Programme Specifications

With Integrated Year in Industry

Biosciences 2015

September 2017

Microbiology graduates will have gained:

• An appreciation of the complexity and diversity of life processes through the study of micro-organisms, their molecular, cellular and physiological processes, their genetics and evolution, and the interrelationships between them and their environment.

Subject specific skills

Microbiology graduates will have gained:

• Knowledge of the importance of microorganisms in environment, health and biotechnology

• Ability to handle Hazard Group 1 microorganisms safely in the laboratory

Generic and graduate skills

Microbiology graduates will have gained:

• The ability to read and use appropriate literature with a full and critical understanding, while addressing such questions as content, context, aims, objectives, quality of information, and its interpretation and application;

• The capacity to give a clear and accurate account of a subject, marshal arguments in a mature way and engage in debate and dialogue both with specialists and non-specialists;

• Critical and analytical skills: a recognition that statements should be tested and that evidence is subject to assessment and critical evaluation;

• The ability to employ a variety of methods of study in investigating, recording and analysing material;

• The ability to think independently, set tasks and solve problems.

The alternative schemes have specific learning outcomes, and therefore subject knowledge, remain unchanged. However, students will be able to demonstrate additional outcomes as a result of undertaking the year in industry. These additional outcomes provide an enhanced student experience and allow students to develop knowledge of their subject areas in applied contexts and to develop work experience and thus enhance their employability. Specifically, the proposed degree aims to advantage students in the following additional ways:

• To apply approaches, concepts, skills, methods and/or theories in a work-based context relevant to their scheme.

• To develop highly valued transferable and professional skills during a work placement, providing a competitive edge in the graduate job market.

• To enable students to learn about an organization and its area of work, providing an excellent opportunity to evaluate future career paths.

Subject specific skills (with Integrated Year in Industry)

The Subject specific skills of the schemes will not change. Nevertheless, on the completion of their degree, students on these four year versions of the schemes will have gained a valuable insight in to a field of employment relating to their subject area in the biological sciences, developing the associated skills and enhancing their employability / networking / establishing industry links.

Generic and graduate skills (with Integrated Year in Industry)

The generic and graduate skills of the schemes will not change. However, the four year version of the schemes ‘with a year in Industry’ will likely develop the skills listed below, though the nature and emphasis will depend on the exact employment; not all of these will be assessed, though most are likely to form part of the employer’s assessment of the student:

• Working independently

• Working as part of a team

• Respecting the views, beliefs, opinions and values of others

• Listening to, and engaging with, other speakers

• Effective verbal communication in a range of settings, including group discussions and debates and formal presentations

• Effective written communication in a variety of forms

• Use of information technologies to process, store, present and communicate information, including spreadsheets, databases, word processing, e-mail and the world-wide web

• Identifying, retrieving, sorting and handling information from conventional and electronic sources, including libraries, CD-ROMs, on-line computer resources and the world-wide web

• Time management and self-regulation of work regimes

• Research issues and solve problems

• Adapting to change

• Reading comprehension and interpretation of a range of written material

• Observational skills

• Collating, processing, interpreting and presenting numerical data

• Identifying appropriate career pathways and developing the capacity to compete

Overall aim of the scheme

To produce graduates who are able to work in the field of microbiology, who can operate efficiently and safely in a laboratory, are able to communicate and understand microbiological data and concepts, are able to apply microbiological skills to diverse biological problems, and are able to direct their own research/learning.

Overall aim of the scheme

The overall aims of the schemes will not change. Additionally, the aim of the four year versions of the schemes will aim to develop graduate level skills, as described in the Generic and Graduate level skills section above.

By the end of their programme, all students are expected to be able to demonstrate:

• a broadly based core of knowledge covering the major elements of biology, together with specialised in-depth study of microbiology

• engagement with the essential facts, major concepts, principles and theories of microbiology

• competence in the core experimental methods in microbiology

• familiarity with the terminology, nomenclature and classification systems used in microbiology

• awareness of the contribution of microbiological research to the development of knowledge about the diversity of life and its evolution

Learning and Teaching

Lectures; tutorials; student-led seminars; problem-based learning workshops, laboratory practical classes; literature based research; computer-assisted learning; research leading to a dissertation.

Assessment Strategies and Methods

Written examinations and coursework to include: report writing, essay writing, oral and poster presentations; the submission of a dissertation, problem-solving exercises.

The scheme provides opportunities for students to develop and demonstrate knowledge and understanding, skills, qualities and other attributes in the additional following areas:

• Demonstrate a range of transferable skills including initiative, independence and commercial awareness.

Learning and Teaching (with Integrated Year in Industry)

During their integrated year in industry students will embed themselves within a working environment, allowing for the development of a range of transferable and life skills commensurate with the above. Furthermore, students on this scheme will have the potential to utilise the knowledge and skills associated with other outcomes developed in years 1 and 2. This will be in part dependent on the nature of the organization their position is based with.

Assessment Strategies and Methods (with Integrated Year in Industry)

Students on the integrated industrial year will be required to register for the modules BRS0000, BRS0060, BRS0100, and BRS0160. During the integrated Year in Industry, students will be required to submit an Introductory Report (worth 30% of the Industrial Year mark) on the organization that they are working for, its structure, aims and operation; and a Workplace investigation, to investigate a technical aspect of the work that they are doing (worth 40% of the Industrial Year mark). Finally, there will be an AU staff assessment of the final student self-evaluation and employer’s report. These will be marked in order to assess the student’s achievement of learning outcome 10.1 above as well as the other learning outcomes of their scheme.

10.2.1 Intellectual Skills

By the end of their programme, all students are expected to be able to demonstrate:

• the ability to recognise and apply subject-specific theories, paradigms, concepts or principles. For example, the relationship between genes and proteins,

• ability for analysing, synthesising and summarising information critically, including published research or reports

• how to obtain and integrate several lines of subject-specific evidence to formulate and test hypotheses

• an appreciation of the moral and ethical issues of investigations and the need for ethical standards and professional codes of conduct

• how their knowledge and comprehension can be used to address familiar and novel problems

Learning and Teaching

Lectures; tutorials; student-led seminars; problem-based learning workshops, laboratory practical classes; literature based research; computer-assisted learning; research leading to a dissertation.

Assessment Strategies and Methods

Written examinations and coursework to include: report writing, essay writing, oral and poster presentations; the submission of a dissertation, problem-solving exercises.

10.2.2 Professional practical skills (where applicable)

By the end of their programme, all students are expected to be able to demonstrate:

• competence and progressive development in the basic and core experimental skills needed for a career in microbiology

• an ability to design, plan, conduct and report on investigations, which may involve primary or secondary data (for example from a survey database)

• skills needed to obtain, record, collate and analyse data using appropriate techniques in the field and/or laboratory, working individually or in a group

• knowledge required to undertake field and/or laboratory investigations of living systems in a responsible, safe and ethical manner

• use and interpretation of a variety of sources of information: textual, numerical, verbal, graphical

Learning and Teaching

Practical skills are acquired and promoted through practical laboratory classes, class activities, and experimental research for the dissertation. Coursework develops research skills and PDP is used for career planning and skills auditing.

Assessment Strategies and Methods

Coursework to include: the submission of scientific reports, oral presentations, research posters and essays. Students are expected to demonstrate advanced critical, interpretative and analytical skills in both their course work and written examinations. The dissertation should demonstrate student competence in practical and academic skills.

10.2.1 Intellectual Skills (with Integrated Year in Industry)

By the end of their programme, all students are expected to be able to demonstrate THE FOLLOWING ADDITIONAL LEARNING OUTCOME:

• Demonstrate experience of working in a professional environment

Learning and Teaching

Outcome 10.2.1 will be achieved through completing an extended integrated Year in Industry position at a suitable workplace.

Assessment Strategies and Methods

Evidence of outcome 10.2.1 will be secured through the completion of the assessment strategy described in 10.1 above.

10.2.2 Professional practical skills (where applicable) (with Integrated Year in Industry)

By the end of their programme, all students are expected to be able to demonstrate THE FOLLOWING ADDITIONAL LEARNING OUTCOME:

• Applying principles, methods, approaches, concepts, skills and/or theories appropriate to the relevant biological sciences scheme in a professional context, as well as understanding the challenges of working in a professional environment.

Learning and Teaching

The professional skills identified in 10.2.2 will be primarily developed through spending a year in industry

Assessment Strategies and Methods

10.2.2 will be evidenced by the completion of the assessment strategy described in 10.1 above, detailing experiences of a year in industry, as well as reports on associated technical information.

By the end of their programme, all students are expected to be able to demonstrate:

• the ability to access and evaluate bioscience information from a variety of sources and to communicate the principles both orally and in writing in a way that is organised and topical, and recognises the limits of current hypotheses

• an appreciation of the impact on society of advances in the biosciences

• the ability to record data accurately, and to carry out basic manipulation of data

• strategies that enable them to update their knowledge of the biosciences

• an awareness of professional standards

Learning and Teaching

Coursework develops research skills and PDP is used for career planning and skills auditing. Skills modules in years 1 and 2 develop sourcing and referencing information. Team working takes place in tutorials, practicals and workshops

Assessment Strategies and Methods

Essays, reports, oral presentations

By the end of their programme, all students are expected to be able to demonstrate THE FOLLOWING ADDITIONAL LEARNING OUTCOME:

• Professionalism and an understanding of commercial pressures

Learning and Teaching

Skill 10.3 will be developed through undertaking the year in industry component. In addition, and dependent upon the nature of the position undertaken, the year in industry has the potential to further enhance the other generic skills detailed in Section 9 above.

Assessment Strategies and Methods

10.3 will be evidenced by the completion of the assessment strategy described in 10.1 above, but primarily through the AU staff assessment of the final student self-evaluation and employer’s report