University home > Unit and programme catalogues in 2021/22 > Programme catalogue > Faculty of Life Sciences > School of Biological Sciences > Biology (BSc) > Specification
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Programme code | 7BISC001U |
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Programme type | Single Honours |
Programme director(s) |
Jane Memmott
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Faculty | Faculty of Life Sciences |
School/department | School of Biological Sciences |
Teaching institution | University of Bristol |
Awarding institution | University of Bristol |
Relevant QAA subject benchmark groups | Biosciences (2023) (benchmark statement) |
Mode of study | Full Time |
Programme length | 3 years (full time) |
Our primary aim is to equip our students with the broadest range of intellectual and practical skills, to fit them to confront the diverse biological questions they will meet in their future careers.
We aim:
1. To offer a stimulating environment that will encourage our students to attain their full academic potential, with teachers who undertake research at the cutting edge of their fields, and who focus their teaching on the latest developments in many disciplines of biology;
2. To foster in our students an enthusiastic and lifelong interest in biology, through a developing understanding of the diversity of life and of its processes and mechanisms;
3. To provide the foundations essential for further training and for development of skills and knowledge in our students' future careers, whether in specific areas of biology or in any other discipline or vocation;
4. To train our students to analyse complex problems of diverse kinds, so that they can reach considered and appropriate conclusions on the basis of the widest range of evidence, and can communicate their conclusions to others;
5. To offer an undergraduate degree programme which covers diverse biological topics spanning molecular, cellular, organismal and ecosystem scales;
6. To make available to our students clear and accurate information on our teaching programmes, on what is expected of them, and on how successfully they are achieving the goals we demand of them.The biology programme is deliberately drawn broadly. Graduates will have developed subject-specific skills from a variety of areas within the field.
Students transferring from the MSci Biology programme into the BSc Biology programme having taken unit BIOL30006 Advanced Practical Skills rather than BIOL30202 Practical Project will also be deemed to have satisfied the intended learning outcomes for this programme at the BSc level of study.
Programme Intended Learning Outcomes | Learning and Teaching Methods |
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Students are taught through a combination of lectures, supervised practical classes, field work, workshops, tutorials, and seminars. In addition, students are required to undertake independent learning through reading and experimental work both in the lab and in the field. |
Methods of Assessment | |
Aptitude, learning, skills and understanding are assessed through a combination of assessed practical work, projects, tutorial work, essays, open and closed examinations. |
Programme Intended Learning Outcomes | Learning and Teaching Methods |
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Such skills are taught throughout the teaching programme, but in particular are addressed through tutorial, practical, field and project work. |
Methods of Assessment | |
Tutorial, practical and project work is designed to test such skills, is assessed according to School guidelines and forms the continuous assessment element of the taught units. Many of these skills in year 3 are measured in the Fieldcourse and Practical Project reports, and the Literature Review. Closed examinations – particularly in years 1 and 2 – are also designed to test components of these skills.
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Programme Intended Learning Outcomes | Learning and Teaching Methods |
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Such skills are taught through tutorials, practical work and field/lab work throughout all three levels and in the Literature Review, Practical Project and Fieldcourse units in year 3. Specific units in year 1 (Key Concepts) and 2 (Science and Success) have been specifically designed to teach and assess such important transferable skills. |
Methods of Assessment | |
Time management is assessed through successful completion and submission on time of coursework (especially in year 1 and 2); teamwork is assessed through successful completion of group activities in practical and field work; written and spoken skills are assessed both through tutorials and examinations. These skills are also assessed in year 3 in the Literature Review and Practical Project through the oral presentations associated with both units, and the activities associated with final project planning and reporting. |
Statement of expectations from the students at each level of the programme as it/they develop year on year.
Level C/4 - Certificate |
Students are expected to have a sound and broad-based knowledge and understanding of biological principles, have learnt to analyse scientific problems and to draw objective conclusions, and have gained self confidence in written, verbal and organisational skills, including communication, teamwork, and computer literacy. |
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Level I/5 - Intermediate |
At level 5, students build on the foundation that they established in level 4, and are expected to develop subject-specific skills such as data handling, statistics, molecular methods and experimental design (depending on unit choice). Students should be able to apply these skills widely and to undertake more in-depth analysis of scientific problems and be able to review their own progress. |
Level H/6 - Honours |
Graduates will have developed subject-specific skills from a variety of aspects of the subject, including those specific to zoology and plant sciences; they will have expanded their breadth and depth of knowledge and understanding of biological systems and will have become confident in their ability to design experimental protocols, collect and evaluate data, analyse complex scientific problems and communicate their findings both verbally and in writing. |
The intended learning outcome mapping document shows which mandatory units contribute towards each programme intended learning outcome.
For information on the admissions requirements for this programme please see details in the undergraduate prospectus at http://www.bristol.ac.uk/prospectus/undergraduate/ or contact the relevant academic department.
UG Workload Statement
Success as an undergraduate student depends on you being able to make the transition to self-motivated, independent learning. Programmes are designed to assist you in this development, in many cases by starting with units in which timetabled teaching, such as lectures and practical classes, provides the foundations of knowledge and skills in a subject, moving on to individual research-based work. Over time you will be expected to take increasing responsibility for your own learning, guided by the feedback on your work that you will receive. At the heart of your studies at every level there must be regular and disciplined individual reading, reflection and writing and it is this skill of independent studies, above all others, that will serve you best when you leave the University.
Most programmes use credits and a 20 credit unit broadly equates to about 200 hours of student input. This includes all activities related to the teaching, learning and assessment of taught units.
A component of this is the time that you spend in class, in contact with the teaching staff, which includes activities such as lectures, laboratories, tutorials and fieldwork. Some of this activity may be online and could consist of activity that is synchronous (using real-time environments such as Blackboard Collaborate) or asynchronous (using tools such as tutor moderated discussion forums, blogs or wikis).
In some programmes there are field courses and/or placements that will take place in concentrated periods of time.
Outside scheduled activities you are expected to pursue your own independent learning to build your knowledge and understanding of the subjects you are studying. Such independent activities include, reviewing lecture material, reading textbooks, working on examples sheets, completing coursework, writing up laboratory notes, preparing for in-class progress tests and revising for examinations.
We recognise that many students undertake paid employment. To achieve a sensible balance between work and study, you are advised to undertake paid work for no more than 15 hours per week in term-time.
Professional Programmes
Many undergraduates in the Faculty of Health Sciences will be following the professional programmes of:
For these professional programmes, full time attendance is compulsory unless absence is formally approved. Academic activities are timetabled throughout the 5-day week and student workload is around 40 hours per week on average. Where possible, students in the early years are permitted Wednesday afternoons for sport and extra-curriculum activities. This may not be available in later years of professional programmes as when a student progresses through the curricula there is an increasing exposure to clinical and professional activities. Students in clinic or on placements may need to stay later than core times of 08.00 – 18.00 or even overnight to observe out-of-hours activities. This increasing exposure to clinical activities means that students on these professional programmes often have longer term dates than the University standard. Individual years within programmes are likely to vary in length (for example because of the timings of placements) and further information on this will be found in individual programme regulations. Another important point to note is that many of the assessments sit outside of the standard University examination timetable and are likely to be more frequent meaning that students will more oftentimes be engaged in revision activities and self-directed learning.
Faculty of Health Sciences
Faculty Assessment and Feedback Statement for Undergraduate Students. University of Bristol access only.
The School of Biological Sciences maintains a series of world-class research specializations across a broad base and is particularly strong in studies at the whole organism level; modern molecular techniques are also applied across diverse fields from microbiology, evolutionary biology, plant biology, animal behaviour and ecology. Much of its teaching is research oriented, and it offers a wide, diverse range of units which delivers a broad biological education, although the opportunity also exists to focus on particular areas of interest. The School has extensive links with local organisations such as the Veterinary School at Langford, the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust, Avon Wildlife Trust, Plymouth Marine Laboratory, and the BBC. Such collaborations further the research of the School and inform its teaching.
Additional Costs
In addition to the fees for the programme, a student may encounter the following costs:
All students on this programme take a mandatory field course. Costs depend on the field course students select and are subsequently allocated to.
Unit Name | Unit Code | Credit Points | Status | |
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Life Processes Part A | BIOL10009 | 20 | Mandatory | TB-1 |
Diversity of Life Part A | BIOL10010 | 20 | Mandatory | TB-1 |
Diversity of Life Part B | BIOL10007 | 20 | Mandatory | TB-2 |
Life Processes Part B | BIOL10008 | 20 | Mandatory | TB-2 |
Key Concepts for Biologists | BIOL10002 | 20 | Mandatory | TB-1 |
Units from the following list totalling 20 credit points. Please note the open unit chosen must take place in TB2: | ||||
Current Topics in Biology | BIOL10001 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 |
Sustainable Development | UNIV10001 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 |
City Futures: Migration, Citizenship, and Planetary Change | UNIV10005 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 |
Creative Futures: Tools for Changing the World | UNIV10007 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 |
Understanding global problems using data: inequality, climate change and the economy | UNIV10008 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 |
Big Ideas in Science | CHEM10001 | 20 | Optional | TB-4 |
Introduction to Cognitive and Biological Psychology | PSYC10013 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 |
Science of Happiness | PSYC10014 | 20 | Optional | TB-1,TB-2 |
Decolonise the Future! | HUMS10012 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 |
Any other Level 1 UWLP (University-Wide Language Programme) unit - 20 credit points. Please see http://www.bristol.ac.uk/sml/study/uwlp/ for more details. | ||||
Certificate of Higher Education | 120 |
Unit Name | Unit Code | Credit Points | Status | |
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Molecular Genetics | BIOL20015 | 20 | Mandatory | TB-1 |
Science and Success: Writing, Speaking and Communicating Science | BIOL20017 | 10 | Mandatory | TB-1A |
Evolutionary Biology | BIOL20212 | 10 | Mandatory | TB-1B |
Quantitative and Computational Methods | BIOL20020 | 20 | Mandatory | TB-1 |
Plus 60 credit points chosen from: | ||||
Plants and Planet | BIOL20021 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 |
Animal and Plant Physiology | BIOL20022 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 |
Animal Behaviour | BIOL20023 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 |
Cell and Developmental Biology | BIOL20024 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 |
Ecology and Conservation | BIOL20025 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 |
Neuroethology | BIOL20026 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 |
Diploma of Higher Education | 120 |
Unit Name | Unit Code | Credit Points | Status | |
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Practical Research Skills | BIOL30016 | 40 | Mandatory | TB-4 |
Literature Review | BIOL30002 | 20 | Mandatory | TB-1 |
60 credits selected from the following: | ||||
Animal Communication and Cognition | BIOL30018 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 |
Blue Planet | BIOL30020 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 |
Evolution: from Genomes to Biodiversity | BIOL30021 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 |
The Future of the Green Planet | BIOL30022 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 |
Plants and Sustainable Food Production | BIOL30023 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 |
Staying Alive: the Sensory and Behavioural Biology of Survival | BIOL30024 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 |
Biology (BSc) | 120 |
Unit Pass Mark for Undergraduate Programmes:
For details on the weightings for classifying undergraduate degrees, please see the Agreed Weightings, by Faculty, to be applied for the Purposes of Calculating the Final Programme Mark and Degree Classification in Undergraduate Programmes.
For detailed rules on progression please see the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes and the relevant faculty handbook.
Please refer to the specific progression/award requirements for programmes with a preliminary year of study, the Gateway programmes and International Foundation programmes.
All undergraduate degree programmes allow the opportunity for a student to exit from a programme with a Diploma or Certificate of Higher Education.
Integrated Master's degrees may also allow the opportunity for a student to exit from the programme with an equivalent Bachelor's degree where a student has achieved 360 credit points, of which 90 must be at level 6, and has successfully met any additional criteria as described in the programme specification.
The opportunities for a student to exit from one of the professional programmes in Veterinary Science, Medicine, and Dentistry with an Award is outlined in the relevant Programme Regulations (which are available as an annex in the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes).
An Ordinary degree can be awarded if a student has successfully completed at least 300 credits with a minimum of 60 credits at Level 6.
The pass mark for the professional programmes in Veterinary Science, Medicine and Dentistry is 50 out of 100. The classification of a degree in the professional programmes in Veterinary Science, Medicine, and Dentistry is provided in the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes.
Please note: This specification provides a concise summary of the main features of the programme and the learning outcomes that a typical student might reasonably be expected to achieve and demonstrate if he/she takes full advantage of the learning opportunities that are provided.
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