Program Overview

Microbiology BSc

Overview

This course is accredited by the Royal Society of Biology. You will spend a lot of time in our £5 million Super Lab gaining hands-on lab experience. Practical learning and laboratory experience starts early in semester one of the first year. Your lab skills will improve throughout the first and second years. In your final year, you will become a member of a research laboratory and carry out your own year-long research project. Some students have even had their work published in scientific journals.

What You Will Study

Microbiologists play an important role in helping to prevent disease, develop new treatments, clean up the environment, and keep food safe. You will study the micro-organisms which affect the environment, human, animal and plant health, and find out how to use microbes to make medicines and vaccines.

Entry Requirements

• AAB
• IB score: 32
• IB requirements: IB Diploma 32 points overall or 6,6,5 in 3 Higher Level certificates. HL6,5 required in two of Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics Applications and Interpretations, Mathematics Analysis and Approaches, Physics, Geography, Psychology, Environmental Systems and Societies. 1 Higher Level science plus 2 additional Standard Level sciences from the above list will also be considered.
• IELTS: 6.0 (no less than 5.5 in any element)
• English language requirements: As well as IELTS (listed above), we also accept other English language qualifications. This includes TOEFL iBT, Pearson PTE, GCSE, IB and O level English. Check our English language policies and equivalencies for further details.

Alternative Qualifications

• We recognise that applicants have a wealth of different experiences and follow a variety of pathways into higher education.
• Consequently we treat all applicants with alternative qualifications (besides A levels and the International Baccalaureate) on an individual basis, and we gladly accept students with a whole range of less conventional qualifications including:
  • Access to HE Diploma
  • Advanced Diploma
  • BTEC HND/HNC
  • BTEC Extended Diploma

Mature Students

• At the University of Nottingham, we have a valuable community of mature students and we appreciate their contribution to the wider student population.
• You can find lots of useful information on the mature students webpage.

Year in Industry

• There’s a wide range of possible year in industry placements on offer. We have good links with companies, and our dedicated placement team is available to support you in finding the right placement. Often a placement year can help you secure a graduate job.
• Our students have been on placement with:
  • GSK
  • Pfizer
  • Long Clawson Dairy
  • RedX Pharma
  • Moy Park

Fees

• £9,535*
• For full details including fees for part-time students and reduced fees during your time studying abroad or on placement (where applicable), see our fees page.

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. For more information, please check the equipment advice.
• As a student on this course, you should factor some additional costs into your budget, alongside your tuition fees and living expenses.
• You should be able to access most of the books you’ll need through our libraries, though you may wish to purchase your own copies. If you do these would cost around £40.
• Due to our commitment to sustainability, we don’t print lecture notes but these are available digitally. You will be given £5 worth of printer credits a year. You are welcome to buy more credits if you need them. It costs 4p to print one black and white page.
• If you do a work placement, you need to consider the travel and living costs associated with this.
• Personal laptops are not compulsory as we have computer labs that are open 24 hours a day but you may want to consider one if you wish to work at home.

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.

Course Structure

• Year one:
  • Essential Study Skills
  • Foundation Science for Bioscientists
  • An Introduction to Biotechnology
  • An Introduction to Genetics and Biochemistry
  • Micro-organisms and Disease
  • Microbes and You
  • The Physiology of Microbes
• Year two:
  • Analysis of Bacterial Gene Expression
  • Bacterial Biological Diversity
  • Fundamentals of immunology
  • Medical Microbiology
  • Microbial Mechanisms of Foodborne Disease
  • Research Techniques for Microbiologists
  • Virology
  • Optional modules:
    • Bacterial Genes and Development
    • Computer Modelling in Science: Introduction
    • Fundamental and Applied Yeast Physiology
    • Immunology
    • Microbial Biotechnology
    • Molecular Biology of the Cell
    • Structure, Function and Analysis of Genes
    • Structure, Function and Analysis of Proteins - Theory
    • The Genome and Human Disease
    • Yeast and Fermentation Technology
• Year three:
  • Undergraduate Research Project
  • Optional modules:
    • Ageing, Sex and DNA Repair
    • Omics: At the Forefront of Biotechnology
    • Environmental Biotechnology
    • Microbial Fermentation
    • Molecular Microbiology and Biotechnology
    • Molecular Microbiology and CRISPR Systems
    • Molecular Parasitology
    • Pathogens: Vaccines and Therapeutics
    • Plant Cell Signalling
    • Plant Pathology
    • Rapid Methods in Microbiology
    • Microbial Isolation and Identification Methods
    • Virology and Cellular Microbiology

Assessment

• We use a range of assessment methods, including exams, essays, verbal presentations and practicals.
• Your final degree classification will be based on marks gained in your second and third years of study.
• You must pass each year to progress. This typically means that you will need to achieve marks of at least 40% in each module.

Careers

• This hands-on lab experience will give you skills to work in a laboratory when you graduate.
• You could work in healthcare and medical research, or the pharmaceutical or food industry.
• You will be qualified to work with microbial pathogens, this means you can work in a laboratory immediately.
• You could work in industry or study for a PhD.
• Microbiologists work in:
  • hospitals
  • pharmaceutical companies
  • biotechnology companies
  • regulatory and environmental agencies
  • the food industry
• Recent destinations of graduates include:
  • research institutes and universities
  • pharmaceutical and food industries
  • healthcare and medicine research and development
  • agricultural and environmental disciplines
  • biotechnology research
  • advisory and management roles in government agencies such as Defra, the Food Standards Agency and the Health Protection Agency
  • scientific writing and communication

Campus

• Sutton Bonington Campus encompasses world-leading laboratories and specialist facilities from Microbiological containment laboratories, the University Farm, to the paperless Super Lab, specialist glasshouses, food processing and molecular analytic facilities.