Program Overview

Natural Sciences with International Study MSci

Overview

The MSci with International Study is a five-year degree where you spend your third year studying at one of our partner institutions overseas, getting a broader perspective of the subjects that you study. You will develop key skills such as communication, confidence, language, and independence. All of these are extremely sought after by employers.

Why Choose This Course?

• Tailor your degree - Flexibility to study different subjects and modules to suit your interests
• Accredited degree by the Society for Natural Sciences
• Global experience - Spend a year studying overseas as part of your course
• Research experience - Experience life as a professional researcher in your final year

What You Will Study

You study modules from each of the subjects in their chosen stream, gaining comprehensive theoretical and practical knowledge. Collaborative modules in the second and third year encourage you to understand theories and ideas from different areas of science and explore how they work together. A highlight of the course is the synoptic project where you work on a group project with students from other streams. You will bring your individual expertise to the project and find new ways to apply the knowledge from your learning in previous years.

Careers

You'll graduate with the knowledge and technical skills to take a broad scientific approach to help tackle today's complex problems. During the masters year, you gain specialist experience in a professional research environment through an independent research project. This is good preparation for research job roles within industry, or if you are considering further study, such as a PhD.

Course Structure

• Year One: The time in your first year is split equally studying three subjects. You will choose a subject stream in early September following confirmation of your place.
• Year Two: You choose two of your first-year subjects and continue studying them in greater depth. Some subjects allow further specialisation within the subject through optional modules and specialisms allowing you to tailor your programme to your interests.
• Year Abroad: You will spend the year overseas at one of our partner institutions. This will be an additional year of study which allows you to gain a different perspective of your studies while experiencing life and studying in another country.
• Year Four: On return to Nottingham, you continue studying your two chosen subjects at a more advanced level. You have even more flexibility through optional modules to explore your own interests and focus on specialist areas within each subject and can opt to do a major/minor split to study more of your preferred subject.
• Year Five: You'll spend half your time working on an independent research project to develop the skills needed to pursue a career in research. The project is an opportunity to consolidate learning from previous years and to apply that knowledge in a world-class research environment with the support of university staff.

Assessment

• Marking criteria are available from each of the individual subjects and how different types of work are assessed is discussed in skills workshops. Your work will be marked in a timely manner, and you will receive regular feedback. The pass mark for each module is 40%.
• Your final degree classification will be based on marks gained for your second and subsequent years of study. For the MSci with International Study degree, year two is worth 20% with years four and five worth 40% each.

Contact Time and Study Hours

• You'll study 120 credits a year, typically through 10, 20, or 40 credit modules. One credit equates to approximately 10 hours of work split between formal contact time, self-study, revision, and assessment.
• The number of formal contact hours varies depending on the subjects you are studying but you will typically spend between 18 and 23 hours in your first year in the following classes:
  • 10 to 12 hours per week of lectures
  • 2 hours per week of skills workshops
  • 3 hours per week in problem classes or workshops (subject dependent)
  • 4-8 hours per week in laboratory classes/field work (subject dependent)
  • 1-2 hours per week in tutorials (subject dependent)

Careers Overview

Our graduates have gone on to work as:

• Lab Scientist at Lighthouse Lab Services
• Commercial Oncology Graduate at Bristol Myers Squibb
• Bioinformatician at Cardiff and Vale University Health Board
• DevOps/Platform Engineer at Metaswitch Networks

Job Prospects

• 86.40% of undergraduates from the Faculty of Science secured employment or further study within 15 months of graduation. The average annual salary for these graduates was £27,834.

Additional Costs

• All students will need at least one device to approve security access requests via Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA). We also recommend students have a suitable laptop to work both on and off-campus.
• As a student on this course, you should factor some additional costs into your budget, alongside your tuition fees and living expenses.
• Printing: Due to our commitment to sustainability, we don’t print lecture notes but these are available digitally.
• Books: You will be able to access all of the books you’ll need through our libraries, but you may wish to purchase your own copies of books you use a lot. If you do, most books cost around £20-£50.
• Equipment: If your subject stream requires you to work in the laboratory (e.g., Biology and Chemistry), your tuition fees will cover the cost of a protective lab coat and safety goggles. If you lose these, you are responsible for the cost of replacing them (around £25).
• Field trips: Depending on which pathway you choose, there are optional field modules in Earth Science and Ecosystems and Environment which may incur a cost. These range from £30-50 for UK-based day trips to as much as £400 for overseas residential trips.

Scholarships and Bursaries

• International students: We offer a range of international undergraduate scholarships for high-achieving international scholars who can put their Nottingham degree to great use in their careers.
• Home students: Over one-third of our UK students receive our means-tested core bursary, worth up to £1,000 a year. Full details can be found on our financial support pages.