BSc (Hons) Biosciences

During the top-up year, you won’t just learn in lectures—you’ll be in real labs, doing actual experiments, getting your hands dirty in glasshouses, and going out in the field. You’ll use specialist tools and facilities, run your own research project, and see how bioscience is done in practice (in research centres, industry, or environmental settings). This means you’ll leave Plymouth not just with knowledge, but with experience and confidence in applying it.

Here are some of the real-world learning opportunities and facilities you’ll use:

• Skardon Garden: The University’s glasshouse site, with three computerised glasshouses and outside plots. You’ll grow plants (including tropicals, carnivorous ones like Venus flytraps, orchids, etc.) for lab practicals like Plant Form and Function. 

• Plymouth Electron Microscopy Centre (PEMC): A world-class facility with a huge range of electron microscopes and sample preparation labs. You’ll learn to use SEMs and TEMs, do sample coating, cryo-SEM and do imaging & analysis using software tools. 

• Marine Station: For fieldwork in aquatic ecosystems, collecting samples, studying marine microbes or plants in their natural settings. 

• Optional placement module (Biology: Placement): Before the course begins, you can undertake a 26-week work placement in a company or organisation related to biosciences. This gives you industry-side experience. 

• Undergraduate laboratories: Modern labs equipped for microbiology, genetics, ecotoxicology, etc., where you’ll do experiments, culture microbes, analyse DNA or environmental samples.

With this one-year top-up, you’ll graduate ready for a variety of exciting roles such as Laboratory Technician or Scientist, Environmental Biologist, Biotechnology Research Assistant, or positions in Human and Animal Health. The course gives you hands-on experience, research skills, and industry exposure that make you highly employable in science-focused careers:

• Careers & Employability Support: Plymouth’s Careers & Employability Service helps with CVs, interview prep, employer fairs, and arranging placements. The optional 26-week work placement lets you gain real-world industry experience. 

• Graduate Outcomes & Salary: Around 75% of graduates are in work 15 months after finishing, with median salaries around £22,000. 

• Industry Partnerships: Opportunities to work with approved companies and organisations through placement modules, helping you build professional networks and practical experience.

• Accreditation & Long-term Value: The programme is aligned with professional standards and benefits from TEF Gold recognition, meaning the teaching quality and graduate outcomes are excellent. 

• Graduation Skills: You’ll leave with practical lab and field skills, experience designing your own research, and confidence in analysing and presenting scientific data — all highly valued by employers or postgraduate programs.

Further Academic Progression:

After completing this top-up, you could continue your studies with:

• Postgraduate programmes like MSc or MRes in Molecular Biology, Environmental Toxicology, Animal Health, or Biotechnology.

• Research degrees (PhD) if you’re interested in an academic or advanced research career.

• Professional certifications in areas such as clinical lab work, bioinformatics, or regulatory science, boosting your career prospects further.