further your studies with a PhD.

Why study Chemistry with Integrated Master's at Keele University?

• Accredited by the Royal Society of Chemistry, our programme is relevant, valued by industry and allows you to tailor your learning to include topics at the forefront of modern chemical sciences research
• Chemistry at Keele is Top 5 in the UK for student positivity* NSS 2024 (Broad-based universities) *based on overall student satisfaction, which is an average score across 27 questions asked in the NSS
• You will be trained how to use research level equipment from the first semester of your first year in our sector-leading laboratories
• Core practical and professional employability modules will ensure you develop the required skills to succeed as a professional chemist
• Individual projects will develop your skills of scientific inquiry, allowing you to make your mark as a researcher

Chemistry with Integrated Master's at Keele

• Explore this course
• Course overview
• Course structure
• Entry requirements
• Fees and funding
• Supporting you
• Your future career
• Teaching, learning and assessment
• Student satisfaction
• Research
• Foundation year

Studying Chemistry at Keele

• Hear from our students and staff – who share their personal experiences of what it's like to study Chemistry at Keele.

Course overview

Chemistry is the science which bridges the fundamental atomic building blocks of the universe to the complexity of the living world. The impact of chemistry on modern life ranges from the advanced materials powering our devices, to the sustainable production and re-use of resources, the key processes which influence our environment and climate, and the life-saving drugs essential to modern medicine. Our Royal Society of Chemistry accredited programme provides in-depth fundamental and applied knowledge in addition to current research trends from across the chemical sciences. Threading sustainability and industrial chemistry through traditional chemical principles and theories, you will explore the fascinating role chemistry plays in addressing humanity's most urgent global, economic, health and environmental challenges. You will have opportunities for individual advanced project work, collaborative learning, work and educational placements, and to explore frontier topics guided by our world-leading researchers.

Course structure

Modules for Chemistry with Integrated Master's

The module details given below are indicative, they are intended to provide you with an idea of the range of subjects that are taught to our current students. The modules that will be available for you to study in future years are subject to change as we regularly review our teaching to ensure that it is up-to-date and informed by the latest research and teaching methods, as well as student voice. The information presented is therefore not intended to be construed and/or relied upon as a definitive list of the modules available in any given year.

Year 1

Compulsory modules

• Practical and Professional Chemistry Skills
• Chemical Structure and Reactivity
• Chemistry Connections
• Sustainable Chemistry

Optional modules

• Science and Society

Year 2

Compulsory modules

• Practical and Professional Chemistry
• Chemical Characterisation and Transformations
• Environmental Analysis
• Structure and Function in Materials Chemistry
• Structure and Function in Medicinal Chemistry

Optional modules

• Materials Properties and Nanoscience
• Principles of Drug Design
• Flexible Work Placement

Year 3

Compulsory modules

• Kinetics, Catalysis and Mechanism
• Synthetic Strategies in Organic Chemistry
• Inorganic, Physical and Quantum Chemistry
• Chemical Analysis: Instrumentation and Evaluation
• Independent Research Project
• Scientific Literature Review
• Topics in Chemical Science

Optional modules

• Mechanisms of Drug Action
• Semiconductors and Catalysts: Materials for Sustainability
• Flexible Work Placement
• Professional Experience in Education

Year 4

Compulsory modules

• Synoptic Topics and Modern Trends in Chemistry
• MChem Research Training
• MChem Independent Research Project

Entry requirements

These are the typical entry requirements for this course for a range of UK and international qualifications. If your qualifications aren't listed, please contact us to check if we can accept them. If you don't think you'll meet the stated requirements, you may be able to access this course via a Foundation Year.

Typical offer

Please ensure you read the full entry requirements by selecting your qualifications from the menu below. This will include any subject specific, GCSE/Level 2 Maths, and/or English language requirements.

• A Level: BBC Subject specifics apply
• BTEC: DMM Subject specifics apply
• T Level: Merit Subject specifics apply

Fees and funding

Tuition fees for 2025/26 academic year

• UK: £9,535 for the 2025/6 academic year (subject to Parliamentary approval).
• International: Band 1, £17,700 for the 2025/26 academic year

Facilities

Develop your practical skills in Keele's state-of-the-art Central Science Laboratories

Supporting you

We offer a multi layered support structure to help you meet your academic and personal needs. Our open-door policy enables you to engage with us directly, meaning you can seek support, gain feedback or discuss any matters related to your course. You will benefit from the support of a academic mentor and Keele's Student Experience and Support team.

Your future career

You will graduate with Master's level knowledge, strong laboratory techniques, a suite of transferable skills and an awareness of the ethical implications and issues relating to environmental impact and sustainability. Graduates of this programme enter a range of professions, both in and out of the laboratory. Many also further their research knowledge by studying at PhD level.

Roles that are related to your degree include:

• Academic chemist
• Analytical chemist
• Chemical engineer
• Environmental scientist
• Forensic scientist
• Material scientist
• Medicinal chemist
• Museum scientist
• Nuclear engineer
• Patent attorney
• Policy advisor
• Research assistant
• Science communicator
• Science teacher
• Synthetic chemist
• Toxicologist

Transferable skills you will acquire include:

• Applied problem solving
• Analytical techniques
• Communication of scientific knowledge to a variety of audiences
• Data fluency
• Independent learning
• Research and presentation
• Scientific investigation
• Teamwork
• Time management and organisation
• Written and oral communication

Teaching, learning and assessment

Teaching

Our programme is delivered with an emphasis on live, in-person, interactive sessions, supported by online materials to allow flexible engagement. You will have regular opportunities to talk through particular areas of difficulty, and any learning needs you may have, with your academic mentor or module lecturers on a one-to-one basis.

Methods of teaching include:

• Digital, interactive tools such as Mentimeter or Padlet
• Group discussion
• Guided problem solving
• Interactive lectures
• Investigative group work
• Practical classes (laboratory sessions and PC laboratories)
• Problem classes
• Reflective exercises
• Seminars
• Team based learning
• Tutorials
• Workshops

Assessment

Your understanding and skills will be assessed through a diverse range of authentic activities which will develop your specialist and transferrable skills and prepare you for your future career. You will receive personalised and comprehensive feedback, including opportunities for formative assessment in various formats. Formative assessments allow both us and you to monitor your understanding whilst you're learning, which in turn allows adjustments and improvements to be made, both by us in the way that we teach and by you in the way that you learn.

Methods of assessment include:

• Authentic exercises (For example development of experimental methodology to solve a specific analytical problem within a case study).
• Electronic laboratory portfolios
• Group presentation/assignments
• Independent research project
• Interviews
• Laboratory reports
• Literature review
• Poster and infographic assessments
• Practical exam
• Presentations
• Problem sheets
• Reflective diaries
• Research paper
• Scientific literature review
• Written exams

Research

At Keele we are proud to be at the forefront of important research in tackling society's global challenges. Keele chemists are helping to develop metal-organic frameworks for hydrogen storage - the fuel of the future, molecules that harvest light to create a new generation of solar panels and new drug molecules to fight illnesses such as malaria, cancer and viral disease. We take an interdisciplinary approach to our work and collaborate with various research centres at Keele in addition to a range of national and international universities and industrial partners. Much of our research is published in internationally-recognised journals.

Foundation year

Studying a Foundation Year, for whatever reason, offers an alternative route to Keele, and provides a unique opportunity to better prepare for your chosen degree. That extra year of study can improve your academic skills, expand your subject knowledge and, perhaps most importantly, build your confidence.

Foundation year overview

Our Foundation Year provides an excellent alternative route to Keele, offering preparation for your chosen degree with guaranteed entry onto your undergraduate course once you successfully complete.

This extra year of study can improve your academic skills, expand your subject knowledge, build your confidence, and provide a better understanding of higher education.

On our Foundation Year, you'll join our undergraduate community from the outset, with access to all the facilities and support you'd get as an undergraduate student at Keele.

Course content

Our Foundation Year allows you to develop your critical thinking, academic reading, writing, and communication study skills along with subject-specific knowledge and skills which will be invaluable in your academic studies and beyond. Upon meeting the progression criteria and successfully completing our Foundation Year, you will automatically progress into your Keele undergraduate degree with the confidence that you have the skills, and knowledge needed to successfully complete your course.

This Foundation Year is a two-semester programme which provides a tailored pre-degree programme of study to better prepare you for the Mchem Chemistry with Integrated Master's (MChem) course. For example, the Advancing Chemistry module aims to increase your knowledge and understanding of the principles and concepts of chemistry in a theoretical context, while also demonstrating the application of concepts in a practical environment. Course content has been developed in collaboration with degree teaching teams, so that by the time you begin Year 1, you will be ready to excel at your studies, as the majority of our Foundation Year students do. In addition to meeting the Foundation Year progression requirements, students must also meet all credit requirements in each year of their studies to be awarded a Master’s Degree.

Course structure

The module details given below are indicative, they are intended to provide you with an idea of the range of subjects that are taught to our current students. The modules that will be available for you to study in future years are prone to change as we regularly review our teaching to ensure that it is up-to-date and informed by the latest research and teaching methods. The information presented is therefore not intended to be construed and/or relied upon as a definitive list of the modules available in any given year.

Semester one modules

• FYO-00185 | Practical and Academic Skills in Science | 15 credits
• FYO-00211 | Foundations in Numerical and Quantitative Methods for Scientists | 15 credits
• FYO-00189 | Foundations of Chemistry | 15 credits

Semester two modules

• FYO-00191 | Advancing Chemistry | 30 credits

Optional modules in semester one and semester two

In addition to the modules above, students will study an additional 15 credits in semester one and 30 credits during semester two from a range of modules (subject to timetabling).

Entry requirements

The entry grades outlined in this section indicate the likely offer or range of offers which would be made to candidates along with any subject specific requirements. This is for general information only. Keele University reserves the right to vary offer conditions depending upon a candidate’s application. Read more about our undergraduate entry requirements.

• 56 UCAS points including at least one Level 3 qualification (such as an A Level, BTEC, Access Course, or T Level).
• Plus C in GCSE English / Level 2 Functional Skills English and C in GCSE Maths / Level 2 Functional Skills Maths.

How to apply

Applicants will need to apply for BSc (Hons) Chemistry with Foundation Year (UCAS code F103) through UCAS at www.ucas.com.

Direct entry students

If you already have your qualifications, are not expecting any further results and only wish to apply to Keele, please contact the Admissions Office directly.

January entry overview

The information in this Foundation Year section is for UK/Home applicants. Where an international Foundation Year is available, please see the 'Information for international students' tab.

We also offer a January start for some of our Foundation Year courses. Adopting a blended learning approach, the January start is particularly useful for students wishing to return to education following time out of studying, or who are seeking a flexible approach to their Foundation Year studies. Our January start is available across most of our Science, Humanities, Social Science, Health and Business courses.

Whilst still being a full-time course, our blended delivery model combines live teaching sessions - both online and on-campus - with self-directed study, enabling you to predominantly study at a time that suits your lifestyle. You will benefit from weekly online taught sessions which encourage you to engage with your teachers and peers.

In addition to online study there will be a series of full study days that you will be required to attend throughout each semester. These sessions may include lab-based activities, group work, review of course and assessment materials studied online. They will emphasise opportunities for you to deepen your knowledge and understanding of your chosen route.

Please refer to the September start tab for more information about the entry requirements and what you will study. The modules that you will take on a January start Foundation Year will be similar to those for the September start, but on a compressed timescale and tailored to a blended learning approach (with the majority of learning taking place online).

For more information, including fees, the UCAS code for this course, how to apply, and how you will be taught, please visit our January Start Foundation Year webpage.

Information for international students

Our International Foundation Year is delivered on campus through Keele University International College (KUIC). Find out more about the International Foundation Year options on the KUIC website.