The aim of this module is to equip you with some of the skills that are necessary for preparing you for studying at university and starting your journey into employment. The module comprises several skill areas. This module also creates a friendly, interactive, and inclusive learning environment.

Personal skills will support the identification of your skills and abilities through targeted activities whilst looking at ways to maximise your presence within both a university context and the wider workplace. Project management skills include working with others, delegation, participation, and reflecting on approaches taken.

This module is designed to help you to meet the English level needed for both the International Foundation Programme and your undergraduate degree, and to give you the tools you need to become an independent language learner. It will teach you how to learn language for academic study, take responsibility for your own language learning, and gain the habits of continuous learning which you will need on your undergraduate program.

You will learn to develop your:

• Communicative abilities in English
• Functional language ability across the main skills of English (speaking, listening, reading and writing)
• Grammatical knowledge and accuracy in English
• Vocabulary and fluency in English

You will develop your skills in this area and improve your ability to apply them in the subject of your undergraduate degree.

The Academic Practice module has a series of practical sessions that link with your other pathway modules to prepare you for your undergraduate degree. These sessions feature a broad range of essential study skills such as research, working with sources, use of digital tools, writing and presentation skills, and reflection and action planning.

Developing and improving study skills is a gradual process. It is also an individual process. If you are new to higher education or have not studied for some time, you may feel worried about tackling your first assignment; taking an exam; or juggling study with other commitments. Here, this module is designed to help you to acquire the academic literacy and language skills you need to succeed at university.

Managing projects that produce a final outcome/artefact is an everyday part of working and academic life. Learning the skills of how to organise your time, find resources, and use your personal strengths is essential for your future career. This module is designed to support you to carry out a project in your subject-specific area and will equip you with the skills and knowledge you need to complete your project successfully.

You will gain an understanding of the essential steps in the project life cycle and have the opportunity to evaluate and reflect on your (and your fellow students’) progress throughout the project work, to the project completion stage.

This module will also introduce you to academic research skills and develop your ability to critically appraise and organise material. This module takes a holistic and reflective approach to your learning, with you developing a portfolio of your improved project planning, research and evaluation skills, and production of an artefact.

In this module, you will develop an awareness of how ethical action is increasingly important in today’s interconnected world. Decisions we take in one sector of a society can rapidly influence another sector, crossing borders and having far-reaching effects on real lives. Whether it is in the ethical choices you make in business, environmental policy, law and order, medicine, politics the media or academic research, this is a key topic you need to understand for the twenty-first century.

Drawing on core philosophical principles, the Ethical Practices in Action module guides you in examining how choices we make and actions we take shape today’s world. Through understanding where ethics come from, why they are important and how they can help us make better choices, you will be better prepared to work in many areas of contemporary society, for instance in business, HR, healthcare, counselling, criminal justice, academia, and politics.

In completing this module, you will develop academic skills and ability to apply the concepts and principles of chemical structures. You will be able to relate the electronic structure of species (atoms, ions) to molecular structure of organic and inorganic compounds, appreciate functional groups as the basis of the structure of organic molecules, and identify their presence in complex molecules; deduce ‘molecular’ formulae and structure of compounds from the appropriate experimental or theoretical data.

It is a practical module so that it teaches not only the facts needed to understand the topic but also practical laboratory skills. You will also study reactivity of organic compounds, where you will study reactions to detect specific functional groups, alongside instrumental techniques such as mass spectrometry. Be able to apply this knowledge in applied sciences contexts.

As this programme is a foundation for further study in the area of applied science you will develop your knowledge and skills through the introduction to key definitions, concepts, investigatory techniques, and basic principles required to advance your understanding of human biosciences.

As Biology is the “Study of Life”, in this module we will explore different aspects of the living world around us. The aim of this module is to introduce you to Biology. The theme is to lead you through from biological molecules, through cells, to how they build organisms, then how these organisms reproduce and evolve and interact with other organisms and the environment. The module will introduce you to biological topics such as Genetics and Evolution.

The aim is to prepare you for successful study in the applied science degree route. It introduces the processes which occur inside living cells which are vital for the operation of the whole organism.  You will then look inwards, and unravel the secrets of our genomes. Our genetic information is stored in our DNA – but how are genes organised, and how do they work? Can the study of genetics help us to understand the world in and around us, can it help us to “improve” the world by genetic manipulation?

Finally, you will focus on human beings, and explore aspects of our physiology and neurobiology. How does the human body function, how does our nervous system work? You need to be able to use all of this knowledge synoptically i.e. you need to see how everything affects everything else.