Our Biomedical Sciences degree with Preliminary Year is a four-year course. The Preliminary Year covers key topics in Biology, Chemistry and Mathematics and leads to a BSc in any of the subjects offered by the School of Biosciences. The purpose of the Preliminary Year is to provide students who don’t have a sufficient background in science with the basis of scientific knowledge to enable them to thrive in the year one curriculum and beyond.

Biomedical science is the science that underpins medicine and medical research. Our Biomedical Sciences degree takes a broad approach giving you the option to study a wide range of subjects including human physiology; human anatomy; disease processes and their treatment; biochemistry; genetics and microbiology. The curriculum is informed by the extensive range of biomedical research undertaken within the School of Biosciences and at the University Hospital of Wales, enabling you to receive training in contemporary topics such as cancer biology, stem cells, tissue engineering, gene therapy and neurodegenerative diseases.

Although you may join the School on the BSc Biomedical Sciences programme, your degree title remains flexible up until year three.  Your can choose to stick with your original degree registration, or switch to another of our bioscience courses.  You can also choose to graduate with a more specialist degree title, including BSc Biomedical Sciences (Anatomy) and BSc Biomedical Sciences (Physiology).

Your final degree title will depend on module selection and your Personal Tutor will guide you through the options available to you.  You may also have the option of switching to the MBiomed integrated Master's degree (subject to academic progress and space availability).

The specialist Anatomy modules forming part of the Biomedical Sciences (Anatomy) degree involve human dissection under the direction of skilled experts within the Welsh Centre for Anatomical Education, which is housed within the School. For this reason, numbers on the Anatomy modules in years two and three may be limited by space and availability of cadaveric material at the Centre.

This course will enable you to increase your scientific understanding, as well as developing both your academic skills (critical appraisal, evaluation and analysis of data) and practical, presentation and written skills.  Ultimately, we aim to produce graduates who are employable, well-informed, versatile and enthusiastic ambassadors for science.

The knowledge and skills that you develop during your Biomedical Sciences degree will make you employable in a broad range of careers within biomedical science including research, healthcare, publishing and teaching. The skills acquired on the course are also an excellent grounding for many other career paths outside of science. Alternatively you may wish to further your studies by pursuing Master's degree or PhD.

Distinctive features

Our degrees are closely linked to the research interests of our staff, allowing you to experience the excitement of learning in an active research environment. We attract substantial external research funding and this will enable you to make use of the latest equipment, techniques and facilities in your project work. The School also houses the Welsh Centre for Anatomical Education as well as leading the European Cancer Stem Cell Research Institute, allowing access to a wide range of exciting training opportunities.

This programme offers a high degree of flexibility giving you the freedom to shape academic experience. You can choose to specialise in a particular area or to maintain a wide breadth of learning and explore the interdisciplinary research that underpins much of the School’s success.