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This is your future

Biosciences

The world needs bioscientists now more than ever. Study a degree where you can explore your interests, learn from experts and unlock a world of opportunities.

  • Introduction
  • Learning and support
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Your place at Manchester

Congratulations on your offer of a place on a biosciences course at Manchester.

Choose Manchester and you'll benefit from world-class teaching at a time when scientific expertise is of paramount importance.

Your degree will give you great opportunities to both shape your future and make a difference to people’s lives.

7th in the UK for biosciences (QS 2020).

A wide range of UK and overseas placements.

Meet your Director of Undergraduate Studies

Welcome message and information about blended learning

Learning and support

Your learning experience

A blended experience

We've worked hard to ensure our students have a rich learning experience even with the challenges posed by the pandemic.

Many of the things that make our biosciences courses distinctive are still in place, such as our flexible first year.

A student using a laptop.

Switching from biology to neuroscience

BLOG: Preeyah explains why she decided to switch subjects in her first year.

Read blog post: It’s never too late to change your mind

Preeyah Purang and friend.

From allergy sufferer to researcher

BLOG: How Ayah's experiences of food allergy led to her MSci project in genetics.

Read blog post: How I went from being a food allergy sufferer to researching food allergy at Manchester

Ayah Wafi

From genetics to biomedical sciences

BLOG: Lauren reveals how the flexible first year helped her find her passion.

Read blog post: How the biosciences universal first year helped to shape my future

A graphic showing people choosing between old way and new way signposts.

Careers in biosciences

Your biosciences degree could take you into a variety of jobs.

See how a biosciences degree can help you develop skills for a range of careers, including research, conservation, education, clinical trials and communication.

Student support

Support on your course

Biosciences at Manchester is an active community that welcomes students from all over the world.

You’ll make friends through biosciences society activities and get support in your studies from older students through our peer-assisted student support scheme.

Learn about university support

Students sat on the floor, chatting together.

Academic advising

You’ll have an academic advisor who you can turn to if you ever need support.

Every student is assigned an academic advisor when they arrive. Your academic advisor is the person who will support you throughout your studies.

Our academic advisors provide student support in a number of areas.

  • Academic - They will discuss your academic progress with you and offer advice on where and how you can improve your work. They can also provide guidance on course unit choices.
  • Pastoral - Your advisor acts as a first point of contact if you are experiencing personal difficulties, such as financial or medical issues. They can signpost you to the correct support services, both at the University and outside.
  • Employability - Your advisor will discuss your future career plans with you and provide a reference.

You will get to know your advisor through the regular group tutorial sessions we run in Year 1. You will also have two individual meetings each semester.

These meetings allow you to discuss your academic progress, interests and career aspirations. Together, you will be able to identify any help that you need and set goals.

If you need advice between these organised meetings, you can contact your advisor to arrange a meeting.

We also have a team of Senior Academic Advisors. They are there to support our academic advisors and provide additional support to those students facing challenging times.

Our Senior Academic Advisors can help students to access appropriate support services at the University.

COVID-19 and your course

Responding to change

We have made changes to biosciences course delivery this year, with most teaching moving online.

We hope to see you in person in September if everything is well. Whatever happens next, we'll adjust to follow government guidelines while maintaining a quality learning environment.

Adapting our teaching

Below are examples of how we’ve adapted our teaching while restrictions are in place.

This year, we have adapted the practicals to be run as online resources, with tailored videos, walk-throughs and data analysis, that can be completed in your own time.

In Year 1, these have been supported by drop-in Zoom sessions for help with data handling skills, or for talking to other students and staff about the concepts covered.

We have also set up optional laboratory sessions, where students who want to come to campus can come into the teaching labs and use some of the equipment we introduce in the online resources.

Of course, these have been designed to follow social distancing guidelines and with full PPE. We hope to offer more laboratory in-person sessions after Christmas or in Year 2, so students can gain more experience of laboratory techniques in person.

This flexibility in provision, and the feedback we are getting from students on what works best for them, will help us should we need to adapt again next year.

All lectures are online. Some are live online lectures, and make use of breakout rooms, polls and the chat function in Zoom.

The chat function is useful for asking questions during the lecture, and this works better than in big lecture rooms where some people may not want to shout out loud.

Other lectures are pre-recorded in small bite-sized chunks for students to watch in their own time. This is supported by live Q&A (question and answer) sessions.

As well as Zoom, we use Microsoft Teams and Blackboard Collaborate. Our students have appreciated these different approaches.

Where possible, tutorials have been face to face, following guidelines for staying safe.

Other tutorials take place online, or are a hybrid where some students are in the room and others join in online.

Again, we have been as flexible as possible to allow all to join in. For example, one final year tutor group has students at home in five different countries. They meet on Zoom, and discuss essays and problem sets by sharing e-whiteboards and presentation slides with each other.

Building relationships via online communication is not what a lot of us are used to. However, lots of tutors and students have found innovative and creative ways to make the online spaces work.

Placements

This year has presented challenges in providing placements. Our placement office has worked hard to ensure students get to go on placement and are safe and well looked after once they start.

Several students have got a placement at COVID-19 labs in Cheshire. Some students have switched to our MSci course.

A few students on our modern language courses have found a lab placement in this country. Others have delayed the language placements until after Year 3, which still works out well for their degree and employment prospects.

Field courses

Field courses are still being planned for the summer break. We managed to run online versions last year, which were well received by the students.

This year, we hope students can get to Costa Rica as planned and see the frogs in the wild, in the rainforests. However, there is an excellent frog breeding programme at the Manchester Museum too.

The benefits of online learning

BLOG: Three students talk about adapting to a new way of learning on their course.

Read blog post: The benefits of online learning

A student sat on the floor using his laptop.

Volunteering during the pandemic

BLOG: Biomedical Sciences student Poppy reveals what she learned from volunteering in a pathology department.

Read blog post: COVID-19: Volunteering in pathology during the pandemic

Close-up of microscope slide about to be examined under the lens.

Turning potential negatives into positives

BLOG: Student Cansel gives her tips for coping with the challenges of studying in a pandemic.

Read blog post: COVID-19: Turning potential negatives into positives

A student enjoying a takeaway with friends via a video conference call.

Our COVID-19 research

Biosciences researchers at Manchester are part of the effort to understand COVID-19 and its impact on our health. 

  • Understanding how COVID-19 behaves
  • Transforming labs for COVID-19 testing
  • Bone marrow immune cells and COVID-19
A graphic representing coronavirus.

Events for offer holders

Explore our events

Our online events for offer holders and parents/guardians will help you make the right choice.

You can ask us any questions you may have before accepting your offer.

Register now:

  • Sessions for offer holders (3 March 2021: 10am and 4pm, 10 March 2021: 4pm)
  • Session for parents and guardians (10 March 2021)
  • Career and alumni Q&A (7 April 2021: 10am, 13 May 2021: 4pm)

On demand content from previous events

Explore our virtual tours and presentations from online events.

Find out more: Virtual open day recorded sessions

Student journey webinars

Watch webinars for students going through the UCAS application process.

Find out more: watch one of our webinars

Guest lecture series

See our upcoming topics, and explore our previous events on demand.

Find out more: watch one of our recorded lectures

Chat to our students

Talk to student ambassadors

Find out more about life at Manchester directly from our students.

Chat with student ambassadors from your subject area. Ask any questions you have and get the answers only our students can give you.

Talk to a student

An example of our chat feature.

Join our Facebook group

Connect with other offer holders and current students through our Facebook group.

Get to know your fellow Manchester students and ask any questions you may have about the course. You should have received a password for the group by email.

Join the group

Contact us

Contact us

Our admissions staff are here for any questions you have.

Email: mailto: ug.biosciences@manchester.ac.uk

Social media

Facebook: @bmhuom
Twitter: @fbmh_uom
Instagram: @fbmh_uom
YouTube: @fbmhmanchester

Your course

Courses within this subject area

Remind yourself how much your course at Manchester has to offer you.

Follow the relevant link for details about the course you have an offer for:

Courses

  • Anatomical Sciences BSc
  • Biochemistry BSc
  • Biology BSc
  • Biology with Science and Society BSc
  • Biomedical Sciences BSc
  • Biosciences with a Foundation Year
  • Biotechnology BSc
  • Cell Biology BSc
  • Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology BSc
  • Developmental Biology BSc
  • Genetics BSc
  • Immunology BSc
  • Life Sciences BSc
  • Medical Biochemistry BSc
  • Medical Physiology BSc
  • Microbiology BSc
  • Molecular Biology BSc
  • Neuroscience BSc
  • Pharmacology BSc
  • Pharmacology and Physiology BSc
  • Plant Science BSc
  • Zoology BSc

Study options

Many of our BSc courses are available with a variety of four-year study options.

  • With a foundation year
  • With an integrated master's
  • With a modern language
  • With industrial/professional experience
  • With entrepreneurship

Related subject areas for joint programmes

Find out more about the complementary subject area for your programme.

If you hold an offer for our Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology programme, you may also want to explore our psychology subject area:

  • Psychology
A patient is connected to an electroencephalograph.

Beyond your subject

Visit our offer-holder guide to university life

Your university experience is about more than your degree.

Find out where you could live, how we'll support you, what financial packages are available and how we'll help you develop the distinctive attributes of a Manchester graduate.

Find out more about university life

Accept your offer

This is your future

Log on to UCAS Track to accept or keep track of your offer.

This is how we'll keep in contact with you about what stage your offer is at. It's also where you can accept your offer and make Manchester your first choice for your future.

Accept and track your offer

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