Marine Biology with a Year Abroad

An academic understanding of ocean life across the world has never been more important.

Our four-year Marine Biology degree with a year abroad is highly practical and fieldwork based and our unique location gives students easy access to a variety of study habitats including exposed rocky shores, steep cliffs salt marshes and estuarine mudflats.

Marine Biology at Swansea University has a strong reputation and draws students from across the world and is based on our stunning Singleton Park campus overlooking Swansea Bay.

Your learning will be shaped by inspirational and internationally-renowned academics including Professor Rory Wilson – Chief Scientific Consultant behind National Geographic’s Great Migrations, and Dr Richard Unsworth – advisor on the globally acclaimed BBC series Blue Planet II.

The third year of this programme is spent studying abroad at one of a range of international institutions available, allowing you to broaden your horizons and pick up new life experiences and skills that can help to give you a competitive advantage when entering the world of work.

Your Marine Biology Experience will include:
• A flexibly structured degree path means you have the opportunity to study abroad, work in industry or undertake research for a year, either locally, nationally or overseas.
• All second-year students receive training at sea.
• Our state-of-the-art teaching and research facilities include the Centre for Sustainable Aquatic Research, a Zoological Museum, a custom-designed 18 metre catamaran-class survey vessel, and a unique visualisation centre that displays multi-dimensional information from animal tracking data.
• Field courses available near and far allow you to work varied habitats. You can explore the spectacular marine coastal ecosystems of the Gower Peninsula on our doorstep, and natural life in distant lands such as India, Borneo and Puerto Rico.

We are ranked:
• 11th in the UK for Research Quality (Complete University Guide 2025)
• 1st in the UK for Learning Opportunities (NSS 2024) *Based on the average positivity score across questions 5 to 9 in the NSS 2024 when ranked against universities featured in the Times Good University Guide.

Year 1: Areas studied typically include:
Cellular & Microbial Biology, Core Skills for Biological Sciences, Botany and Ecology, Evolution and Genetics, Life in the Oceans, Animal Diversity and Behaviour

Year 2: Areas studied typically include:
Marine Invertebrates, Boat Based Marine Biology, Ecological Data Analysis, Marine Biology Field Course, Ichthyology, Oceanography,Tetrapod Evolution

You will spend Year 3 at one of our partner institutions abroad. This is a marvellous opportunity to experience a different culture and, depending on the destination, to develop valuable language skills.

In your final year: Areas studied typically include:
Professional Laboratory Skills, Tropical marine ecology field course, Tropical marine ecology and conservation, Ecology of Marine Megafauna, Climate Change Biology, Fisheries and aquaculture, Macroevolution and Phylogenies, Sensory Ecology

You will be taught through a combination of lectures, tutorials, seminars and discussion groups supported by practical classes and field courses. You will be assessed through a variety of methods, including examinations, coursework and a practical research project.