MChem Chemistry with Medicinal Chemistry

Chemistry with Medicinal Chemistry is a highly flexible degree programme covering a wide range of courses taught by chemists, pharmacists, biologists and industrial medicinal chemists. It provides a strong foundation in core chemistry, supplemented by specialist knowledge of medicinal chemistry.

In addition to core chemistry units you take top-rated courses such as foundation biology, medicinal biochemistry and a number of courses on drug discovery and development from experts within chemistry and other Faculties.

MChem Chemistry with Medicinal Chemistry is aimed at students with a strong interest in the biological aspects of chemistry. As well as traditional chemistry topics you will take courses that cover biochemistry, medicines and drug discovery, and the major disease areas. Some of these courses are taught by academics from the top-rated School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences while others are taught by industrialists from major pharmaceutical companies. For full details of all the courses see below.

A range of study options

It's possible to broaden your degree by taking units from the University College , Business and Management for all Programmes in exchange for a few units from your degree.

Foundation Year available

You can prepare for the full degree course if you do not have the appropriate qualifications for direct entry by undertaking our foundation course first.

Flexibility to transfer between courses

It is generally possible to transfer between the various chemistry degrees we offer in years 1-3. This is subject to satisfactory academic performance and completion of the required pre-requisite modules.

Undergraduates have around 20 hours contact time per week and are expected to spend around 30 hours in private study. Your week will be made up of:

• Lectures
• Small group tutorials
• Laboratory classes
• Group work
• Individual research projects
• Computer-based tuition - A range of ancillary mathematics, data handling, presentation and IT skills, and computer based chemistry are taught on the dedicated computer cluster
• Workshops
• PASS session - student-led peer-assisted study sessions where second and third year students help you to develop learning strategies and techniques.

Personalised learning support

Chemistry at Manchester offers a high level of learning support. You will have weekly tutorials in small groups of no more than 6.

You'll have three Academic Tutors, one each for Organic, Inorganic and Physical chemistry. You'll also be allocated a Personal Tutor to oversee your personal welfare - reflect on your academic and personal development, discuss future goals and agree action plans.

PASS (Peer Assisted Study Sessions) and Peer Mentoring

We are also proud of our innovative PASS (Peer Assisted Study Sessions) and Peer Mentoring scheme. The PASS scheme provides additional support in the area of the current week's tutorial. It is entirely voluntary and second, third and fourth-year students help first years to tackle problems defined by the content of the current tutorial. The emphasis is on showing students how to think about the problems, how to develop problem-solving skills and how to get the most from the educational resources available.

Additional Maths support

We offer additional Maths support to all our students. In Year 1 this is by means of a programme of online, self-directed study with weekly support clinics if you need additional support or advice.

Practical chemistry

Practical chemistry is important in all areas of the subject, and is a key part of all our programmes. Throughout your degree you'll carry out practical work in our modern well-equipped undergraduate laboratories, built to a high specification. Our practical courses are designed to provide experience of the wide range of chemical techniques for measurement and synthesis necessary for the study of modern chemistry. As well as providing the opportunity to do interesting chemistry our practical courses train students to work safely and effectively in the laboratory.

Year 4 research project

Your extended individual project will be based within one of the research groups in our Department or in the Division of Pharmacy and Optometry. This will give you the opportunity work on a current problem in your chosen area of research, under the supervision of a relevant member of academic staff.

Assessment is by a mixture of traditional examinations, coursework, laboratory practical and workshops:

• Lectures are usually assessed by written exam (multiple choice or essay-based), which are held at the end of an academic semester.

• Practical units are usually assessed by experimental report and/or short written assignment and/or written exam.

• The proportion of independent study assignments increases during each year of study.

Assessment methods vary widely to suit the nature of the course unit and each level of study. Examinations take place in January and May each year, with around one third of the marks from continuous assessment. The first year is a simple pass/fail, but from then on a percentage of each year's assessment counts towards your final degree classification.

The University of Manchester offers extensive library and online services to help you get the most out of your studies.

Our modern teaching laboratories are equipped with a wide range of specialist facilities including:

• State-of-the-art synthetic labs for project work.
• Dedicated NMR spectrometer for exclusive use by undergraduates.
• A suite of dedicated analytical instrumentation.
• The undergraduate teaching labs also have 3 HPLC and one HPLC-MS instruments to help you learn the fundamentals and applications of measurement and of separation science.
• Ten spectrophotometers and a suite of infra-red spectrometers for measuring solids, liquids and gases.

You will also have access to:

• Open access research laboratories for Separations, EPR, NMR and Mass Spectrometry.
• Cutting-edge X-ray diffractometers.
• Research Computing Facility to support teaching & learning in computational and theoretical science.