BSc CHEMISTRY WITH A FOUNDATION YEAR

From the materials we make to the medicines we take, chemistry shapes our relationship with the world around us. So understanding how chemicals interact at a molecular level is not only fascinating, but also of critical importance. 

Chemistry at UEA has an excellent reputation. Our cutting-edge research in chemical sciences underpins our teaching – through lectures, workshops, small group tutorials and practicals – ensuring that your learning is at the forefront of scientific thought. 

If you’re interested in chemistry but don’t yet meet the academic requirements to enter a degree programme, Chemistry with a Foundation Year will give you the grounding and skills you need. And you’ll be assigned an adviser from the School of Chemistry who will guide you throughout the year. 

About

The Foundation Year of our innovative course will arm you with the skills you’ll need to progress onto our Chemistry degree. Designed to fill gaps in your knowledge, it will prepare you for life as a Chemistry undergraduate. You’ll cover core modules in chemistry and mathematics, as well as biology or physics, depending on your interests. 

Complete the year successfully and you’ll be accepted onto our three-year Chemistry degree programme, which will give you a solid grounding in all aspects of chemistry. In years two and three, you’ll gain advanced knowledge of chemistry and develop your practical laboratory skills. Then in your final year, you’ll tailor your study to specialise in the areas that reflect your interests and career aspirations, and you’ll undertake an independent research project too. 

If you’re curious about the world around you and fascinated by the way chemicals interact, this course is an ideal choice. It will give you a real understanding of chemistry’s impact on every aspect of our lives, from our health and wellbeing to the economy. And it will give you the opportunity to use your imagination to take your thinking to extremes, and then apply it. 

After the Foundation Year, you could also elect to move onto our Master’s course. Making a choice between an MChem or BSc course can be difficult. If you are at all unsure which course is right for you then don’t worry: you will be given advice before you begin studying and while you’re a student here. Transferring between the two courses is straightforward during the first two years because of the common structure of our courses. 

After the Course

Once you successfully finish your Foundation Year, you’ll go straight onto one of the main degree programmes within the School of Chemistry. 

So, what are your career options after Chemistry?  

A better question might be what career options are not open to you after chemistry, as you’ll see from the huge range of careers that our graduates have followed.  

Our chemistry degrees provide the skills that employers are looking for – high level subject knowledge combined with problem solving, IT, analytical skills, instrumentation, time management, organisation, and team and individual work. 

Many of our graduates secure positions in emerging chemistry industries, such as Iceni Diagnostics (a UEA spin off company developing lateral flow test technology, including for Covid-19), and leading pharmaceutical companies (Glaxo SmithKline, AkzoNobel or Sanofi), chemical and advanced technology companies (Johnson Matthey, Dell or British Airways) with roles in research, management, product development and quality control.  

Others have used their chemistry degree to pursue more diverse career options. These range from further research degrees (MSc or PhD) towards academic positions, to teaching training (PGCE) to became schoolteachers, through to careers in publishing (RSC and Wiley editors), computing (ANDigital) and even banking (Barclays), insurance (Aviva), and almost everything in between.  

At UEA, we have a great team to support graduates in securing excellent career starts through CareerCentral. In the School of Chemistry, our Director of Employability coordinates internal and external events and makes sure that all additional key skills training elements are present in our curriculum from year 1, allowing Chemistry graduates to present a highly competitive CV. The skills training is embedded within our modules, especially in years 3 and 4, but, in addition, all students benefit from chemistry careers drop-in sessions and 1-to1 guidance, plus chemistry specific employers events and fairs. 

We also encourage our students to participate in the UEA award, which is a certificate from the University, recognising a range of extracurricular activities that students can undertake while at university, to help them develop other skills to become highly employable.  

To complement undergraduate studies, we offer a wide range of internships during the summer break (6-12 weeks) supported by the University and different funders, for students in their second and third year of their degrees. These provide additional opportunities to experience work and develop key skills in one of the many diverse research areas being pursued in the School of Chemistry. 

“During the internship I have been exposed to a range of techniques such as bacterial transformation, recombinant protein expression and SDS-PAGE, all of which I would only have read about or been briefly introduced to in my undergraduate studies. I strongly suggest that if you are focused on research that you apply for as many experience opportunities as possible and refine your CV as best you can for that first interview.” 

Jack Fendley, 2nd Year intern student, working on oligomerisation of the chlamydia protein TarP for cell invasion, with Dr Tharin Blumenschein over the summer 2021, funded by a Tim Pickup UEA Internship. 

Career destinations

Examples of careers that you could enter include: 

• Research scientist 
• Healthcare 
• Government 
• Data analyst 
• Academic 
• Teacher