Physics with Astronomy with Foundation Year

Foundation courses
A foundation year can develop your skills and make it easier to get started at university. It is an extra year of study at the start of your course that leads in to a full degree programme. It’s a great option if:

You don’t have the grades for a full degree course
You have non-traditional qualifications or experience
You’re starting university after some time away from education
You’re looking for more support during the transition into university study.

Life as a foundation year student
During a foundation year you’ll learn about your chosen subject, develop your study skills and get used to university life. On successful completion of your foundation year, you’ll be ready to progress to the first year of your degree course.

As a foundation year student, you’ll be a full student of the University and part of our community. You’ll have access to all our campus facilities and support.

Why choose this course
We’re home to fantastic astronomy facilities. These include our teaching and outreach telescopes that you’ll use to get hands-on observation experience, as well as high-performance computing and GPU clusters.

There are two unique aspects to both our physics and astronomy courses:

1. Take the opportunity to get industry-ready with our award-winning Professional Training placements:

-Within the BSc physics and astronomy course, the option to take a paid Professional Training placement in industry gives you invaluable hands-on experience to enhance your employability.

• On our MPhys, you’ll take a year-long, masters-level integrated research placement. This can be in one of our world-leading research groups or at one of our international partner institutions.

2. Our focus on undergraduate research and innovation:

-All undergraduates have the opportunity to apply for paid 8-10 week summer research placements in our research groups and those of our South East Physics Network partners.

-We offer in-house ‘research and innovation’ and ‘enterprise’ grants that students can apply for to fund a research placement, attend a conference or develop a new business idea.

What you will study
Our Physics with Astronomy courses teach you the core elements of traditional physics – from classical mechanics and electromagnetism to quantum mechanics.

You’ll then specialise in astronomy, studying the formation and evolution of stars, planets, galaxies and the Universe as a whole. You’ll learn about the search for life beyond Earth, gravitational waves, and the nature of dark matter and dark energy.

You’ll also be able to carry out a research project in one of our world-leading research groups.

Formal lectures are complemented with work in our specialist radiation laboratories, which have recently been refurbished and enlarged at a cost of £2.7m. As an undergraduate student you’ll use these labs to undertake experiments related to the Nuclear and Particle Physics module.

You can apply to study for either a BSc or an MPhys. The latter is a direct route to a masters qualification, known as an integrated masters. If you study for an MPhys, you’ll spend a year doing integrated research before returning for your final masters-level modules.