Medicinal Chemistry BSc (Hons) with foundation and placement year

5 Years On Campus Bachelors Program

University of Surrey

Program Overview

Surrey’s Medicinal Chemistry BSc (Hons) with Foundation and Placement Year is perfect if you’re excited about chemistry but want to apply it directly to discovering and designing new medicines. With a supportive foundation year, inspiring teaching, and a hands-on placement, this course helps you grow from curious learner to confident future scientist.

Curriculum Structure

Foundation Year

Your journey begins with Principles of Engineering & Physical Science, a year designed to build your confidence in core chemistry, maths, and physics. It’s a great starting point if you want a smoother transition into university-level science while strengthening the fundamentals you’ll rely on later.

Year 1

In your first academic year, you get a solid grounding in chemistry and biology through modules like Cell Biology, Principles of Analytical Chemistry, Periodicity and Reactivity of the Elements, Organic Structure and Reactivity and Physical Processes in Chemistry. You’ll see how molecules behave, why they matter in living systems, and how chemists study them — all while building your lab skills and scientific communication.

Year 2

This is where things become more medicinal-chemistry-focused. You’ll explore Organic Carbon–Carbon Bond Formation & Heterocyclic Chemistry, dive into Applied Organic Spectroscopy, and learn how advanced laboratory instruments work in Advances in Analytical Instrumentation. You also study Bio-organic Chemistry & Drug Discovery, and you can even add Introduction to Drug Action if you want an early look at pharmacology.

Year 3

Your final year brings everything together. You’ll take Organic Synthesis & Spectroscopy and the dedicated Medicinal Chemistry module, where you learn how real drugs are designed and optimised. You can specialise further with modules such as Organometallic Chemistry or Advanced Pharmacology, but the heart of the year is your BSc Research Project — your chance to contribute to real research alongside professional scientists.

Professional Training Year (optional)

If you choose the placement year, you’ll spend up to 12 months working in industry, applying chemistry in real labs and companies. This experience often boosts confidence, employability, and sometimes even leads to future job offers.

Focus Areas

Drug design, bio-organic chemistry, analytical instrumentation, organic chemistry, pharmacology, real-world laboratory experience

Learning Outcomes

You’ll graduate able to design and analyse drug-like molecules, understand how medicines interact with the body, use advanced lab techniques confidently, solve scientific problems independently, and communicate your findings like a professional scientist.

Professional Alignment (Accreditation)

The course is accredited by the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), helping you on the path toward Chartered Chemist (CChem) status.

Reputation (Employability)

Surrey’s chemistry graduates are highly employable, with 96% in work or further study within 15 months (Graduate Outcomes Survey, HESA).

Experiential Learning (Research, Projects, Internships etc.)

Studying Medicinal Chemistry at Surrey means you’ll spend a lot of time doing real science, not just learning about it. From your very first year, you’ll be working in modern labs, handling industry-standard instruments, and learning the practical skills that employers in pharma and biotech look for. And if you choose the placement year, you’ll step straight into a professional scientific environment where you can apply everything you’ve learned so far.

Here’s how that hands-on experience comes to life for Medicinal Chemistry students at Surrey:

Access to cutting-edge analytical chemistry laboratories, where you'll use equipment such as NMR, GC–MS, LC–MS, FTIR and UV-Vis spectrometers — the same tools used in real drug discovery work.
The Joseph Kenyon Organic Chemistry Laboratory, an energy-efficient teaching and research space designed for advanced synthetic chemistry.
A full suite of materials characterisation facilities, including X-ray diffraction and thermal analysis tools, helping you examine structures and behaviours of drug-like molecules.
Opportunities to experience chemical process simulation through Surrey’s Fluor Pilot Plant — a rare chance to see how chemistry operates at near-industrial scale.
A well-established Professional Training (Placement) Year, letting you spend up to 12 months working in a pharmaceutical company, research lab, or biotech organisation.
Weekly tutorials, group work, and team-based lab projects that help you build confidence, collaboration skills, and real research experience.
Mentorship from research-active academics, giving you constant exposure to ongoing scientific work and guiding you through hands-on projects.

Progression & Future Opportunities

When you graduate from Surrey with a Medicinal Chemistry degree, you’ll be very well-placed to start your career in the pharmaceutical or biotech world — or even continue in academia. Thanks to your placement year, many of our students gain real industry experience, and it’s common for them to move into roles like pharmaceutical researcher, analytical chemist, process chemist, or quality control scientist.

Here’s how Surrey supports you for your next steps:

Dedicated Careers Support: Surrey’s Employability & Careers team helps you every step of the way — from preparing your CV and cover letters to helping you ace interviews. You can book one-on-one sessions with Career Development Officers via the Surrey Employability Hub.
Professional Training Placement Scheme: You can do a 12-month work placement in the industry, and the university supports you throughout — from application to returning to your studies.
High Placement Success Rates: According to Surrey’s statistics, 92% of students who take a placement go on to get graduate-level employment.
Competitive and Paid Placements: Many placement roles are paid (80 %), with a significant number offering salaries between £18,000 and £30,000.
Strong Graduate Outcomes: Around 96% of Surrey chemistry (and chemical engineering) graduates are in work or further study within 15 months of graduating.
Industry Reputation: Surrey’s employability service is nationally recognised — Surrey won the Best University Careers/Employability Service at the National Undergraduate Employability Awards.
Long-Term Professional Value: Your degree is professionally relevant (e.g., part of the pathway to Chartered Chemist status via the Royal Society of Chemistry), giving long-term credibility.

Further Academic Progression:
If you decide to keep studying, you have solid options: you could do a Master’s (MSc) in areas like drug design, pharmaceutical sciences, or medicinal chemistry. Alternatively, you could go on to a PhD, working in research labs (possibly even at Surrey) in cutting-edge fields like molecular pharmacology or bio-organic chemistry.