General Information

Welcome to the University of Manchester and the School of Biological Sciences

We hope that you have an interesting and exciting year. Please take the time to read through the Handbook. The information it provides is of great importance to you and we hope that it will be a useful resource throughout the academic year. It contains key details about your degree programme, as well as information such as staff contact details, links to degree regulations and work and attendance requirements.

It will be assumed that you have read and understood the contents of this Handbook. Please talk to your Academic Advisor or Student Support Hub if anything is not clear to you.

My Manchester 

My Manchester brings all your online university services together in one place. From My Manchester you can access the student self-service system, which allows you to view your timetable, select course units and access your grades for assessed work. My Manchester also allows you to access University services including Blackboard and your University library account.

You can login to My Manchester at: http://my.manchester.ac.uk

You can view your personalised timetable on Publish: Publish (manchester.ac.uk)

All the information in this handbook was accurate at the start of the 2024-2025 academic year.

Our future

At The University of Manchester, one of our core goals under Teaching and Learning is as follows: “As an institution built on world-class research, we want to share knowledge to challenge and transform our students, giving learners of all ages and backgrounds the chance to contribute to positive change, improving their lives and those of others.

We will inspire learners with challenging ideas, knowledge and wisdom, and help them develop the capabilities needed for a stellar career. Our teachers will be supported to deliver the highest levels of student satisfaction, embracing digital opportunities and placing personalisation at the heart of what we do.”

All the information in this handbook was accurate at the start of the 2024-2025 academic year.

Also see: Your responsibilities as a Biological Sciences student

Sharing Information

The University may share appropriate information relating to your health and/or conduct with external organisations such as your professional employer(s) (for example, relevant NHS Trust, Professional and Statutory Regulatory Bodies (PSRB)), placement and training providers and/or regulator. This may occur where concerns in relation to your health and/or conduct arise and the University considers it necessary for them to be disclosed to one or more of the above organisations. The University’s Privacy Notice for Registered Students (which is accessible here) includes further information about how the University may use and process your personal data, including the legal basis and conditions which may be relevant to such processing (see section 6 of the Privacy Notice). The University will only disclose special category data (such as data relating to your health) to a third party organisation where one of the additional conditions are satisfied (see section 9 of the Privacy Notice), including where processing is necessary for reasons of substantial public interest.

Forms of communication during your studies

Effective communication between you, staff of the School and central university administration is vital, providing you with key information (e.g. timetables, examinations, course assessment marks etc.) and often requiring your swift responses. There are different forms of communication:

• Email: You will be provided with an ‘@student.manchester.ac.uk’ email address and your personal username or password, which MUST be kept secret. This email account is your primary form of professional communication. You are expected to monitor your email on a regular and frequent basis (at least twice a day) and to respond swiftly and appropriately. Acquiring professional standards of communication (see Sect. 1.1.2.) is an important learning outcome of your studies and will be an essential item in reference letters by your advisors or supervisors.
• Verbal communication: Staff may occasionally make verbal announcements in lectures and practicals that might not be available in written form (e.g. information about assignments or health and safety instructions). If you are late or unable to attend, check with fellow students or staff whether information was missed.
• Student newsletters: During term-time, you will receive weekly newsletters from the SBS Hub. The newsletters contain information specifically tailored to SBS students. We recommend spending time reviewing the contents each week.
• SBS Student Sharepoint: The SBS Student Sharepoint site pulls together information and key links for students, including information about course unit plans, careers, wellbeing, mitigating circumstances and assessment. The Sharepoint site is available at the following link: School of Biological Sciences Student Information – Home (sharepoint.com)
• Confidentiality disclaimer: Information that you share with us will be treated confidentially. However, the University may share appropriate information relating to your health and/or conduct with external organisations such as your professional employer(s) [for example, relevant NHS Trust, Professional and Statutory Regulatory Bodies (PSRB)], placement and training providers and/or regulators. This may occur where concerns in relation to your health and/or conduct arise and the University considers it necessary for them to be disclosed to one or more of the above organisations. The University’s Privacy Notice for Registered Students includes further information about how the University may use and process your personal data, including the legal basis and conditions which may be relevant to such processing (see section 6 of the Privacy Notice). The University will only disclose special category data (such as data relating to your health) to a third-party organisation where one of the additional conditions are satisfied (see section 9 of the Privacy Notice), including where processing is necessary for reasons of substantial public interest.

Administration of the School of Biological Sciences

The School of Biological Sciences forms part of the Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health (FBMH).

Although your main contacts in the School will be your Academic Advisor and Programme Directors (Programme Directors and where to find them), some aspects of your course will be dealt with by the Student Support Office (see below) within the School. Management of Teaching and Learning in the School is the responsibility of the Teaching, Learning and Student Experience Management Team.

Your official contacts in the School of Biological Sciences

Student Support Hub (G.483 Stopford Building; Email: sbs.hub@manchester.ac.uk, phone: +44 (0)161 275 1487)

Opening times:

09:00 -17:00 Monday to Friday during term-time

10:00 – 16:00 outside of term-time

The Student Support Hub is your first stop for queries relating to your programme or courses and general student support including career advice special needs and wellbeing support. The list below outlines support available at the Support Hub:

• Mitigating circumstances for exams and assessments
• General course information
• Specific course enquiries
• Wellbeing support
• Requesting a letter or document
• Help with study skills
• Information on campus facilities
• Registering as a student
• Graduation information
• General enquiries

Programmes and Curriculum team	sbs.programmes@manchester.ac.uk
Assessment and Progression Team	sbs.assessment@manchester.ac.uk
Wellbeing	sbs.wellbeing@manchester.ac.uk
Mitigating Circumstances	sbs.mitcircs@manchester.ac.uk

Director of Education– Professor Nicky High
Email: nicky.high@manchester.ac.uk

Deputy Directors of Studies – School of Biological Sciences

Dr Lisa Swanton – Programmes and Curriculum

Professor Donald Ward – Assessment and Progression

Dr Helen Graham – Digital and Flexible Learning

Dr Ingo Schiessl – Admissions and Recruitment

Dr Maria Canal – Inclusive Education

Dr Katherine Hinchliffe – Student Experience

Senior Advisors 

Email: senioradvisors.sbs@manchester.ac.uk

In addition, the following academic roles support the School:

Head of School – Biological Sciences

Professor Simon Hubbard

Finally, the Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health has two ‘Writing Fellows’: Sophie Duffy and Ian Pople, who are funded by The Royal Literary Fund.

The Writing Fellows provide students with free and confidential one-to-one advice on effective writing, including writing essays, lab reports, literature reviews or other coursework. Students can sign up for a one-to-one tutorial (up to 50 minutes) to help you:

• plan your study time
• focus your reading for essay, dissertation or thesis writing  express your ideas more clearly
• answer grammar and punctuation questions
• discover reading to improve your writing and editing skills
• increase your writing skills with the aim of improving your grades
• improve any academic writing – essays, reports, dissertations, etc.

Students can make an appointment during term-time with one of the Fellows by emailing them directly. Their availability and contact details are listed below:

 

Writing Fellow	Contact details
Sophie Duffy	sophie.duffy@rlfeducation.org.uk
Ian Pople	ian.pople@rlfeducation.org.uk

 

Key dates and deadlines for 2024/25:

First Semester:

University and programme induction	w/c Monday 16th September 2024
Semester 1 teaching starts	Monday 23rd September 2024
Reading week	Monday 28th October 2024 – Friday 1st November 2024
Christmas Break	Monday 16th December 2024 – Sunday 24th January 2025

Note: BIOL21041/21051/21061 practical classes will continue through Reading Week and attendance is compulsory.  Other non-BIOL units may also continue to teach over reading week.

Second Semester:

Semester 2 dates	Monday 27th January 2025 – Sunday 11th June 2025
Easter Break	Monday 7th April 2025 – Sunday 27th April 2025

Examination Periods:

Semester 1	Thursday 9th January 2025 – Friday 24th  January 2025
Semester 2	Monday 12th May – Wednesday 4th June 2024
Resits	Monday 18th August 2025 – Friday 29th August 2025

Examination Result publication dates (provisional):

Semester 1	w/c Monday 24th February 2025
Semester 2	w/c Monday 14th July 2025
Resists	w/c Monday 8th September 2025

Please note that the School of Biological Sciences reserves the right to delay the release of results past these dates in the event of unforeseen circumstances. If the release of results is postponed for any reason, students will be informed of this in a timely manner.

Deadlines:

Change of programme form submission – Friday 6th June 2025 at 4pm

Project preferences submission deadline – Thursday 5th June 2025 at 4pm

Academic Calendar

http://www.manchester.ac.uk/discover/key-dates/

Examination timetables

Exam timetables are produced in advance of examination periods and students will be emailed information about where to access the timetable when it becomes available. For any on-campus examinations, you will be able to view a personalised exam timetable in MyManchester which will  inform you of the room and seat number. When this is available, please check it carefully against your unit enrolments.

The highest priority for the University examinations scheduling process is to ensure that there are no clashes in your exam timetable. However, you should be aware that more than one of your exams might be scheduled on the same day (one in the morning one in the afternoon). This is unavoidable in some cases and no allowances or mitigations will be put in place if you have 2 examinations on the same day.

If there are any problems with your exam timetable, or you have any questions, please contact the Assessment & Progression Team (sbs.assessment@manchester.ac.uk).

Examinations and religious observance

The University will make every effort to avoid timetabling assessments on religious days or festivals for those students whose commitment to the observance of their faith would otherwise cause them to miss the assessment. If this may affect you, you must fill in an ‘Examination and Religious Observance form’ from the Student Services Centre by the deadlines outlined on the form. This will be emailed out to all students in advance of exam timetables being produced. More information is available here.

Aims and intended learning outcomes of the School with regard to undergraduate Teaching & Learning

Aims

The School’s general aims are to offer undergraduate students a broad and thorough education in biological sciences within an institutional culture of high quality research and scholarship. The School aims to:

• deliver a range of broad and specialist degrees, informed by current research, which will equip students for careers within and outside science;
• meet student requirements for diversity of provision and opportunity of transfer between disciplines within biological sciences by providing a structure of flexibility and choice within the undergraduate programmes;
• provide students with subject-specific knowledge and practical skills linked to generic transferable skills which are integrated within the curriculum;
• ensure students develop skills in independent learning;
• employ a variety of teaching methods and assessment strategies to meet programme aims and needs of students with high entry qualifications;
• provide students with effective induction information, and ongoing academic and pastoral support and advice in order to enhance their progress and academic development;
• provide appropriate academic and support staff, laboratory, library and other facilities to ensure a high quality learning environment and experience;
• operate a management structure which monitors the delivery and quality of teaching provision in order to ensure high standards across our wide range of programmes;
• attract high quality students to undergraduate programmes;
• endeavour to ensure that students progress through programmes and acquire qualifications, knowledge and skills appropriate to their academic abilities.
• endeavour to ensure that students enhance their employability.

Intended Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of their programmes undergraduate students should have:

• a detailed theoretical knowledge, based on a firm foundation, of the appropriate areas of biological sciences developed within an environment of excellent research and scholarship;
• attained appropriate subject-specific and transferable skills in preparation for further study or employment either within or outside science;
• acquired practical laboratory skills in well-equipped teaching laboratories under the instruction of appropriate staff;
• the ability to evaluate biological scientific material and to answer questions through theoretical analysis, hypothesis, experimentation and data analysis;
• developed skills, where appropriate, of fieldwork at sites away from the University in the UK and/or Continental Europe; learned to appreciate the influence of environmental factors on biological systems;
• acquired additional training in mathematics at a level appropriate to the analysis of biological data;
• where appropriate, acquired a suitable training in chemistry sufficient to enable them to study modern biological sciences;
• either become actively involved in laboratory or field-based research in a research group within the School or associated institutions under the supervision of an expert in the relevant area OR have applied their theoretical and practical knowledge to one of a variety of situations ranging from: the development of computer-based teaching programmes for universities, to designing biology programmes for schools; to furthering the public understanding and communication of science; to preparing and presenting a business plan for an enterprising biotechnology project;
• the ability to search the relevant literature both in written and electronic form and to assimilate and evaluate critically the information obtained;
• developed the ability to write a substantial scientific report based on either a literature survey or results obtained from a research project;
• developed skills in computer literacy, IT, oral and written communication, team work and problem solving;
• developed skills in independent learning;
• benefitted generally from an education which has been broadened by the School’s links with other institutions and the experience of working alongside international students.

In addition

On completing the four-year placement degrees with industrial/professional experience students will have:

• gained experience of transferring their theoretical and practical skills developed within the University to the workplace;
• developed high quality practical skills and specific knowledge relating to the practice of science in an applied setting;
• developed interpersonal skills within the workplace.

On completing the four-year joint degrees with a language, students will have:

• acquired a sound working knowledge of the target language including aspects specific to biological sciences;
• acquired an appreciation of the culture and institutions of an appropriate country;
• gained experience of research work in an overseas institution.

On completing the four-year MSci programmes, students will have:

• gained experience in the planning and design of research addressing a timely research question;
• developed high quality practical skills and the ability to analyse multiple lines of experimental evidence;
• acquired skills in the presentation of research findings.

On completing the four-year with Entrepreneurship programmes, students will have:

• acquired knowledge of business skills through research & development of business opportunities, financial planning, exploring the market potential of products and processes and creating business plans
• gained experience of transferring their theoretical and practical skills developed within the University to the workplace;
• acquired skills in applying entrepreneurial knowledge to a range of applications including the sciences.

Programme Directors and where to find them

The Programme Director oversees the content of your Degree Programme, agrees your choice of optional course units during Welcome Week and assists your Academic Advisor in giving you advice on academic matters.

Degree Programme	Programme Director	Programme Director Email
Biochemistry	Prof Andrew Doig/ Dr Gino	andrew.doig@manchester.ac.uk
	Poulin	gino.poulin@manchester.ac.uk
Biology	Dr Thomas Nuhse	Thomas.Nuhse@manchester.ac.uk
Biology with Science & Society	Dr Ruth Grady	ruth.grady@manchester.ac.uk
Biomedical Sciences	Dr Tristan Pocock (L1)	Tristan.pocock@manchester.ac.uk
	Dr Michelle Keown (L2)	michelle.e.keown@manchester.ac.uk
	Dr Rebecca Dearman (L3)	rebecca.dearman@manchester.ac.uk
Biotechnology	Dr Dennis Linton	James.D.Linton@manchester.ac.uk
Cell Biology	Dr Patrick Gallois	patrick.g.gallois@manchester.ac.uk
Genetics	Dr Kimberly Mace	kimberly.mace@manchester.ac.uk
Immunology	Dr Kathleen Nolan	kathleen.nolan@manchester.ac.uk
Medical Biochemistry	Dr Tom Millard	tom.millard@manchester.ac.uk
Medical Physiology	Dr Liz Sheader	elizabeth.a.sheader@manchester.ac.uk
Microbiology	Dr Jen Cavet	jennifer.s.cavet@manchester.ac.uk
Molecular Biology	Dr Susan Taylor	susan.h.taylor@manchester.ac.uk
MSci Programmes	Dr Lisa Swanton	lisa.swanton@manchester.ac.uk
	Dr Martin Pool	martin.r.pool@manchester.ac.uk
Neuroscience	Dr Nicholas Glossop	Nicholas.glossop@manchester.ac.uk
Pharmacology	Stacey Lee	stacey.lee@manchester.ac.uk
Zoology	Ben Chapman	ben.chapman-2@manchester.ac.uk

Society of Biology accreditation

All four-year ‘with industrial/professional experience’ and ‘with language’ degrees have been accredited by the Society of Biology.  Degree accreditation by the Society recognises academic excellence in the biosciences, and highlights degrees that educate the research and development leaders and innovators of the future (more information is available here). The accreditation criteria require evidence that graduates from the programme meet defined sets of learning outcomes, including gaining a substantial period of research experience. Our School has been successful in demonstrating that these programmes meet these criteria.

In recognition of your time spent on industrial/professional, or with language placement, as a graduate of an accredited programme, you can apply for membership of the Society of Biology at Member (MSB) level after just one year of practice, rather than the usual three years. This will allow you to attain the qualifications of Chartered Biologist or Chartered Scientist two years sooner than graduates from other Degree Programmes.  Further information is available from the Society of Biology .

Health and Safety

White lab coats and safety spectacles are required for all practical classes and will be provided at the start of the academic year – it is your responsibility to ensure that you bring your lab coat and safety spectacles to each practical. A pocket calculator will also be necessary.

Your responsibilities as a Biological Sciences student

It is important that all students should have the best possible learning experience throughout their course and that this should not be disrupted by fellow students. To ensure this happens, we expect you to:

• Show consideration in your behaviour towards other students, and towards the University staff, including administrative, technical and academic staff and occasional lecturers.
• Participate fully in all timetabled practical teaching/examining sessions.
• Show respect for the professional team of Teaching Technicians who prepare your practical classes and support your learning experience. It is important for your own safety and the safety of your fellow students and other laboratory users that you adhere to laboratory safety rules and behave in a professional and respectful manner at all times. Any student found to be behaving in a way that it not deemed acceptable will be excluded from the laboratories immediately and further action will be taken by the Technical Manager.
• Ensure that you do not commit yourself to other activities (e.g. part-time work) which interfere with your ability to devote sufficient time to your studies. The maximum amount of part-time work recommended by the University is 15 hours per week, but you should consider carefully whether this will interfere with your studies. If possible try to obtain work which is flexible such that you can reduce your hours near to examination periods.
• Maintain good communications with the administration of your degree programme. This will be via the Student Support Office, your Academic advisor and your Programme Director. In addition, you should check your email account on a daily basis. You should make sure that any change of address is notified promptly.
• Attend all labs, clinics and associated sessions; all are compulsory. If you are unable to attend, for instance because of illness, then you follow the appropriate notification procedures. You should arrive on time and remain within each session until told that you can leave.
• Attend lectures: this is the best way for you to understand the unit content and the context of the material you are expected to cover. Lecture notes only show a small part of the material, and the background explanations, being presented by the lecturer. Make use of the supplementary material available via Blackboard..
• Behave in lectures, labs, clinics, and in the learning support areas of the University in an appropriate manner. e.g. arriving on time, not talking in lectures, not using mobile phones or tablets to make calls, send texts/email, and use social media sites..
• Respect the general health and safety requirements that apply to all work in laboratories and clinics, and any additional advice given to you in relation to particular procedures. You should ensure that you wear clothing appropriate to the laboratory.

Basic rules for laboratory practical work

• No personal items to be used in the laboratory
• Use of mobile phones are prohibited
• On entering the laboratory , laboratory coats must be worn at all times as a mandatory requirement
• No consuming food or drink this includes chewing gum
• No open toe shoes or flip flops must be worn in the laboratory
• Safety Spectacles must be worn at all times in wet practical classes
• Long hair should be tied back.
• No loose clothing that could present a hazard i.e. headscarves must be tucked down inside lab coat.
• Avoid touching bare skin whilst wearing gloves.
• Ensure you have read and understood the health and safety documentation associated with the practical and your aware of the risks
• Don’t touch personal items such as coats and bags while wearing gloves
• Always wash hands when exiting the laboratory

Human subjects and animal tissues

The life sciences are observational and experimental sciences concerned with living systems. It is therefore important that your education should be appropriate and that you should gain experience of working with tissues of living organisms. Some of the practical’s may require the use of invertebrates or tissues or cell components from vertebrates, including humans.

In some units it is important that you gain experience in human experimentation. Some practical classes may require human volunteers and the only possible source is those students registered for the units. In the many years that similar practical classes have been held, students have found them interesting and worthwhile. None of the procedures which volunteers are asked to undergo are inherently dangerous. No volunteer has ever suffered serious ill effects and there is no compulsion for students to act as subjects. You will be given full information and asked to complete a Consent form if you volunteer. All practicals involving human volunteers have been approved by the University Committee on the Ethics of Research on Human Beings. Such practicals have been banded into Band 0, 1 and 2 according to an assessment of Health and Safety risk and medical ethical considerations. You will be given full information and asked to complete a Consent form for each Band 1 and 2 practical.

Your active participation is expected in all practical classes, and examinations will be based on all matters taught in your unit. If you have any reservations about participation in practicals using animals or their tissues, you should discuss them with your Programme Director before registration.

Bring Your Own Device (BYOD)

Within teaching sessions and tutorials there will be increasing use of interactive eLearning resources, therefore you should bring your own mobile device for use in these sessions. Help configuring your devices for use with the University applications will be available during Welcome Week for first year students and through the Library helpdesk for all years.

Podcasting

The university has an automatic lecture capture system, that allows you to re-visit your lectures as podcasts at a later date to supplement your learning and allow you to revise. For more detailed information on the service, you can see the podcasting home page here.

Important Points of Note

• The podcast system allows any member of staff to “opt out”, hold back or remove recordings if they see fit. Additionally on rare occasions a podcast may fail to complete properly and therefore not become available at all. For these reasons, it is essential that you continue to attend all lectures and use the podcasts for revision or to assist you to catch up in the case of an unavoidable absence.
  Should a podcast not be available for any of the above reasons, there will be no way for you to re-visit a missed lecture.
• For students who are DASS registered, please remember to take a look at the information available to you here on the podcasting service.

Safeguarding your work

You must ensure that you back up your work on a regular basis to safeguard against loss, machine failure or theft. In addition to saving your work regularly to the secure University system in your ‘my documents/P: drive’ (for further information on P:drives please refer to the IT Services webpage., you should back up your work on an external hard drive, USB memory stick, cloud storage, etc. (which you are advised to keep secure and separate from your computer). Do not save your work on the hard disc of Stopford PC cluster or other networked computers. Loss of data (i.e. your work) will not be accepted as a valid reason for extension requests or for late submission of work as this is deemed to be a preventable occurrence.

Do you need more space to save your files?

As academic submission deadlines approach, you may find that you need additional space in your “My Documents” area. Should you find that this is the case then please contact the IT Service Desk.

NOTE: Access to “My Documents” will cease when you leave the University.

The use of Artificial Intelligence (AI)

AI tools have the potential to enhance learning, when used appropriately. However, it is important that you understand the potential risks and benefits of these tools if you plan to use them during your studies.

You may use AI tools like any other resource to help you generate ideas, key themes, and plan your assessment, and you may also cite or quote content generated by AI systems. However, passing off work generated by AI as your own is plagiarism, and will be treated as seriously as plagiarism of another person. Indeed, the words and ideas generated by the chatbot or Al tool may make use of other, human authors’ ideas without referencing them, which is plagiarism. Also, generative AI can produce factual errors (“hallucinations”) or biased text; therefore, we urge students to be cautious when using AI.

Some Course Units or assignments may vary this position. In these cases you will be given detailed instructions on what is and isn’t allowed, and may be asked to sign a code of conduct. If you are unclear about what is permissible, contact the course unit lead.

For more detail on the University’s position on the use of AI in teaching and learning, see Artificial Intelligence (AI) Teaching Guidance.

For advice on how to acknowledge and cite content generated by AI see https://manchester-uk.libanswers.com/teaching-and-learning/faq/264824

Access to digital resources

The University has committed to ensuring all students have equitable access to hardware, software, connectivity and study spaces as well as opportunities to develop their digital skills.  You can find out more about how to  access  laptop loans from the library, book a quiet space to work or  access software and computers on campus here .

To help develop your digital skills and prepare you for your degree and beyond, you should use the JISC discovery tool to identify your digital skills gaps. The tool produces a report for you and recommends the resources to  ensure you are fully equipped for your academic and professional future.

We recommend that you complete the Current students (Higher Education) question set every year if you are in Year 2 and beyond to keep your digital skills up to date.

Student Societies

A number of societies run by students and covering a range of interests are affiliated with the Students’ Union and several of these concern the life sciences, in particular the School of Biological Sciences Society (SoBSSoc). These societies are open to students and staff of the University. They usually provide a series of lectures, social or sporting events. You are likely to be canvassed for a subscription, and invited to participate in social and sporting activities, during Welcome Week.

YOUR DEGREE PROGRAMME

Registration

The University of Manchester has a student record system which allows you to complete most of the registration process online from home. We strongly recommend that you complete the 10-step registration process online before you arrive in Manchester. Please refer to the University’s Student Services Webpage here. Registration help is available online via the Welcome Site · Student Services and Registration Helpline +44 (0)161 275 5000.

Course Unit selection is the next stage of registration and for more information on this process you should refer to the Course Unit Selection section in this handbook. At a meeting with your Programme Director during Welcome Week, you will receive additional advice on your choice of optional units. Units provided by the School of Biological Sciences have a “BIOL” code.

You will be automatically enrolled on your core units and will need to enrol yourself on your optional units via the Student System before teaching commences.

The final stage of registration is conducted by members of staff from the Student Services Centre. You will be issued with a Student Card, which you need to access the Library and the Stopford Building, and must also be taken to all examinations. It is very important that you look after this card and have it with you every day – without it you will not be able to enter the Stopford building for practicals or lectures.

Overview of the programmes

The programmes are built on a unit (modular) structure. You will take:

• 9 Lecture-based units over the year
• An Experimental Design Module (EDM, practical unit) in the first semester
• A Research Skills Module (RSM) in the second semester
• An extended essay
• A tutorial unit over the year

In the first semester, you will undertake an Experimental Design Module (EDM). This module has been designed to place an emphasis on the design and interpretation of experiments and will allow you to advance from first year practical’s by making experimental choices appropriate to the practical. There are three EDM strands (Molecular & Cell Biology, Organismal Biology, Human Sciences) and the strand you take will be dictated by your Degree Programme. Each EDM stream is made up of 5 3-hour sessions running every other week over the semester. There will also be some online practical’s to participate in.

In the second semester, you will do a Research Skills Module (RSM), the nature of which will depend on your Degree Programme. For most Degree Programmes there is a specific RSM. If you are a Biochemistry, Biology, Biomedical Sciences, Biotechnology, Medical Biochemistry student you may choose a RSM according to your interest. Note that some RSMs may have EDM or lecture unit pre-/co-requisites and may be limited in the number of students that can be accommodated. Entry for RSMs for which numbers are restricted will be based on your overall first year mark.

• Students must ensure their student ID is entered correctly as unrecognised IDs will count as nil submissions
• Where students fail to submit a choice by the deadline, they will be allocated an appropriate RSM based on availability
• Where multiple surveys are returned we can only take the last submission recorded
• Where an RSM is oversubscribed allocation will be based on level 1 year average, and if students are unsuccessful in obtaining a place on their first choice we will endeavour to allocate 2nd (or 3rd choice where applicable)
• You must take into account any pre-co requisites for your RSM preferences as failure to register for any mandatory requirements may result in re-allocation

Most RSMs will consist of a block of practical’s over 4 weeks at the rate of three 6-hour sessions per week and will usually occur in weeks 1-4 or 5-8. Where appropriate, field courses, including Urban Biodiversity constitute the RSM and will occur in part of or all of the Easter or Summer vacation.

You must ensure that you take 120 credits for each year of study – this is most important and your responsibility. You should take no more than 60 credits per semester (maximum exception of 70 credits allowed, and only with Programme Director consent) and no less than 50 credits as specified in the University’s Manual of Academic Procedures.

For each programme there are core units that define your Degree Programme plus a range of optional units (Section Course unit profiles). You may choose your optional lecture-only units from those provided by the School of Biological Sciences (coded BIOL) and some units from outside the School. No more than 20 credits of your lecture-based units should be taken from units without a BIOL code (this will differ for programmes such as Biology with Science and Society, and Cognitive Neuroscience & Psychology – in all cases please refer to your Programme Structure). You should carefully read the unit descriptions before deciding upon your optional units and also take account of potential timetable clashes between your chosen options (see Section Units that clash (Level 1) (Level 2) (Level 3)). Guidance on your choice of units should be sought from your Academic advisor or Programme Director. It is recommended that you do 4/5 lecture units in each semester in Year  2. Failure to balance your lecture units in this way could significantly increase your workload in one semester relative to the other. In Year 3, it is recommended that you take 4 lecture units in semester 1 and 2 lecture units in semester 2 to balance your workload. Note that units taken from outside the School may have coursework components that are unlike those offered by units from within the School.

All teaching including lectures, tutorials and practical’s will be delivered on campus. Most lecture units will comprise two face-to-face teaching sessions per week. These sessions will be captured by podcast and will be available for catch-up purposes and revision after the lecture has finished. There are a few units offered outside the School that are year-long and are examined in May/June.

The University has a system of credit rating of all course units. It is intended to give you an indication of the proportion of your time that all the work of a unit is expected to occupy and is based on a full year’s work being 120 credits. This figure assumes 30 weeks’ work at 40 hours per week. Therefore, you can expect to spend ~100 hours on a typical 10-credit unit. This time includes, for example, reading, eLearning materials, writing and revision, as well as direct contact hours.

Tutorials are held in small groups of 10-12 students. These occur at times convenient to your Advisor and the students in the group, which may be 8.00-9.00 or 17:00-18:00.

Changing optional course units

You may change any optional units in Year  2 (except RSMs in Year 2 and language units that run for the full academic year), at the beginning of each semester (during the first two weeks). Year 2 students may change optional units as follows:

• Semester 1 units – week 2 of semester one.
• Semester 2 units – week 2 of semester two.

To do this you will need to log into your Student System in the same way as you did when you completed course unit selection. Further instructions can be found in the Course Unit Selection section. Please note that you must ensure that you do not drop or swap any course unit that is a core course unit within your programme regulations. You must ensure that any changes you make to your course unit selections still satisfy your programmes academic advisement rules. Academic advisement rules can be found at the following link here.

Changing Degree Programme

It is recognised that your interests will develop and may change after entering the University. You may wish to change from one Degree Programme to another at the end of the first or second year, and the system is quite flexible in this respect. However, there are some restrictions depending on which units you have taken (refer to the core units (Level 1) (Level 2) for any programme you may be considering). It should be noted that it is not normally possible to transfer into/or from the Joint Honours Programme of Cognitive Neuroscience & Psychology.

Programme Directors will be available to talk about their programmes after the “What to expect from the second year” talk in Semester 2. Please check your emails regularly for updates on this.

Note: transfers to certain programmes may be dependent upon exam performance in certain units.

If you are considering changing Degree Programmes you should speak to your Academic advisor at the earliest opportunity. You should also obtain the approval of both the ‘old’ and ‘new’ Programme Directors and complete a ‘Degree Programme Change Request’. Please note that there are deadlines for completing programme changes for Year 2 students.  Please note that these deadlines apply to ALL degree programme change requests  or switching to the MSci programmes. You should aim to complete your programme change as soon as possible prior to this deadline, particularly if you are transferring to/from a degree with industrial experience or an MSci programme. Programme changes will be actioned on the student system at the end of the current academic year.

Degrees “with industrial/professional experience”

During Year 2, students registered for the ‘with Industrial/Professional Experience’ degree will be helped by the Placement Officer to apply for placements for the third year of the programme. Only students registered on a Degree Programme ‘with Industrial/Professional Experience’ are eligible to apply for the placements managed by the Placement Office.

Although as much help as possible will be given, we cannot guarantee all students a placement. Placements are obtained competitively, competition being not only with students from Manchester but also with those from other institutions. Companies usually produce a short-list on the basis of an application form or curriculum vitae, along with references from Advisors (which will be based primarily on the performance in tutorials and the First Year Examination). Most companies will then interview students before making their decisions.

Students following Degree Programmes with a placement will take the same units in year 1 and 2 as the three-year BSc degree students. There may be some optional units that your Programme Director will strongly recommend if you are contemplating a placement.

In order to progress on to each year of with “Industrial Experience” programme (years 2 and 3), you must obtain a minimum average of 60% during the preceding years of your study (with no fails in core units during the 1^st year and no fails in any units during the 2^nd year). If you do not meet the progression criteria, your course will be automatically changed to the 3-year BSc. Please note that the requirement to pass core units at first attempt cannot be avoided by changing to a programme where they are not core.

It is a requirement for students to spend a minimum of 9 months on placement.  Students who terminate their placement before the scheduled end date, and who do not complete a minimum of 9 months on placement, will not be eligible to graduate ‘with industrial experience’.  In these circumstances, a student will be required to apply for an interruption to their studies in order to return in September of the following year to continue on the final year of the standard BSc programme (without industrial experience).Any student unable to obtain a placement will be transferred to the appropriate three-year BSc degree at the end of the Year 2. However, a request to switch to an appropriate MSci programme can be made by completing and submitting a Degree Programme Change Request by the appropriate deadline (see section Key Dates and Deadlines for further information (Level2)).

If you feel that you no longer wish to continue on a programme with Industrial/Professional Experience and would like to transfer to a standard three-year BSc degree, please discuss this with your Programme Director and/or Academic advisor and complete a ‘Degree Programme Change Request on the following link: https://www.qualtrics.manchester.ac.uk/jfe/form/SV_easneaZnHhzl7rE

Languages Degrees

Details of the biological sciences units can be found on the academic advisements for the relevant biological science degree programme. Details of the language units can be found on the School of Arts, Languages and Cultures website. Timetabling may be challenging so you must check carefully that all core units do not clash (tell the staff in the Student Support Office immediately if they do). You may only choose optional units that do not clash with other units.

You will be expected to spend the third year of the programme working in a university in the country of your chosen language. The placements are usually arranged via Erasmus+ a network of European Universities to which Manchester belongs, or arrangements are made with partner Universities in Japan or China.  Placement Coordinator – Erasmus/Exchange Co-ordinator (Dr Patrick Gallois) will contact you during your second year to begin discussions about potential placements.

Language placements are for 9 months (in Europe) or 10 months (Japan and China). These placements are with Universities with whom the School has a student exchange agreement and a list of these Erasmus Exchange Partners can be found on the intranet .

You will be expected to visit the websites of these Universities and identify and contact potential project supervisors during the first semester of your second year. The Placement Office can also provide you with the contact details of the individual responsible for student exchanges, who may also offer assistance. Note that while you are guaranteed a placement under the exchange agreement, it is up to individual academics to decide if they can supervise a project with you in their lab and you may therefore have to approach a number of individuals before you are accepted. You should keep the Placement Office and Placement Coordinator – Erasmus/Exchange Coordinator (Dr Patrick Gallois) informed of your progress and any difficulties that may arise.

If you feel that you no longer wish to continue on a programme with a language and would like to transfer to a standard three-year BSc degree, please discuss this with your Programme Director and/or Academic advisor. A completed Degree Programme Change Request should be submitted to the Student Support Office if you do decide to transfer off the language programme (see key dates and deadlines for details of the programme change deadlines).

Entrepreneurship Degrees

You will take 100 credits in biological sciences and 20 credits in entrepreneurship units in each year for years 1, 2 and 4 of your degree. Year 3 will be undertaken as a placement year (120 credits). Details of the biological sciences units can be found on the academic advisements for the relevant biological science degree programme. Details of the entrepreneurial units can be found on the Masood (Manchester) Entrepreneurship Centre (MEC) website (part of the Alliance Manchester Business School). Timetabling may be challenging so you must check carefully that all core units do not clash (tell the staff in the Student Support Office immediately if they do). You may only choose optional units that do not clash with other units.

In order to progress on to each year of the Entrepreneurship programme (years 2 and 3), you must obtain a minimum average of 60% during the preceding years of your study (with no fails in core units during the 1^st year and no fails in any units during the 2^nd year). If you do not meet the progression criteria, your course will be automatically changed to the 3-year BSc. If you have an overseas visa you will have to return to your own country to apply for a new visa before you can complete the next year of your BSc degree. Please note that the requirement to pass core units at first attempt cannot be avoided by changing to a programme where they are not core.

You will normally spend the third year of the programme working in a professional environment away from the University. During Year 2, students registered for the ‘with entrepreneurship’ degree will be helped by the Placement Officer to apply for placements for the third year of the programme. Although as much help as possible will be given, we cannot guarantee all students a placement. Placements are obtained competitively, competition being not only with students from Manchester but also with those from other institutions. Companies usually produce a short-list on the basis of an application form or curriculum vitae, along with references from Advisors (which will be based primarily on the performance in tutorials and the First Year Examination). Most companies will then interview students before making their decisions.

It is a requirement for students to spend a minimum of 9 months on placement. Students who terminate their placement before the scheduled end date, and who do not complete a minimum of 9 months on placement, will not be eligible to graduate ‘with Entrepreneurship’.  In these circumstances, a student will be required to apply for an interruption to their studies in order to return in September of the following year to continue on the final year of the standard BSc programme (without Entrepreneurship). Any student unable to obtain a placement will be transferred to the appropriate three-year BSc degree at the end of the Year 2. However, a request to switch to an appropriate MSci programme can be made by completing and submitting a Degree Programme Change Request by the appropriate deadline (see section Key Dates and Deadlines for further information (Level2)).

If you feel that you no longer wish to continue on a programme with Entrepreneurship and would like to transfer to a standard three-year BSc degree, please discuss this with your Programme Director and/or Academic advisor. A completed Degree Programme Change Request should be submitted to the Student Support Office if you do decide to transfer off the Entrepreneurship programme.

MSci degree programmes

You will take the same lecture and practical units as the three year BSc students in Year 1 and 2. In year 3, you will take the two degree programme specific papers (problem and essay papers) and five lecture units. You will be prepared for the degree programme specific papers through the third year tutorials with the BSc students. The remaining 50 credits will come from the following units:

• BIOL33000 MSci Research Project Proposal (10 credits)
• BIOL33012 MSci Experimental Skills Module (20 credits)

Up to two of the following: BIOL33011 MSci Bioinformatics Tools and Resources (10 credits) and/or, BIOL33021 Computational Approaches to Biology (10 credits) and/or BIOL33031 Reproducible Data Science (10 credits,) as determined by your Programme Director.

Then either 5 or 6 Lecture-based units over the year (each worth 10 credits) up to 120 credits total.

During Year 4, you will complete a seven month research project.

In order to progress on to the 3rd year of the MSci, you must obtain a minimum average of 60% during the first two years of your study (with no fails in core units during the 1^st year and no fails in any units during the 2^nd year). Please note that the requirement to pass core units at first attempt cannot be avoided by changing to a programme where they are not core. A maximum of 70 students from all Bioscience MSci programmes can progress to Year 3. If you fall outside the top 70 students (based on mean mark), or do not meet the progression criteria, your course will be automatically changed to the 3-year BSc and you will have to return to your own country to apply for a new visa before you can complete the final year of your BSc.

If you feel that you no longer wish to continue on a MSci degree programme and would like to transfer to a three-year BSc degree, please discuss this with your Programme Director and/or Academic advisor. A completed Degree Programme Change Request should be submitted to the Student Support Office if you do decide to transfer off the MSci programme.

Field Courses – Year 2

Field courses will be available to students of the Biology, Biology with Science and Society, and Zoology Degree Programmes. All field courses, whether residential or non-residential, are ~2 weeks in duration. They take place during the Easter or summer vacation at locations suitable for marine or terrestrial field work within the UK and overseas.

If you are studying Zoology, you will enrol on a 10-credit field course as part of your compulsory units in both your first and second year. Other degree programmes offer a field course as part of the Research Skills Module (RSM) in Year 2  (Course unit information | MyManchester). The following field courses are available:

BIOL20552 Tropical Ecology & Conservation

BIOL20872 Urban Biodiversity & Conservation

BIOL20182 Island Biodiversity

There are a number of requirements to attend field courses:

• For those taking field courses, it is compulsory to attend the Field Course Talk in Semester 1, where you will be given essential information beyond what is provided here. For further advice and information, please contact Dr Ben Chapman.
• It is very important that you are fully committed to attending and paying the fee for your field course so that we can effectively plan the trips; we start booking flights and accommodation at the end of Semester 1. We therefore require a £300-500 non-refundable deposit to secure your place on residential field courses, to be paid at the time of selection.  If you have any concerns about paying for a field course, please contact the Student Support Hub for advice.
• You will be asked to sign a declaration form to confirm that you will meet all the requirements for attending your field course. In addition to payment, all students need to fill in all compulsory documentation pre and post their field courses by the given deadlines: My Placement
• All students undertaking residential and non-residential field courses must complete a Travel Health Self-Assessment. Depending on the location of your field course and the information included in your Travel Health Self-Assessment, you may need to attend an appointment with Occupational Health or your own GP. The field course administrative team will provide links and guidance.
• Residential Field Courses outside of Europe: Your medical fitness to travel must be confirmed by our Occupational Health team, who will issue your ‘Fitness to Travel’ certificate which you will need to submit to the Field Course Administration Team and which is required to be fully covered by the University’s Travel Insurance policy (including any claim relating to your pre-existing condition). For this, you require not only the self-assessment, but you also have to fill out the Health Screening Questionnaire and may need to attend an appointment with Occupational Health who will also determine whether you require vaccinations. You will therefore be required to submit a copy of your vaccination history; please be fully up-to-date with your NHS vaccination schedule.
• UK students travelling in Europe will need a valid UK Global Health Insurance Card which can be arranged online.
• For your own safety and comfort it is strongly advised to bring suitable footwear and clothing.

Language Enhancement Access Programme (LEAP)

The University offers courses to students who wish to study a language as part of LEAP.

Further information is available from the LEAP website.

If you are considering registering for a language module you must discuss this with your Programme Director at registration during Welcome Week. If your Programme Director authorises your application for a LEAP course, you must enrol with the LEAP office by filling in an enrolment form. Enrolment will be conducted on a first-come first-served basis and you are therefore strongly advised not to leave it too late.

TEACHING, LEARNING AND ASSESSMENT

Coursework

Deadlines, penalties and document limits

Items of coursework, such as essays and write-ups, will normally have strict deadlines. It is YOUR responsibility to ensure that you know when the deadline for each submission is and adhere to it.

Any work that has been submitted more than one minute after a deadline has passed is classed as late except in cases where an extension has already been agreed via mitigating circumstances procedures or an approved DASS extension. A student who submits work at 1 minute past a deadline or later will be subject to a penalty for late submission; a reduction of 10 marks per 24 hours past the deadline. If the work is submitted more than 10 calendar days late, then it is considered as a non-submission and a mark of zero applied.  In this case, the work will also not be marked.

Submission dates and times are in UK local time, and it is the responsibility of students to ensure that they check the relevant time zone. Students who submit referral assignments after the deadline will be automatically subject to a mark of zero. The full policy can be found here. Exceeding the specified page limit will result in a deduction of 20 marks per page or part thereof.

If you are submitting work through Turnitin, please keep in mind that this can sometimes run slowly, particularly when multiple students are submitting at once. Therefore, ensure you allow yourself plenty of time to upload your work and do not leave it all to the last minute. If your work shows as late in Turnitin, it will be penalised, even if you started the upload process before the deadline.

Coursework will normally have a specified content limit. This will normally be a number of pages, but in some cases may be a number of words – it is YOUR responsibility to ensure that you understand exactly what the limits are and how they are to be achieved. Again, in post-graduate work you will usually find that documents, such as applications for grants, reports etc., have stringent word or page limit requirements – with line spacing, font, margins etc. specified. The standard School of Biological Sciences instructions for coursework including essays, reports and write-ups follow, but it is YOUR responsibility to ensure that you are aware of any alternative requirements for a particular piece of work:

The [submission] must not exceed [x] pages of text excluding the list of references. Text must be in Arial, 10 point, one and a half line spacing, with margins of at least 2.5 cm all around the text. ALL supporting material, such as figures, tables, text boxes etc. must be included in the page limit, and you are advised to ensure that any such items are sufficiently large enough to be read and understood with ease.

You should conform to the format that has been specified. If the work needs to be converted to a PDF for submission you must check very carefully that the conversion is accurate and conforms to the guidelines well in advance of the submission deadline.

A penalty of 20 marks (out of 100) will be applied to all SBS coursework that is incorrectly formatted (i.e. does not follow the specified guidelines on spacing, margins, figure position, sections etc). Existing penalties for lateness (10 marks per day or part thereof)  and length (20 marks per page or part thereof) will continue to be applied as noted above. Where an assignment is incorrectly formatted and up to one page over length, then a single 20 mark penalty will be applied.

Time Management

Some deadlines may be shortly after the delivery of the material, some quite a way off, and this may well differ for different cohorts of students. This mixture mirrors the graduate world of work, and the requirements of your final year programme, so you are advised to plan ahead!  Anticipate a few days of ill-health that might impact on your ability to complete assignments on time, and start work early on items with far-off deadlines. Mastering time management is one of the most essential goals you should set yourself. To help you, every course where there are assessments/assignments/deadlines will have all the deadline dates available to you within the ‘Assessments’ area of Blackboard in the left-hand menu. Any non-course-specific deadlines, such as essays, can be found in the Tutorials courses on Blackboard. Please note that it is possible that some dates may be adjusted throughout the semester at the Unit Coordinator’s discretion, therefore you should check your deadlines for each course regularly and complete work as early as possible.

Plagiarism, collusion and other forms of academic malpractice

These topics form an important part of the first stage of the Writing and Referencing skills modules in Year 2 but general guidelines and advice are given hereunder.

Plagiarism is a serious offence – it is treated as seriously as cheating in exams.

• As a student, you are expected to cooperate in the learning process throughout your programme of study by completing assignments of various kinds that are the product of your own study or research. Coursework, dissertations and essays submitted for assessment must be your own work, unless in the case of group projects a joint effort is expected and this has been indicated by the Unit Coordinator. For most students this does not present a problem, but occasionally, whether unwittingly or otherwise, a student may commit what is known as plagiarism, or some other form of academic malpractice, when carrying out an assignment. This may come about because students have been used to different conventions in their prior educational experience or through general ignorance of what is expected of them or of what constitutes plagiarism.
• The guidance below is designed to help you understand what we regard as academic malpractice and hence to help you to avoid committing it. You should read it carefully, because academic malpractice is regarded as a serious offence and students found to have committed it will be penalized. At the very least a mark of only 30% would be awarded for the piece of work in question, but it could be worse; you could be awarded zero (with or without loss of credits), fail the whole unit, be demoted to a lower class of degree, or be excluded from the programme, depending on the severity of the case.

Academic malpractice includes plagiarism, collusion, fabrication or falsification of results and anything else intended by those committing it to achieve credit that they do not properly deserve. This also includes submitting work which you have previously submitted for credit – this is self-plagiarism. You will be given exercises and guidance on plagiarism/academic malpractice in tutorials and if you are unsure about any aspect of this you should ask your Academic advisor for advice. There is also information in My Learning Essentials. It is well worth visiting these sites in your spare time to ensure that you fully understand.

It is your own responsibility to ensure that you understand what constitutes academic malpractice. Committing malpractice unintentionally is no defence.

You should be aware that all teaching materials and examination papers are subject to copyright by the University. If these are shared externally, then you will be subject to academic malpractice procedures, and possible legal action.

All students are required to confirm that they have read and agree to the University’s declaration on Academic Malpractice as part of the online registration process.

Further information on Academic Malpractice and how to avoid it can be found here.

The University uses electronic systems for the purposes of detecting plagiarism and other forms of academic malpractice and for marking. Such systems include TurnitinUK, the plagiarism detection service used by the University.

As part of the formative and/or summative assessment process, you may be asked to submit electronic versions of your work to TurnitinUK and/or other electronic systems used by the University (this requirement may be in addition to a requirement to submit a paper copy of your work). If you are asked to do this, you must do so within the required timescales.

The School also reserves the right to submit work handed in by you for formative or summative assessment to TurnitinUK and/or other electronic systems used by the University.

Please note that when work is submitted to the relevant electronic systems, it may be copied and then stored in a database to allow appropriate checks to be made.

You will be given an opportunity within the tutorials to submit a draft essay through this system, and it is very much in your best interests to do this so that you understand how it works.

Please see the document Guidance to students on plagiarism and other forms of academic malpractice.

eLearning (Blackboard)

As a student at the University of Manchester, you will find that many of your units contain sections of work that you must complete online (known as electronic (e)Learning). The University uses a website-like environment for this called Blackboard.

Online eLearning support for your course means that it is easy to fit your learning into your everyday life, as you can complete the work from almost any computer in the world with an internet connection. We are encouraging the use of students’ own mobile devices to support teaching and learning in lectures and tutorials. However, if the session requires a mobile device and you do not have one, one will be supplied.

Your eLearning work will often have strict deadlines and marks will be awarded for successful completion of assessments. Every Blackboard course is different, so read the rules regarding the course before you start, to ensure that you don’t miss any work.

Technical support from the eLearning team is available between 9:00 and 17:00 on all working days. This is accessible by selecting ‘Technical Support’ from the menu bar on the left of your online courses and following the on-screen instructions; the eLearning team will reply to your University email address.

More information on eLearning in the Faculty of Biology Medicine and Health can be found here.

Blackboard will be replaced by Canvas for the 2025/2026 academic year.

Practical assessments

Most of the practical’s will require you to do some background reading before the session, so please come prepared.

Practical work is assessed either as written work that you submit during or at the end of a unit, your ability to perform a task during a practical session, and/or as an online assessment or examination at the end of the unit. Details of assessment will be given to you at the start of each unit.

If you fail to submit an assessment by the due date and time, it will not normally be possible for it to be marked. If ill-health prevents you attending a practical session or meeting a submission deadline, see the Section Guidelines on ill health.

NB: In many practical classes you will work as one of a pair or larger group of students. Be careful that you feel confident with all the procedures yourself and do not leave it to others to do tasks for you: remember, in the exam you will be on your own. Furthermore, although you will most likely obtain results as part of a group, it is essential that any practical work that you submit for assessment is written in your own words, unless you have been specifically instructed to submit a group report (see Section Plagiarism, collusion and other forms of academic malpractice).

Tutorial assessments

Most of the work submitted in tutorials is assessed.  If you obtain a mean mark of <40% for your tutorial work, OR if your attendance is unsatisfactory, you will fail the tutorial assessment and will be required to write an extended essay during the summer vacation.

The compensation rules for examinations will only be applied if you pass the tutorial assessments AND fulfil the attendance requirement for tutorials units. The marks for tutorial assessments in Year 2 are not included in the calculation of your mean mark for the year.

Examinations

The Second Year lecture unit exams consist of written examinations. These examinations will all be on-campus, invigilated exams under closed book conditions.

Written exams will be sat during the examination period at the end of the semester in which the unit is taught (i.e. January or May/June). Units that run across both semesters will normally be examined in the May/June exam period. Units taken from other Schools may be examined at a different time.

Attendance at all appropriate examinations is compulsory.

To prepare for examinations, you are encouraged to use any quizzes and practice exercises posted on Blackboard and to look at copies of past examination papers and any mock examples available. These can be obtained from the My Learning tab in your MyManchester portal, where you can search for papers by Faculty, School, exam name or code, year or semester. If the unit has no past papers the Unit Coordinator should make questions available that are representative of the kind that will be set in the examination available at least 6 weeks before the exam which will be representative of the kind that will be set in the examination.

The pass mark for unit examinations is 40%. You will normally be expected to pass all the units you have taken before you can proceed to the next academic year. However, compensation may be possible if you fail a unit by a small amount, when the examiners may allow you an overall “compensated pass” (see Section Pass marks and compensation (Level 1). Otherwise, all units failed must be re-taken during the August/September examination period (see Section August/September referrals).   Compensation is at the discretion of the examination board and not a guarantee under any circumstances, so you should aim for a minimum mark of 40 in every unit to ensure your progression on the programme. There are also several circumstances where compensation is not possible (see ‘Pass marks and compensation rules’ for more information.

You may not normally start the next academic year of your degree programme until you have passed the Examinations in your current academic year, so failure again in August/September may lead to you being excluded from further courses and examinations in the School of Biological Sciences.

Criteria and marking for answers on theory examination papers

Criteria for marking theory papers is available on the Faculty intranet: https://app.bmh.manchester.ac.uk/public/downloads.aspx?docId=131640.

Guidelines on feedback to students

Feedback is a broad term, which can be interpreted in different ways. The purpose of this section is to define the activities associated with feedback mechanisms, as they relate to lecture-based BIOL units so that you are aware of the feedback available for any unit which you decide to take.

Lecturers are expected to provide general guidance to students on appropriate reading material and other learning resources for the unit in advance of the start of the unit on Blackboard.

We encourage you to ask questions through any appropriate medium. However, if the lecture course has finished, then we suggest that you seek confirmation of the answer to your own question.

NB: The School does not publish marking schemes or answers to examination questions – you are expected to deduce these yourself using text books, peers, and PASS sessions.

In addition to providing the mandatory level of feedback, Unit Coordinators may provide more detailed feedback on your work. You should consult the feedback entry within the unit description in this handbook for further details on the additional feedback provided.

Examination feedback

Students have a right to receive feedback on their examination performance from Unit Coordinators. This may be done in a number of ways:

• The Unit Coordinator may publish a general feedback document outlining how questions were answered, addressing general strengths and weaknesses of students and giving a general indication of how well the questions were answered.
• There will be an exam script viewing session, to which students are invited.
• The unit coordinator may review an answer paper for a student and summarise his/her feedback via email.
• The unit coordinator may provide general feedback online.

For paper-based, handwritten examinations, there will be a script viewing session each semester organised by the Assessment & Progression team where students will have the opportunity to view any of their marked exam scripts and any feedback provided by the marker. Details of how to register attendance for this will be sent out at the relevant times.

A student does not, under any circumstances, have the right to challenge any academic judgements on the quality of the answer, or request for their work to be re-marked. All marking is moderated to ensure fairness and consistency Marks can only be queried if you believe there has been a genuine mistake, e.g. that marks have been incorrectly added up or sections of the work have not been marked at all.

STUDENT PROGRESSION

Degree Regulations

The degree regulations for students can be found on the University website.

Bachelors Degree classification weighted to 120 credits	Classification thresholds: weighted average (0 to 100 mark range)	Boundary zone weighted average
First class	70.0	68.0 to 69.9
Upper Second class	60.0	58.0 to 59.9
Lower Second class	50.0	48.0 to 49.9
Third class	40.0	37.0 to 39.9

Note, unlike the BSc degrees, it is not possible to attain a 3^rd class for an MSci degree. Consequently, MSci students who obtain a final mark of less than 50% will fail the MSci degree. However, you will be able to graduate with BSc(Hons) degree based on your performance during your first three years.

Assessments and examinations

Second Year

Second year assessments and examinations contribute 30% towards your final degree mark or 19% for MSci students. For students directly entering Year 2 the second year assessments and examinations also contribute 30% towards the final degree mark.

Allocation to projects in the final year and eligibility for post-graduate study in the School will also be based on second year performance.

Pass marks and Compensation rules

The pass mark for each unit examination is 40%, and ideally you should pass all the units for which you are registered. However, the examiners realise that not all students will achieve this ideal, and some students may pass most of their units, getting good marks in some but just failing others. The following compensation rules are therefore used, whereby good marks can compensate for some fail marks; the degree of compensation permitted will depend on the marks of all your units (excluding the tutorials).

To pass the Second Year Examination as a whole you must:

• have satisfactory attendance at tutorials and practical classes (see sections Tutorial assessments and Practical assessments)
• gain a mark of at least 40% in the Tutorial unit BIOL20000, Extended Essay unit, the EDM unit appropriate to your Degree Programme, and in all designated non-compensatable units for your Degree Programme (see below)
• achieve marks of at least 40% in each of the units totalling 80 credits (including the tutorial, Extended Essay unit, the EDM unit and non-compensatable units) and at least 30% in each of the remaining 40 credits worth of units

NB – failure of the Tutorial unit BIOL20000 will lead to loss of compensation and all unit assessments with marks less than 40% will have to be re-sat.

NB – For ALL programmes, the relevant EDM unit (BIOL21041, BIOL21051 or BIOL21061), and the Science Communication unit (BIOL21392) are non-compensatable, which means that a mark of 40 must be achieved to pass the unit and any mark below 40 will need to be re-sat. Failing any of these units, will not, however result in the loss of any possible compensation for other units as with the failure of the Tutorial unit.

In addition, for some Degree Programmes, at least one core non-compensatable unit has been designated in which you must attain a mark of at least 40%. Failure of these units will not result in overall loss of compensation. Please also note that referrals of these units cannot be avoided by changing to a programme where they are not compensatable.

Students are expected to complete the year on their current degree programme.

It is not possible for ANY failed non-compensatable unit credits to be carried forward to the next year of your study, and failure of the resit of any of these units will result in your exclusion from the programme.

A list of these units follows:

Level 2 Non-compensatable units

BSc Biochemistry

BIOL21111 Proteins

BSc Immunology

BIOL21242 Immunology

BIOL20952 Immunology RSM

BSc Medical Biochemistry

BIOL21351 Molecules and Cells in Human Disease

BSc Medical Physiology

BIOL20942 Physiology RSM

BSc Microbiology

BIOL21181 Fundamentals of Bacteriology

BIOL21192 Principles of Infectious Diseases

BSc Molecular Biology

BIOL21101 Genome Maintenance & Regulation

BSc Pharmacology

BIOL21302 Clinical Drug Development

BSc Zoology

BIOL20552 Tropical Ecology & Conservation (RSM Field Course) *

BIOL20872 Urban Biodiversity & Conservation RSM*

BIOL21082 Biodiversity (RSM Field Course)*

* Students will take only one of these units

Some field courses do not take place until after the date that we are required to hold the Examiners’ meeting. Therefore, marks for these field course units will be excluded and the compensation rules will be applied only to the units that have been taken. However, you should note that:

(i) If you obtain a fail mark in a field course and no compensation is available after applying the compensation rules across ALL your units, you will be required to complete a substantial assignment in lieu of a referral of a field course.

(ii) the field course marks WILL be included in the calculation of your mean year mark that will contribute towards your final degree mark.

The University gives the Board of Examiners the right to refuse a referral to a student whose Work and Attendance has been unsatisfactory and who has received an official warning letter.

If after the application of the above compensation rules you are found to have failed overall, then you will be required to take referral (resit) examinations in the August/September resit examination period. If you have passed 40 or more credits at the first attempt the Board of Examiners will specify which unit assessments you are required to refer in order to gain at least a compensated pass in the August/September examinations.

ABSENCE FROM EXAMINATIONS/ASSESSMENTS: If you are unable to attend any of your examinations, this will be recorded as an absence and a recorded mark of 0. If you have a genuine reason for being unable to attend, e.g. illness, you will need to submit an application to the school for mitigating circumstances. If accepted, the Examination Board would then allow you a further first attempt to complete the examination.

Note: the Board of Examiners may choose to exclude you from further study if you are absent without explanation from all exams in a given examination period or if you fail on first attempt more than 80 credits worth of assessments.

For the EDM practical units, if you miss any of the practicals part of this assessment through illness, contact the Student Support Office before the practical class (see Section Absence due to illness affecting attendance at compulsory classes/tutorials).

RSM Attendance guidelines

RSM attendance guidelines: Students are expected to attend all scheduled RSM sessions on time (N.B. Health and safety information will be delivered at the start of practical sessions, and students who are not present at the start may be asked to leave the lab). Students who arrive late will be marked as absent for that session. Failure to attend a session (an unauthorised absence) will result in a 10 mark penalty being applied to the overall RSM mark (i.e. a student obtaining a mark of 65% overall will instead receive a mark of 55%).

Further absences will result in further penalties (i.e. 2 absences = a penalty of 20% (as described above).

Mitigation for absences

If there is a good reason for not attending a session then students should contact the Student Support Hub (and RSM coordinator) at the earliest opportunity (and ideally before the session has commenced). Please see Work and Attendance regulations in the Level 2 handbook (https://handbooks.bmh.manchester.ac.uk/sbs/undergraduate/level-2/). Any permitted absences will NOT be subject to a penalty, but students who miss a practical session will not be expected to complete the post-lab assessment (this mark will be removed from their overall average mark).

N.B. An absence may be permitted in advance of the session if it has been agreed with the RSM coordinator. However, if an absence is not reported until after the session then it is up to the mitigating circumstances panel to decide whether or not it is permitted.

Tutorial Assessments

Your tutorial work is usually assessed by marking several pieces of work. If you miss part of this assessment through properly documented illness (see Section Absence affecting submission of written work), the examiners may base your overall mark for the unit on the marks for the remaining pieces of work that you did complete.

Unit Examinations

Absence from any of your Examinations, or non submission of asessments for whatever reason, will score 0% for that examination. If, however, the absence is mitigated (see section Mitigating Circumstances Committee), your referral in August/September may be counted as your first attempt at the examination.  See also Section Absence from examinations due to ill health.

Students on “with industrial/professional experience” or “with Language” degrees who are required to take deferral exams in August may be required to delay the start of their placement or make arrangements to return to Manchester to sit them even if their placement has already started.

August/September referrals

If you pass a minimum 40 credits but have failed to meet the expected standard in up to 80 of the remaining credits, you will be able to have one more try at the assessment. This is known as ‘referred assessment’ and these assessments will normally take place in the August/September Resit examination period. This will all happen in good time for the examination board to make decisions on your progression to the next year of your programme.

Please note the following:

1. No more than 80 credits can be referred
2. It will be the mark that you obtain in the referral examination that will determine whether you obtain a pass in a unit (we do NOT take the better of marks obtained on the first or second attempt). The mark will be derived solely from the referral examination and will not include any coursework/eLearning component carried over from the first sitting, unless the exam is being taken as a first attempt.
3. To give credit for passing referral examinations, any passed referral mark will be capped at 30% for the purposes of progression and will be recorded on academic transcripts as 30R. If your original mark for the unit was between 30, and 40, it will instead be capped at this mark, e.g. 35R.  This capped mark is what will factor in to your overall year mark and degree classification.
4. Should you still not pass the Examination on this referral (when the compensation rules can again be applied) the following decisions by the Board of Examiners may be taken.

You may be

1. Excluded from your Degree Programme
2. permitted to carry forward up to 20 failed credits to the next This decision is at the discretion of the Board of Examiners and will be based on your academic standing and any mitigating circumstances; it is never a guarantee that the examination board will permit you to carry credits in to the next level of your programme. Whole units must be repeated in full, in attendance, with assessment taken in full. Marks are capped to the lowest compensatable mark. Failed non-compensatable units cannot be carried over to subsequent levels. See section Pass marks and compensation rules (Level 1) (Level 2).
3. permitted to repeat the year on your current degree programme in attendance. This option is at the discretion of the Board of Examiners and can only be granted after the Board of Examiners meets in September to discuss the results of the referral examinations. It will normally only be available where you can demonstrate that your current academic performance is likely to improve in the following year and will be dependent on availability of places for the following year. Due to limits on student numbers, this can only be offered in certain circumstances and it is not possible to simply request to repeat the year. You may only do this if it is offered to you by the Board of Examiners
4. Take a year of Resit Without Attendance, whereby you would not attend any classes and would just take the referrals during the exam periods. All outstanding assessments would need to be passed for you to move up to the next level of your programme.

Dates for the August/September examination period are printed at the front of this handbook. Please bear this in mind when making plans for the summer. Should you be ill and be unable to take an examination in January or May/June you will need to be available for the referral opportunity. It is NOT possible to take referral examinations at another location, online (where it is an on-campus examination), or to take them at a different time to the other students.

Non compensatable units cannot be carried into the following year of study.

RSM resits: For resits at second attempt, the overall unit mark will be derived solely from the resit assignment, and marks for other assessment components (e.g. attendance, post-labs) will not be carried forward. For first attempt resits where students have mitigation, students will also complete the resit assignment but marks for non-mitigated assessment components will be carried forward to calculate the unit mark (irrespective of whether this increases or decreases the overall mark). Students should specify which assessment component(s) they’re requesting mitigation for when applying.

Progression rules for students on Integrated Masters (MSci) Degrees

In addition to the above progression criteria, you must also fulfil the following criteria to progress on the Integrated Masters (MSci) Degrees:

Year 1

• obtain an overall year average of at least 60% (including a mark of at least 70% obtained in a tutorial assignment for Writing and Referencing skills (BIOL10741)
• pass all compulsory (ie non-compensatable) units with mark of at least 40%
• no more than one unit with a mark of less than 40%. A mark of at least 30% must be obtained.

Year 2

•  A maximum of 70 students from all Bioscience MSci programmes can progress to Year 3. If you fall outside the top 70 students (based on mean mark), or do not meet the progression criteria, your course will be automatically changed to the 3-year BSc.
• obtain an overall year average of at least 60%
• pass all units with mark of at least 40%

Year 3

• obtain an overall mean mark of at least 60% to progress to the final year project and marks of at least 40% in 2/3 of total credits including all non-compensated units and at least 30% in the remaining 1/3 of credits.

Please note that the requirement to pass core units at first attempt cannot be avoided by changing to a programme where they are not core.

If you fail to meet any of these requirements, you will be transferred to the appropriate three-year BSc degree by the Board of Examiners at the next appropriate Exam Board, and you will be unable to continue on the integrated masters programme. If after Year 3 your average is below 60%, then you will be considered for an award of the Degree of Bachelor of Science.

Note: you cannot continue on the integrated Masters programmes, if your year 3 average was initially below 60% but your final degree mark was either above 60 or within the borderline range (58.0 – 59.9%) and was then raised to a II.i. overall at the Exam Board.

If you feel that you no longer wish to continue on an integrated Master’s programme and would like to transfer to a standard three-year BSc degree, please discuss this with your Programme Director and/or Academic advisor. A completed Degree Programme Change Request should be submitted to the Student Support Office if you do decide to transfer off the programme but must be submitted by the publicised deadlines.

Degrees with industrial/professional experience

To continue on a programme with industrial/professional experience you must:

Year 1:

• obtain an overall year average of at least 60% (including a mark of at least 70% obtained in a tutorial assignment for Writing and Referencing skills (BIOL10741)
• pass all compulsory (ie non-compensatable) units with mark of at least 40%
• no more than one unit with a mark of less than 40%. A mark of at least 30% must be obtained

Year 2:

• obtain an overall year average of at least 60%
• pass all units with mark of at least 40%
• submit your CV to the submission area in Blackboard by the advertised deadline
• not divulge information about the placements offered to any other students in this School, Faculty, other Faculties or other Universities.
• attend the Year 2 Pre-Placement talks and sign the compulsory Placement declaration.

Please note that the requirement to pass core units at first attempt cannot be avoided by changing to a programme where they are not core.

If you fail to meet any of these requirements will be transferred to the appropriate three-year BSc degree by the Board of Examiners at the next appropriate Exam Board, and will be unable to undertake a placement.

Any student unable to obtain a placement will be transferred to the appropriate three-year BSc degree at the end of the second year.

If you feel that you no longer wish to continue on a programme with industrial/professional experience and would like to transfer to a standard three-year BSc degree, please discuss this with your Programme Director and/or Academic Advisor. A completed Degree Programme Change Request should be submitted to the Student Support Office if you do decide to transfer off the placement programme (see key dates and deadlines for details of the programme change deadlines).

Language degrees

Satisfactory performance in both the biological science and the language components of the first year examinations is essential for you to continue on a biological sciences ‘with language’ programme. To continue on a programme with a language you must:

Year 1:

• obtain an overall year average of at least 60% (including a mark of at least 70% obtained in a tutorial assignment for Writing and Referencing skills (BIOL10741)
• pass all compulsory (ie non-compensatable) units with mark of at least 40%
• no more than one unit with a mark of less than 40%. A mark of at least 30% must be obtained

Year 2:

• obtain an overall year average of at least 60%
• pass all units with mark of at least 40%
• submit your CV to the submission area in Blackboard by the advertised deadline
• not divulge information about the placements offered to any other students in this School, Faculty, other Faculties or other Universities.
• attend the Year 2 Pre-Placement talks and sign the compulsory Placement declaration.

If you fail to meet any of these requirements will be transferred to the appropriate three-year BSc degree by the Board of Examiners at the next appropriate Exam Board, and will be unable to undertake a placement.

Please note that the requirement to pass core units at first attempt cannot be avoided by changing to a programme where they are not core.

Any language unit you take cannot be compensated, and a minimum mark of 40 must be achieved for you to remain on the Modern Language pathway. If you are removed from the Modern Language due to failure of a language unit at first attempt, but the mark is in the compensation range (30-39), compensation can then be applied following the standard compensation rules.

Any student unable to obtain a language placement will be transferred to the appropriate three-year BSc degree at the end of the second year.

If you feel that you no longer wish to continue on a programme with a language and would like to transfer to a standard three-year BSc degree, please discuss this with your Programme Director and/or Academic Tutor. A completed Degree Programme Change Request should be submitted to the Student Support Office if you do decide to transfer off the language programme (see key dates and deadlines for details of the programme change deadlines).

Entrepreneurship Degrees

In order to continue on the ‘with Entrepreneurship’ programme you must gain satisfactory performance in both the biological science and the entrepreneurship components. In addition to the above progression criteria, you must also fulfil the following criteria:

Year 1:

• obtain an overall year average of at least 60% (including a mark of at least 70% obtained in a tutorial assignment for Writing and Referencing skills (BIOL10741)
• pass all compulsory (ie non-compensatable) units with mark of at least 40%
• no more than one unit with a mark of less than 40%. A mark of at least 30% must be obtained.

Year 2:

• obtain an overall year average of at least 60%
• pass all units with mark of at least 40%
• submit your CV to the submission area in Blackboard by the advertised deadline
• not divulge information about the placements offered to any other students in this School, Faculty, other Faculties or other Universities.
• attend the Year 2 Pre-Placement talks and sign the compulsory Placement declaration.

Please note that the requirement to pass core units at first attempt cannot be avoided by changing to a programme where they are not core.

If you fail to meet any of these requirements, you will be transferred to the appropriate three-year BSc degree by the Board of Examiners at the next appropriate Exam Board, and you will be unable to undertake a placement.

Any student unable to obtain an entrepreneurship placement will be transferred to the appropriate three-year BSc degree at the end of the second year.

If you feel that you no longer wish to continue on a programme with Entrepreneurship and would like to transfer to a standard three-year BSc degree, please discuss this with your Programme Director and/or Academic advisor. A completed Degree Programme Change Request should be submitted to the Student Support Office if you do decide to transfer off the Entrepreneurship programme.

Disclosure of marks and record of academic performance

Marks for practical assessments and unit examinations will be made available to you via My Manchester Student Portal; you will be sent details on how to access them when your results are released to you. Please see section Key Dates and Deadlines for the dates the examination results will be published. Practical assessment and other coursework marks may be published on an ongoing basis.

Any specific decisions relating to your progression, e.g. being excluded from your programme, will be communicated to you by email at your university email address.

It is entirely your responsibility to ensure that you learn the contents of these important messages in a timely manner and understand any action that you are required to take.

Turnitin

The University uses electronic systems for the purposes of detecting plagiarism (including self-plagiarism) and other forms of academic malpractice and for marking.  Such systems include TurnitinUK, the plagiarism detection service used by the University.

As part of the formative and/or summative assessment process, you may be asked to submit electronic versions of your work to TurnitinUK and/or other electronic systems used by the University (this requirement may be in addition to a requirement to submit a paper copy of your work).  If you are asked to do this, you must do so within the required timescales.

The School also reserves the right to submit work handed in by you for formative or summative assessment to TurnitinUK and/or other electronic systems used by the University.

Please note that when work is submitted to the relevant electronic systems, it may be copied and then stored in a database to allow appropriate checks to be made.

External Examiners

External Examiners are individuals from another institution or organisation who monitor the assessment processes of the University to ensure fairness and academic standards. They ensure that assessment and examination procedures have been fairly and properly implemented and that decisions have been made after appropriate deliberation. They also ensure that standards of awards and levels of student performance are at least comparable with those in equivalent higher education institutions.

The External Examiners for each programme are as follows:

Programme	External Examiner	Institution
Biochemistry	Dr Paul Curnow	University of Bristol
Biology	Dr David Booth	University of Dundee
Biology with Science & Society	Dr David Booth	University of Dundee
Biomedical Sciences	Prof Rachel Ashworth	University of Worcester
Biotechnology	To Be Confirmed	To Be Confirmed
Genetics	Prof Guy Tear	King’s College London
Immunology	To Be Confirmed	To Be Confirmed
Medical Biochemistry	Dr Paul Curnow	University of Bristol
Microbiology	To Be Confirmed	To Be Confirmed
Neuroscience	To Be Confirmed	To Be Confirmed
Pharmacology	Dr Taufiq Rahman	University of Cambridge
Medical Physiology	Dr Taufiq Rahman	University of Cambridge
Zoology	Dr James Gilbert	University of Hull

Please note that it is inappropriate for students to make direct contact with External Examiners under any circumstances, and in particular with regards to a student’s individual performance in assessments. Other appropriate mechanisms are available for students, including the University’s appeals or complaints procedures and the UMSU Advice Centre. In cases where a student does contact an External Examiner directly, External Examiners have been requested not to respond to direct queries. Instead, External Examiners will report the matter to their School contact who will then contact the student to remind them of the other methods available for students. If students have any queries concerning this, they should contact the Student Support Office in the first instance.

WORK AND ATTENDANCE

Work and attendance regulations

Your attendance on your programme is monitored for welfare purposes. Typically, one of the first signs a student might be struggling, either personally or academically, is that they start missing their teaching sessions. Therefore, we monitor your attendance so we can see when a student’s engagement drops and proactively reach out to the student to make sure they are okay. However, there are some academic consequences if you do not attend certain sessions, without a credible reason.

Your attendance will be monitored in all timetabled sessions, except drop-ins. Some sessions are compulsory and some are optional. If you miss compulsory sessions without a credible reason you will receive emails from the Student Support team and your tutor, and you may fail a unit on attendance. If you miss optional sessions, whilst you won’t be penalised for this, you will still receive emails after missing a certain amount of these sessions to check on your well-being.

We monitor attendance through a system called SEAtS (Student Engagement and Attendance system). This is a new system for September 2024. You will need to download the SEAtS app on your phone or use the web version on your laptop. You can find further details about how to download SEAtS and how to use the system here - School of Biological Sciences Student Information - Home (sharepoint.com)

Your timetable will mainly consist of lectures, tutorials and practical sessions.

Lectures

Your attendance in lectures is not compulsory. However, we strongly encourage you to attend all your timetabled lectures since it is well known that there is a good correlation between lecture attendance and academic performance. Whilst these are optional, your attendance will still be logged for well-being purposes. Therefore, you will still be asked to scan a QR code and log your attendance via SEAtS in your lectures. If your attendance in lectures drops below 50% you will receive an email from the Student Support and Wellbeing team to make sure you are doing okay.

Tutorials

Tutorial sessions are compulsory. You must attend all your timetabled tutorials, and your academic tutor will record your attendance or absence using SEAtS. If you miss 2 or more tutorials without an authorised reason you will fail the tutorial unit. Therefore, if you do need to miss a tutorial, due to illness or personal reasons, you must submit an absence form via the SEAtS app on the day that the tutorial is scheduled.

If you miss one tutorial and do not submit an absence form you will receive an email from the Student Support team notifying you that if you miss one more tutorial, without a valid reason, you will fail the unit.

If you miss 2 or more tutorial sessions, for any reason, you will need to submit mitigating circumstances. You can find further information about mitigating circumstances on the Sharepoint site - School of Biological Sciences Student Information - Home (sharepoint.com)

Practical session

Practical sessions are compulsory. You must attend all your timetabled practical sessions. If you miss 2 or more practical sessions without an authorised reason, this will impact on the final unit mark. Therefore, if you do need to miss a practical, due to illness or personal reasons, you must submit an absence form via the SEAtS app.

 If you miss 2 or more practical sessions without an authorised reason, this will impact on the final unit mark. Therefore, if you do need to miss a practical, due to illness or personal reasons, you must submit an absence form via the SEAtS app on the day that the practical is scheduled.

If you miss 2 or more practical sessions you will need to submit mitigating circumstances. You can find further information about mitigating circumstances on the Sharepoint site - School of Biological Sciences Student Information - Home (sharepoint.com)

Logging an absence 

We understand there may be reasons why you need to miss a compulsory timetabled session. This could be due to illness, mental health, bereavement, medical appointments, as well as other unforeseen circumstances. If you have a reason to miss a tutorial or practical session you must notify the Student Support team by submitting an absence form via the SEAtS app.  You can find instructions of how to log an absence form on SEAtS here - School of Biological Sciences Student Information - Home (sharepoint.com)

Please note that you can self-certify for absence up to 7 days for the following reasons: medical/health appointments, DASS plan related absence, family and personal emergency, illness/unwell, train strikes, and unexpected caring responsibilities. The SEAtS system will automatically log these absences. However, this does not automatically authorise absence. The Student Support team will check these reasons and can revoke any automatic approvals generated by the SEAtS system.

If you select ‘other’ on the absence form or need to be absent for over 7 days these absences will not be automatically approved and approval will be needed from a member of staff before it can be logged as an authorised absence.

If you need longer than 7 days off you cannot self-certify for this and we will need evidence to support your absence.

You need to log the absence form on the day you will be absent for. You cannot log absences in retrospect, unless you have a credible reason to do so.

If you do not log an absence form your absence in any compulsory sessions will be unauthorised. This could lead to failing a unit on attendance

Attendance and religious observance

If religious observance affects your attendance at normal teaching and learning activities including any assessments in ways that will cause problems, you should discuss the issue with one of the Senior Advisors. The School will give sympathetic consideration to your problems and will try to make reasonable adjustments. However, adjustments can only be made provided they maintain the standard of your degree (e.g. you will not simply be excused from parts of the programme affected by your religious observance or from satisfying overall attendance requirements). If religious observance means that you miss a lecture or other class, supporting material may be provided via Blackboard. However, if you want further notes from the lecture you must make your own arrangements to copy them from another student. Please note we cannot guarantnee availability of podcasts.  Similar principles apply if religious observance affects your attendance at assessments (e.g. presentations or practical tests). Because lectures, practicals and assessments for the semester are scheduled in advance, you must notify one of the Senior Advisors of your requests for allowances for religious observance by the Thursday before the start of teaching each semester, and the School will use its best efforts to reschedule the assessment to accommodate your needs (e.g. by changing your scheduled slot in a programme of assessed presentations).

Deadlines for handing in assessed work will not normally be extended to allow for religious observance, and you must therefore plan your work accordingly.

For guidance on the University’s examinations and religious observance policy please visit this site where you can also download an Examinations & Religious Observance form.

Guidelines on ill health

You must register with a local General Practitioner (GP, this is what we call local or family doctors in the UK) as soon as you know your term-time address.  GPs provide a range of non-emergency services by appointment – including examinations, medication prescriptions, vaccinations and referrals to other medical specialists.

According to guidance issued by the General Medical Council it would not be regarded as good practice for a family member to be the registered GP or to offer treatment, except in the case of an emergency.

You should always consult your GP (or for emergencies the Accident and Emergency Department of a hospital) if your illness is severe, if it persists, or if you have any concerns about your health.

• You can register with The Robert Darbishire Practice, which is located in Crawford House (shown on the Campus map as Building 31), using their online portal. Find out more about the service on the Robert Darbishire Practice website.
• Alternatively, you can use the NHS Find a GP website to find a list of practices near your address. This will direct you to the GPs’ websites to find out how to register as a patient.

Information and guidance to help you register with a Dentist when first moving to Manchester can be found here.

You should always consult your GP (or for emergencies the Accident and Emergency Department of a hospital) if your illness is severe, if it persists, or if you have any concerns about your health.  Your Academic Advisor or one of the Senior Advisors will give you guidance on the effect of any absence from your studies and your options if you consider your illness has affected your studies. You can also contact the Student Support and Wellbeing team if you need to speak to someone about your health. If you have repeated episodes of ill health that are affecting your attendance and/or studies, the School may refer you to the Student Occupational Health Services.

Absence due to illness affecting attendance at compulsory classes/tutorials  

If you are unwell and feel unable to attend the University to take a compulsory class or attend a tutorial, including compulsory online teaching sessions  

It is a regulation of the School that if students are unwell or unable to attend compulsory tutorial or practical sessions, they are required to complete this online form before or on the day of the session you miss*. If you have any queries about completion or submission of this form, please contact the SBS Hub (sbs.hub@manchester.ac.uk) for advice. If an illness is longer than 7 days, a doctor’s note is required. Students who are absent due to bereavement are required to submit either an order of service, obituary, or letter from a family member.  

 * If you are so unwell that a friend or family member has to contact the SBS Hub on your behalf, it will only normally be possible for them to provide information for you – they will not be able to learn of the implications of your absence on your academic progress, which you must discover for yourself on your return to health. School staff will not engage in any dialogue with third parties (including parents) regarding your studies without your explicit, written consent.  

You must ensure that you keep a copy of the automated email with a copy of your responses, as there may be serious implications of being absent and consequences for your academic progress. You must do this as soon as possible, so that all options can be considered, and certainly no later than the day and start time of your compulsory class.  

If you do not do this, then you will normally be considered to have been absent from the class without good reason, in which case you will be recorded as having an unauthorised absence. You must also inform us of any further missed compulsory classes until your return to University.  

If illness keeps you away from the University for more than 7 days including weekends, you must consult your GP. If you do consult a GP and they consider that you are not fit for attendance at the University, then you should obtain a note from the GP stating this. You must email this to sbs.attendance@manchester.ac.uk as soon as you return to University and no later than 7 days after your return. A GP may make a charge for such a letter.   

 

Absence affecting submission of written work  

If, because of illness or other mitigating factor, you wish to seek an extension to a deadline for submitting written coursework for a course unit or a tutorial assignment, you must submit an Assessed Coursework Extension Request form. The application for extension must be made BY 10am TWO DAYS BEFORE THE DAY OF THE DEADLINE.  For example, if the deadline is at 4pm on Thursday, the extension request must be submitted before 10am on the Tuesday of that week.   

If the deadline is on a Monday, the extension request MUST be submitted by 10am on the Thursday before the deadline: requests received over the weekend will not be considered.  

We will not consider late applications.  If a student misses the deadline to apply for an extension, we recommend they apply for mitigating circumstances (see below).   

Students will normally be granted a maximum of 5 additional working days (in addition to any DASS automatic extensions that a student may be entitled to). If a student requires additional time, they are recommended to apply for mitigating circumstances – see below.  Please note, extensions into the examination period will NOT be permitted.  

Extensions can be requested using the online form available here.  

 Extension requests will only apply to assessed written work, for example, coursework essays, and do not apply to the following:  

• Group/teamwork 
• Presentations 
• Formative coursework 
• Assessments limited by logistical constraints e.g., assessments to be completed whilst on a field trip; short recurring deadlines e.g., where assessments are to be submitted weekly for a particular unit; continuous ongoing course work e.g., portfolios; or where feedback needs to be provided to students before the extension end date 
• Practical/skills-based work 
• Take home timed written examinations. 

Students are not required to provide supporting evidence (unless they wish to provide this).  The application will be assessed based on whether a student has fully demonstrated the impact of the incident/issue on their ability to submit the written piece of work within the original deadline.  

Reasons for requesting and granting an extension may include (but not limited to):  

• Technology/IT issues – broken laptop, Wi-Fi issues etc. 
• Physical ill health – Covid, sickness, injury etc. 
• Mental ill health – anxiety, stress etc. 
• Disability (whether the student is registered with DASS or not) 
• Domestic/family crisis - bereavement, illness, relationship breakdown, caring responsibilities, maternity/paternity/adoption leave 
• Personal crisis – accommodation issues, theft, assault, financial difficulties, Jury Service. 

Extension requests that fall within the following categories would not normally be granted:  

• Planned/anticipated events - moving house, holidays etc. (anything that could be reasonably expected) 
• Assessments that are scheduled close together – unless impacting on health/wellbeing 
• Misreading assessment timetable 
• Inadequate planning or time management 
• Act of religious observance 
• Consequences of paid employment (except in exceptional circumstances, i.e. if related to family/financial crises).

You must not assume that an extension has been approved until you receive written (e.g. email) confirmation. If you have been granted an extension to a deadline, it is not normally possible to claim further mitigation for this work unless it is for a different reason.  

  

Absence affecting eLearning assessments  

Note that eLearning assessments are usually open for at least one week and close at 4pm on the published end date. Students should anticipate a possible period of illness during this time and complete the assessments as soon as they open. Students failing to submit by the deadline will receive a mark of zero for that assignment. Only in exceptional circumstances, such as prolonged illness, will a request for mitigation be considered. To request mitigation, you must submit a mitigating circumstances application by the advertised deadline. Details of how to apply and the deadlines can be found below under the Mitigating Circumstances section of the handbook.  

Absence from examinations due to ill health  

You should make every effort to participate in all examinations. It is often surprising how well candidates who are ill can perform in written examinations, and a mark of just 40% will avoid the automatic referral in August/September (Years 1 and 2 only, there are no referrals/re-sits for Year 3 students). It will not be possible to make special arrangements to take the exams in an alternative location, unless this has been arranged through the DASS.  

 If you are so ill you are unable to take an exam, you must contact the SBS Hub as soon as possible, and certainly no later than the day and start time of your examination. You should complete a Mitigating Circumstances application which must be accompanied by appropriate independent third-party supporting evidence.  Further guidance on the type of evidence you might include is available here.  The deadlines can be found below in the Mitigating Circumstances section of the handbook.  

Please note some third-party providers can take several weeks to provide you with supporting evidence, so it is important to organise this as soon as possible. If your evidence will not be available until after the deadline, you must ensure your application is submitted on time and notify sbs.mitcircs@manchester.ac.uk when they can expect to receive the evidence.  

 If the information is of a highly confidential nature, you may submit your evidence in a sealed envelope, marked for the attention of the Chair of the Mitigating Circumstances Committee. If due to an emergency you have attended a hospital Accident and Emergency (A&E) Department, you must obtain written confirmation of attendance either from the hospital or subsequently from your GP confirming your attendance and stating the nature of the emergency.  

Illness not resulting in absence from examinations  

You may be unwell but able to proceed with an examination but feel that your performance will have been impaired. If you wish this to be taken into account, you must follow the same procedures as in Section Absence from Examinations due to Ill Health by applying for mitigation. Note that exam stress or panic attacks not diagnosed as illness or supported by medical evidence, would not normally be considered a mitigating circumstance. If you anticipate or experience any of these issues, you are strongly encouraged to contact your GP, the Counselling & Mental Health Service (see Section Counselling) or the Disability Advisory Support Service (DASS). 

Mitigating Circumstances 

If unforeseen circumstances affect your exams or assessments, or your attendance at teaching activities, you can make a request for mitigating circumstances. This includes extension requests on assessment deadlines. A panel will assess each request, and where necessary take action to mitigate for any impact on your performance.

Mitigating circumstances might include a significant short-term illness or injury, a long-term or recurring medical or mental health condition, the death or illness of a close family member, acute stress from personal or financial issues, absence for public service (e.g. jury service), or technical issues during an online exam or assessment. This is not an exhaustive list and there may be other reasons that would be classed as mitigating circumstances. Remember that there is support available and always somebody to talk to. As well as applying for mitigating circumstances, be sure to seek additional support if you need it.

The University's mitigating circumstances policy gives further examples of what are and are not considered mitigating circumstances.

Further information about how to apply for mitigating circumstances can be found here (add in link to Sharepoint site).

2024/25 DEADLINES for submitting your mitigating circumstances application and supporting evidence 

Coursework and Other Assessments completed during the Semester: 

Applications must be submitted within 5 working days of the assessment deadline.  For example, an application for an assessment with a deadline of 2pm on Thursday must be submitted by no later than 2pm on Thursday of the following week.  

Exams affected during the Semester 1 exam period: 12 noon on Monday 27 January 2025 

Exams affected during the Semester 2 exam period: no later than 12 noon on Monday 9 June 2025

Exams affected during the re-sit exam period: no later than 12 noon on Monday 1 September 2025

Interruption of Studies  

It is the University's expectation that students complete their programme in one continuous period of uninterrupted study. It is understood, however, that students may encounter personal difficulties or situations which may seriously disrupt their studies. In such instances, students may be granted a temporary interruption to their studies. If students have been, or are being, affected by mitigating circumstances that have lasted or are expected to last for a significant period, or that may impact upon a significant number of units, it may be better for students to apply for an interruption to their studies.  

If an application to interrupt a programme of study is approved, it would normally be to help students recover from medical problems, or problems of a personal or financial nature which are having, or may have, a negative impact on performance. However, the School has the flexibility to consider and make decisions on whether to approve requests for interruption in relation to other circumstances too, e.g. work placements.  

In the first instance students should speak to members of staff within the School eg. Academic Advisor, Programme Director, Student Support Hub, Senior Advisors – about if a period of interruption would be the most appropriate course of action. If students decide to apply, they must make an appointment (via the SBS Hub) to meet with one of the Senior Advisors who will provide the application form and go through it with students. Students will need to include evidence to support their application, e.g. medical evidence, confirmation of work placement.  

Pastoral Support  

To ensure that you are progressing well throughout each semester, the completion of eLearning assignments on Blackboard and tutorial and practical attendance will be monitored. If you have failed to attend several tutorials or practicals or to complete eLearning assignments, you will be asked to meet with your Academic Advisor to ensure that there are no underlying problems that the School needs to be aware of.  If there are underlying problems, your Academic Advisor and/or staff in the SBS Hub will be able to advise you of appropriate support.   

Academic Appeals

Academic Appeals are a way of asking the University to review a recent decision taken by an Examination Board or equivalent body, which affects a student’s progression or status (e.g. where a student is excluded from the University, or transferred to a programme for a lower qualification). However, appeals cannot be made simply on the basis of disagreeing with a mark, or as a challenge to academic judgement. They must instead be based on one of the grounds for appeal detailed in Regulation XIX Academic Appeals.

The university academic appeals procedure is available here. Please read this carefully if you are considering submitting an appeal.

The purpose of this regulation is to safeguard the interests of students and may only be used when there are adequate grounds for doing so which are outlined in the regulation. It may not be used simply because you are dissatisfied with the outcome of your assessment or other decision concerning your academic progress.

An appeal which questions the academic or professional judgement of those charged with the responsibility for assessing a student’s academic performance of professional competence shall not be permitted. This means that you may not challenge marks or grades awarded unless you believe that they may have been affected by factors under i-iv below.

The accepted grounds for appeal are as follows:

1. Circumstances affecting your performance of which, for a credible and compelling reason, the Examination Board or equivalent body may not have been aware when the decision was taken, and which may have had a material effect on the decision. Note: if students wish to appeal on such grounds, they must give credible and compelling reasons with supporting documentation explaining why this information was not made available prior to the decision being made.
2. An administrative error or procedural irregularity in the assessment process or in putting into effect the regulations for the programme of study such as to cause significant doubt as to whether the decision might have been different if the error or irregularity had not occurred.
3. Evidence of prejudice or bias or lack of proper assessment on the part of one or more of the examiners.
4. The supervision or training in respect of research for a dissertation or thesis or equivalent work was unsatisfactory to the point that your performance was seriously affected.

Appeals based upon provisional decisions of the School cannot be considered. This means that you will not be able to submit an appeal until after examination boards have taken place and the results have been released. All recommendations for mitigating circumstances must be approved by the Board of Examiners. Please note that a progression board constitutes a meeting of the board of exminers, so if you wish to submit an appeal in relation to a semester 1 course unit, this should be submitted within 20 days of the date you receive notification that your semester 1 results are available.

If you wish to pursue an appeal, your first step would be to submit a Stage 1 appeal, which will be sent directly to the school for consideration. You will then receive an outcome from the school, and can then proceed to Stage 2 if your Stage 1 appeal is unsuccessful. A Stage 2 appeal would instead be reviewed by the Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health Appeals, Complaints and Discipline team.

Please submit your Stage 1 appeal through this online form. The form will tell you what information you need to provide. You cannot submit a Stage 2 appeal until the school has already considered a Stage 1 appeal.

Please Note:

• Your Stage 1 appeal must be submitted within 20 working days of the date you were informed of the decision you wish to appeal against, e.g. when your results are released. Any appeal received outside of this timeframe will be automatically rejected.
• Evidence (e.g. medical evidence) must be provided to support the appeal. Any appeal that does not provide evidence will not be considered.
• We will not consider any appeals which challenge academic judgment or are in relation to generally being unhappy with a mark that you have been awarded.
• If you appealing on the grounds of mitigating circumstances, your appeal must evidence why you did not submit an application for mitigating circumstances to the school prior to the examination board.

Should an informal appeal be rejected, you will then have the right to submit a stage 2 appeal to the Faculty of Biology, Medicine & Health Appeals, Complaints and Discipline Team within 10 working days of the date you are notified of the outcome of your informal appeal. This route cannot be pursued until an informal appeal has been considered first. Any Stage 1 appeal outcome you receive will contain information regarding how to do this

Please note you can only appeal on your own behalf. If you want a representative (e.g. a parent) to appeal for you, you must send a letter (or email) with your appeal explaining that you have given them permission to act on your behalf. Students can contact the Students’ Union Advice Centre for assistance in drafting an appeal.

For further information on submitting an appeal, please contact sbs.appealsandconduct@manchester.ac.uk. Please note that appeals submitted directly by email to this address will NOT be considered; all appeals must be submitted through the online form.

Conduct and Discipline

General University information on the Conduct and Discipline of Students can be found at https://www.staffnet.manchester.ac.uk/adviceandresponse/refer/disciplinary-referral/

Faculty guidance for students on Social Media and Harm Reduction can be found at:

• • https://www.regulations.manchester.ac.uk/non-academic/guidance-on-social-media-for-students/ (Social Media)
  • https://www.studentsupport.manchester.ac.uk/taking-care/imworriedabout/health/physical/harm-reduction/ (Harm Reduction)

Information on Academic Malpractice and how to avoid it can be found here. If you find yourself the subject of a disciplinary procedure you are strongly advised to take advice from the Students Union.

If the allegation relates to an incidence which occurred in a Hall of Residence, then you should consult the Code of Conduct for living in Halls of Residence which can be found here.

Once you have been through the full process within the University, if you remain dissatisfied, you may be entitled to take your complaint to the Office of the Independent Adjudicator.

 

Student Support

Additional information on support and services are available here.

Academic Advisors

Every student in the School is assigned an Academic Advisor. Your Academic Advisor (normally the same person throughout your course) offers you advice on academic matters, personal problems (if needed), and is your main link to the School and the University.

You must meet your Academic Advisor at regular intervals during your degree.

We recommend you speak to your Academic Advisor about any problems that you are having that are affecting your work (see also Section Work and Attendance Regulations (Level 1) (Level 2) (Level 3) and Section Guidelines on Ill Health). We encourage students to take the initiative in raising problems or difficulties (academic or personal) at the earliest possible opportunity so that staff can provide appropriate guidance and support. The expectation is that students will then make appropriate use of all the support and guidance offered at the University.

When you are making applications for summer work, placements, jobs, or further degrees, your Academic Advisor should know you well enough to write an informed reference.

Academic Tutors

You will have regular small-group tuition in groups of between 5 and 10 students with an Academic Tutor. You will see several Academic Tutors with different areas of expertise during your undergraduate career. Normally your Academic Advisor will also be your Academic Tutor for the first year, which gives you a chance to get to know each other. Attendance at ALL of the academic tutorials and the production of satisfactory work are requirements of all Degree Programmes see also Section Work and Attendance Regulations (Level 1) (Level 2) (Level 3).

Senior Advisor team

There is a team of Senior Advisors for the School who are available (via the Student Support Hub) to discuss any particularly serious problems, or anything you would rather not discuss with your Academic Advisor (including the situation where you may feel it necessary to request a change in Academic Advisor). The team of Senior Advisors can be contacted via email at senioradvisors.sbs@manchester.ac.uk

Programme Directors

The Programme Director oversees the content of your Degree Programme, agrees your choice of optional course units during Welcome Week and assists your Academic Advisor in giving you advice on academic matters. A list of Programme Directors can be found in Section Programme Directors and where to find them (Undergraduate).

Student Support and Wellbeing Team

If you need support with your wellbeing during your time at the University, your first point of contact is the Student Support and Wellbeing team. This team can support you with any wellbeing query or concern and ensure you are signposted to the appropriate support service. The team also work on a range of welfare activity, such as mitigating circumstances, DASS support, change of circumstances, and attendance monitoring.

You can arrange to meet with someone from the Student Support and Wellbeing team by contacting sbs.wellbeing@manchester.ac.uk. You can also have a chat with someone in the team over the phone on +44 (0) 161 275 1487. You can also drop by the Support Hub in Stopford Building. The Hub is open Monday-Friday 9:00am to 17:00pm, during term time.

Counselling and Mental Health Service

The University’s Counselling and Mental Health service is available for any student that needs specialized support with their mental health.. The service is free for all students and consists of trained mental health practitioners and counsellors. Any student struggling with their mental health can arrange a 1-1 appointment with a counsellor who will advise what support is needed. There are also some online sessions/workshops on specific issues, e.g. confidence and self-esteem, managing low mood, managing exam stress, coping with academic pressure, presentations and public speaking, etc.

The service is open 9.00am to 5.00pm Monday to Friday all year round except public holidays. You can contact the Counselling and Mental Health Service by email – counselling.service@manchester.ac.uk – or telephone – 0161 275 2864

You can find more information about the service here – Counselling Service

Students’ Union Advice Centre

The Students Union has a free, independent and confidential Advice Service, which consists of trained Advisors that can support students with financial, housing, or academic concerns.

You can arrange to meet an SU Advisor by using this contact form.

Manchester Students’ Union

Disability Advisory and Support Service

The University of Manchester welcomes students with a disability or specific learning difficulties. The University has a dedicated  Disability Advisory and Support Service (DASS) that supports any students with a long-term condition or disability. When a student registers with DASS, they will meet a Disability Advisor on a 1-1 basis where they will assess what support the student needs for their teaching, learning and assessments. DASS will create a student support plan and send this to the Student Support and Wellbeing team in the School, who will liaise with academic staff to ensure the student’s support is put in place.,  You can find out more information about DASS, the University’s commitment to supporting students with a disability and the policies and procedures around disability support here.

DASS is located on the 2nd Floor of University Place (see Campus Map)

Email: dass@manchester.ac.uk

Phone 0161 275 7512; Text 07899 658 790 (only for d/Deaf students)

Website: http://www.dso.manchester.ac.uk/

DASS are open from 10am to 4pm Monday to Friday.

You can also email the School’s DASS Coordinator at sbs.dc@manchester.ac.uk for any advice relating to DASS requirements.

The Stopford Building has car parking spaces reserved for blue badge holders, wheelchair access and an adapted lift at the car park end of the building.

Occupational Health

The University of Manchester Occupational Health Service  is a confidential, specialised clinical service that looks after the health of staff and students at the University. The service can assess and advise on fitness for work, training and study, and help ensure that health issues of staff and students are effectively managed.

Students can access Occupational Health if they feel their health is having a direct impact on their fitness to study their programme. Students can either self-refer to the service, which would not be disclosed to the School, or a student can be referred to the Service by a member of the Student Support and Wellbeing team.

Where necessary the Service works closely with other services at the University; e.g. the Disability Advisory and Support Service (DASS) to support students with health problems or disabilities.

The Occupational Health Service does not deal with medical or first aid emergencies and cannot diagnose or provide treatment. If there is a serious medical emergency you should phone (9)999 for an ambulance, remembering to call University Security (69966) immediately afterwards so that they can assist the ambulance in getting to you.

You will need an appointment to see an Occupational Health Adviser or Physician as the Service does not have the capacity to see you as a ‘drop-in’.

Please see Occupational Health’s website for more information about accessing the service.

Discrimination and Harassment

Information and University policies on discrimination and harassment can be found here.

If you have been a victim of some form of harassment, please use the reporting system available here.  Students can report anonymously or speak to an advisor from the Advice and Response team.

All members of the University community are required to treat all students, staff and local community in a friendly, courteous and dignified manner. Bullying, harassment, sexual harassment, discrimination and victimisation are contrary to the Equality Act 2010 and the values of the University as set out in the Equality and Diversity Policy.

Students have a right to complain in confidence if they are being harassed whilst studying. No student is expected to tolerate what they genuinely and reasonably believe to be bullying, harassment, sexual harassment, discrimination or victimisation, whether by a member of the University community or a third party such as a supplier or visitor to the University.

The University’s policy on bullying, harassment, sexual harassment, discrimination or victimisation is called the Dignity at Work and Study Policy and covers students, staff and the wider community.

Students can report an incident to the Advice and Response (A&R) team. Students can use the Report and Support tool to report an incident anonymously.  Further information on how to report an incident and to obtain support can be found here. You can also make an appointment with The Students’ Union Advice Service if you wish to access free, impartial and confidential advice.  You can also make an appointment with the Student Support and Wellbeing team (sbs.wellbeing@manchester.ac.uk) if you are unsure which service to access.

The Student Services Centre

The majority of the University’s administrative services for students (except Accommodation Services) are available from our centralised Student Services Centre, off Burlington Street.

Please see the Student Services webpage for details on how to access their service including contacting the Service Delivery Team via email.

Accommodation

The Accommodation Office provides information and guidance on a range of issues including ways to deal with any problems that students might encounter over accommodation choices, special needs, existing accommodation difficulties, accommodation for students with families and on temporary accommodation, including provision available outside semester time. Please refer to the Accommodation Office website for further details.

For private sector accommodation see the Manchester Student Homes website. Manchester Student Homes (MSH) is owned, managed and funded by the University of Manchester and Manchester Metropolitan University and their respective Students’ Unions.

The Students’ Union Advice Service is also an excellent source of help and advice on problems with private accommodation.

International students

The International Society (ground floor of the Students’ Union), offers advice, information and a social base for students. The Society offers trips, language classes, events and activities and volunteering opportunities. Please see the International Society webpage for further information.

Financial help

If you are a UK student for fees purposes, you can apply to Student Finance for a Student Loan for Maintenance and a Student Loan for Fees. Payments for the Student Loan for Maintenance are made directly into your bank account. If you choose to take one, the Student Loan for Fees is paid directly to the University. Some students may also be eligible for a non-repayable grant and your Student Finance will assess you for this. If you get into difficulties while you are a student, the Student Services Centre on Burlington Street can help with money advice and budgeting. Further information is available here.

If you are experiencing unforeseen circumstances or financial hardship, students may be eligible for the Living Cost Support Fund which can provide financial support to help overcome food insecurity, supporting with utility bills, and addressing any other issues arising from financial hardship. It is open to ALL students, regardless of level of study, nationality, or social background and is open all year round and can award grants to help you overcome financial hardship or unforeseen expenses. The fund cannot assist with the cost of tuition fees for any student. Further details are available here. The Students’ Union Advice Service can also provide guidance on financial support.

Security on campus

The University Security Service should be contacted if you have concerns about personal security or theft (0161 306 9966 – the number is on the back of your stundet ID card) or wish to speak to a member of the security staff.

SafeZone is our mobile app designed to give you extra peace of mind on campuses across the city or living in accommodation.

The SafeZone app is free to download and easy to use.  Visit Google Play or the App Store and search ‘SafeZone’ to download.

You can use it to:

• ‘Check in’ any time of day– to keep you safe on campus, such as if you’re studying or working late or alone on campus
• Quickly and discreetly call for assistance–whenever you feel unsafe on campus
• Get medical assistance quickly– whether it’s for first aid, an accident or in an emergency
• Keep up to date– notifications sent directly to your phone if there is an incident on campus
• Wellbeing assistance – get access to support 24/7 to help care for your own wellbeing
• IT help – contact our IT team for help

You can use SafeZone to call for help whenever you’re located in:

• Fallowfield
• Victoria Park
• The University of Manchester campus
• Manchester Metropolitan University campus
• University of Salford campus

As part of the Manchester SafeZone Alliance, any student can use the SafeZone app to get assistance on any of these campuses – no matter which university you attend. The app will directly connect you to the appropriate safety or security team for that area, who will provide the assistance you need. If you leave these areas you can still use the app, which will provide you with your local emergency services number – even if you’re outside the UK.

Further information is available here.

EMPLOYABILITY

Employability skills

During the course of your Degree Programme, you should develop a range of employability skills. These include skills in written and oral communication, organisation of information, presentation skills, teamwork and leadership. The unit descriptions outline the employability skills that have been identified for each unit.

Your tutorial unit also aims to help you develop employability skills. A detailed list of employability skills and how these can be developed through tutorials is provided in your tutorial handbook. As part of the tutorial unit, you will take part in plenary sessions run by the Careers Service that focus specifically on employability (topics such as CV-writing, interview skills and tailoring a CV to a particular application). Your Academic Tutor will inform you when these tutorials will take place and further information is available in the tutorial handbook and on the tutorial unit on Blackboard.

The Careers Service website has a large amount of information to help you with guidance on how to write a CV :http://www.careers.manchester.ac.uk/applicationsinterviews/cv/

You should keep your CV updated as you progress through University and as your skills and experience develop.

The School organises a number of events during the year to help you to enhance your employability and you are encouraged to take part in these. Information about these events will be advertised to you via email. These complement a wide range of events organised by the central Careers Team, which will also be promoted to you via email and which can also be found on their web pages: http://www.careers.manchester.ac.uk/events/

Weekly CV/Application Surgeries (one-to-one appointments) are run by the School during term-time for Years 2, pre-final and final year students and appointments can also be booked directly via the Careers Service (all years). Students can also book Careers guidance appointments and practice interview via the Careers Service.

The Careers Service: We are here for you

Becoming a Manchester Graduate starts with your degree, but the secret to future career success is using your time as a student to explore options, build your connections and reflect on what you learn. Working in collaboration with the School of Biological Sciences, other partners in the University and with organisations across the world, the Careers Service can help you reach your potential – but it all starts with you. What can you do to improve your chances of getting into the kind of work you’d love to do?

This year you have faced the challenge of Covid-19 and the impact it has had on your daily life, and on study. As a service, we can help you make sense of your options, and offer advice and guidance to enable you to move forward with your career.

Making the most of your time at Manchester

Actively seek out opportunities to build your experience; this could be work experience, voluntary work, being active in a University society or developing new skills. Careers Service research proves that students who do so move swiftly into the kinds of careers they want after they graduate. Covid-19 will mean a change to the activities on offer, with some moving online, but there will still be opportunities to be active as a Manchester student!

www.careers.manchester.ac.uk/findjobs/

The Careers Service has a dedicated FBMH Faculty Careers Team and your link Careers Consultants are Suzanne Creeber and Stefanie Cunliffe. We offer a programme of activities for Biological Sciences students, organised in collaboration with the School’s employability team and the Alumni Relations Team. This includes the Biological Sciences Careers Fair in Semester Two, employability plenary lectures as part of the tutorials programme, special sessions on looking for work experience, and interview training for placement students. Optional events are advertised internally by the School of Biological Sciences, via newsletters and on the Careers Service website and Instagram page (uomcareers).  Be sure to register as soon as possible for our careers portal, CareerConnect, to search job vacancies, book appointments and register for events.

If you want to work in science, make getting relevant work experience your priority.
If your degree programme doesn’t include an Industrial/Professional placement, there are options like Summer Research Studentships. If you are looking for work experience, start by checking out the Careers Service website, and also our specific science careers pages. www.careers.manchester.ac.uk/whichcareer/science/

Build and broaden your connections

Learn from other people, including people like you, i.e. other students in your School, PASS leaders, house-mates, lab demonstrators, people you work with and people you socialise with. Talk about careers and options, your ideas and aspirations; share ideas and connections. Our research shows that people who do this are more likely to make a smooth transition to work or further study after their degree.

www.careers.manchester.ac.uk/myfuture/connect/

The Careers Service organise an extensive programme of events throughout the year for all Faculties, from lunchtime talks to large recruitment fairs. This year, many will be delivered online, enabling you to participate safely. We also run workshops and interactive training sessions, sometimes with employers, where you find can out about jobs from the people who do them every day. www.careers.manchester.ac.uk/events/

Events like “Meet the Professionals” organised by the Alumni Relations team and your School are great opportunities to find out what Biological Science graduates did after their degree. We also offer support to help you engage with online networks such as LinkedIn, via our LinkedIn Academy sessions and online workshops. Further details are available here: www.careers.manchester.ac.uk/applicationsinterviews/linkedin

Your Future Toolkit

The My Future Self Reflection Tool is a short online questionnaire and report, developed exclusively for University of Manchester undergraduates. It can help you figure out what to do next, to put you on target for a successful future. You’ll find it on My Manchester when you log in. www.careers.manchester.ac.uk/myfuture/

The Careers Service is open all year round, including vacation time. The Atrium in University Place is usually where students access face-to-face Careers information and guidance. NB. in 2020, some of our services will be delivered online and you can visit our virtual walk-up helpdesk on our website. (tel: 0161 275 2829, email: careers.info@manchester.ac.uk).

The Information Team can help you research your options and (when fully open) there is information on reference and to take away. You can book a guidance appointment with a Careers Consultant to explore options and ask for feedback on applications and interviews from an Applications Adviser (some services may delivered over Zoom or by email/telephone).

www.careers.manchester.ac.uk/services/

The Careers Service Website contains information, advice and interactive services. Explore tailored sections for each year of study and international students, plus general sections on job hunting, career options and applying for jobs.

www.manchester.ac.uk/careers/

Your Careers Account “CareersLink” lists job vacancies and careers events. You can also choose to receive email alerts about relevant jobs and events. We advertise thousands of vacancies each year: everything from summer internships and part-time jobs, to industrial placements and graduate jobs and internships.

www.manchester.ac.uk/careerslink/

Use Social Media? Do follow us on Instagram (@uomcareers) for lots of useful information from the Careers Service.

Obtaining a reference for employment

Most applications require you to cite one or more referees, and you should normally seek permission from your Academic Advisor to cite him/her as your main/first referee. If you need another referee, this should be a staff member familiar with your relevant work. If this is your research, this should be a supervisor of your practical work, placement, summer or final year research project. Additional referees could include your final year or second year Academic Tutor, or dissertation supervisor. It is essential to approach the members of staff concerned before citing them, to ensure that they are willing and able to provide a supportive reference.

H. MAKING YOUR VIEWS KNOWN

Day-to-day problem solving and other ways of making your views known

You are welcome to make comments about any aspect of your Degree Programme at any time. If you have difficulties or suggestions please be aware that they should be raised promptly, and that the resolution of problems is likely to be most effective via face-to-face interaction. You should feel free to comment on unit content, delivery or assessment direct to the lecturer or practical coordinator in the first instance. If you feel this is not appropriate, you are encouraged to discuss matters with the Unit Coordinator. If you are still not satisfied, you should seek advice from your Programme Director or Academic Advisor.

Representation on Committees

The structure of the School of Biological Sciences is intended to give you opportunities to express your views and to influence School and University policy. Specific problems should be dealt with by the Unit Coordinator or your Academic Advisor, but from time to time matters of a general nature may arise which will benefit from being discussed in a wider, more formal setting. In addition, the School values your views on academic and organisational matters and welcomes the contributions you can make to the work of its committees. You also have established rights to participate in the work of certain School and University committees. So if you feel you could serve as a student representative for your Degree Programme please discuss this important and rewarding role with your Programme Director as early as possible. Training is provided by the Students’ Union for Student Representatives.

The Student Voice meeting is the main student-focused forum for discussion of matters related to teaching. The committee consists of the Programme Director and one student representative from each year of every Degree Programme. This committee usually meets three times during each academic year and considers questions and concerns of a general nature (rather than those specific to a particular Degree Programme). The name of the SSLC representative for your programme can be found through the Intranet.

The SBS Teaching Board meets about four times a year and is open to all staff who teach on Bioscience programmes. The Biosciences Teaching Board reports directly to the UG Education Leadership Team, chaired by the Director of UG Studies. The Board consists of academic teaching staff, a final year and postgraduate taught student representative from each Degree Programme.

In the University more widely, your representation is co-ordinated by the Students’ Union. This is run by students who are elected annually, and guided by policy that is passed at referendums twice a year. The structure of the Students’ Union provides a number of different forums, groups and assemblies for students to raise any type of issue, whether specific or general. These can then be acted upon by an elected officer, taken to a referendum or you could be supported in taking an issue forward yourself, for instance with the backing of an action group on a specific issue.

The Executive runs the Union on a day-to-day basis. Executive members sit on various committees within the University, from University wide committees such as Senate (the highest academic body in the University), through to committees specific to Biological Sciences.

If you wish to be a representative in the union at any level (i.e. volunteer or paid) you can stand in the elections which usually take place in the second semester. Please visit http://manchesterstudentsunion.com/ for more information.

There is provision, therefore, for you to be represented from your specific Degree Programme all the way through to the university wide level. Students are elected to other School committees, e.g. eLearning, at the beginning of each academic year at the first Student/Staff Liaison Committee.

Unit evaluations

Towards the end of each semester, students will be asked to complete an anonymous Unit Survey about the content and delivery of each School-run unit on which they are enrolled. Unit Surveys are part of the University’s commitment to listen to students and to seek annual improvements in the quality of the students’ teaching and learning experience.

The process seeks to highlight units that achieve high levels of satisfaction so that the School can identify and disseminate best practice; the process also seeks to identify units that achieve low levels of satisfaction so that the causes of dissatisfaction can be remedied. The academic staff involved in coordinating the units will review the survey results and individual comments for their specific unit(s) and are required to complete a ‘comments and response’ form to address any issues raised. Links to the forms for each unit surveyed can be found at http://elwiki.ls.manchester.ac.uk/groups/unitevaluation/.

Action taken as a result of the issues raised in the unit surveys may also be reported back to students via the Student/Staff Liaison Committee.

Programme evaluation

During the year your Programme Director will seek your views on the year as a whole. You will have the opportunity to comment on all aspects of your year of study.

Complaints procedure

As part of its commitment to ensuring the standard and quality of its programmes of study, services, and facilities, the University has established a Complaints Procedure to deal with complaints from students. Complaints provide useful feedback information and, where appropriate, will be used to improve services and facilities.

The University’s Student Complaints Procedure (Regulation XVIII) and associated documents, including a complaints form, can be found here.

The University has separate procedures to address complaints of bullying, harassment, discrimination and/or victimisation further information is available here.

Students thinking of submitting a formal complaint should, in most instances, attempt informal resolution first with the Head of Teaching, Learning & Student Experience, kerry.mycock@manchester.ac.uk. Formal complaints should be submitted on the relevant form to FBMHappealsandcomplaints@manchester.ac.uk).

I. LEARNING RESOURCES

Computing facilities in the Stopford Building

Computing facilities are available to students within the School of Biological Sciences in three computer clusters situated on the ground floor: Stopford PC Clusters 1-3. Although these clusters are used for scheduled classes, the School tries to ensure significant free time on these computers for student use. Standard word processing, spreadsheet and database software is pre-installed (Microsoft Office Suite), as well as any software related to your studies. Printing facilities are available in each cluster and technical help can be obtained via the IT Service Desk.

In addition, the University of Manchester provides several large public computer clusters based around the campus, which are available to all students. All the PC clusters run the same operating system and have the same software installed. Visit http://www.itservices.manchester.ac.uk/students/pc-on-campus/ for the location of these clusters and availability.

Guidance notes for students wishing to access their University email accounts outside the University can be found here.

Intranet

The intranet (https://app.bmh.manchester.ac.uk/) is a service provided for staff and students in the Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health. Like any other electronic medium there may be occasional outages caused by power surges beyond the control of the School and/or malfunctions, so its operation cannot be guaranteed. Any material on the intranet, as well as that on any other platform, should be accessed well in advance of any deadlines. Non-availability of the service for 48 hours or less would not be considered a circumstance to mitigate against non-completion of an assignment.

The University of Manchester Library

The University of Manchester Library provides you with the resources and support you need throughout your Biological Sciences programme. The Main Library and Stopford Library house all of the essential textbooks. The Library also has an extensive collection of eBooks, databases and journals available online.

The My Learning tab in My Manchester has quick links to all of the Library’s resources and services available to students.

Getting Started

All the information you need to get started at the Library is found on the student page of the library website. You will need your student card to access all library sites around campus. Many of our services and resources also require you to confirm that you are a registered student, this is usually your central username and password.

Your course unit in Blackboard may include an online reading list, so you can quickly check availability and directly access e-books, digitised chapters and e-journals or articles.

The Main Library

The Main Library holds the principal collection of Biological Sciences books and journals available. Biological Sciences textbooks are available on Floor 2 of the Blue Area. Books and periodicals in other related subjects such as Biology are located in other areas of the Main Library. The Library Search facility will let you know what items are available and where to find them including eBooks and online journals. All the main biological science databases are available including Web of Science, Biosis Previews, Biological Sciences, Medline, Embase, Scopus and Zoological Record. These can be used to discover what has been published on a particular subject. The electronic resources can be accessed both on-campus and remotely.

The Main Library offers group study rooms, individual study space options and computer clusters. WiFi is available throughout the building and a cafe lounge can be found on the ground floor. The Library has long opening hours and extends these during exam periods. Please check Locations and Opening Hours for full details.

The Stopford Library

The Stopford Library is a smaller site library for Medicine, Dentistry, Pharmacy and Biological Sciences and holds multiple copies of all new editions of core and useful texts. Full details of what is available can be found using Library Search or asking a member of customer service staff. In addition to books, Stopford Library also has half skeletons, anatomical models and iPads available for loan.

The Stopford Library also has a computer suite, wifi and 6 group study rooms. Bookings can be made via My Manchester or at the customer service desk in the Stopford Library.

Please check Locations and Opening Hours for full details.

The Alan Gilbert Learning Commons

The Alan Gilbert Learning Commons is a state-of-the-art learning environment. The Learning Commons has flexible open learning spaces with multimedia facilities, computer clusters and bookable study rooms. Study spaces are available from 10am to 4pm.

Please check Locations and Opening Hours for full details.

My Learning Essentials

My Learning Essentials is the Library’s comprehensive programme of online resources, workshops and drop-ins designed to support you in your personal and professional development.

Workshops and drop-ins are held throughout the year and include special sessions during exams and the summer. Our online resources are available at all times, providing flexible support for your development from undergraduate to postgraduate level and beyond.

Full details of workshops and online resources can be viewed on the My Learning Essentials website.

The My Learning Essentials programme is run by The University of Manchester Library in collaboration with other services across campus.‌

The Manchester Museum

Manchester Museum is part of The University of Manchester. It has a distinctive role in engaging the public with the work of the University but also facilitates research in botany, zoology and earth sciences. Some taught courses in SBS include museum assignments with independent study of the collections. However, everyone is invited to explore one of the largest natural sciences collections in the UK, with 4.5 million specimens, from birds and plants collected by Charles Darwin to specimens of new species collected and classified by present curators.  

To check out exhibitions, events, tours and talks, and student social events, visit http://www.museum.manchester.ac.uk/whats-on/. 

The museum also advertises volunteering opportunities regularly. Check out https://www.museum.manchester.ac.uk/making-the-museum/volunteering/  

For any specific enquiries, contact museum@manchester.ac.uk

The University Centre for Academic English

The University Centre for Academic English provides courses and language learning resources for students from a wide variety of disciplines wishing to include a modern languages element within their studies. It also offers a wide range of courses and services for international students for whom English is not a first language.

English Language Support: Academic Success Programme

Our academic Success workshops are available to all students registered at the University of Manchester. Academic English can be challenging, even for native speakers. Our team of experienced tutors are here to support you, and will help boost your confidence to work independently in English through a series of interactive workshops and self-study materials.

To find out more, including links to online resources, visit our website.

Face to Face – This is an informal reciprocal language learning scheme, in which students can meet with native speakers of the language they are learning to exchange conversation. International students find that this is a good way to meet home students and to become more integrated into the University. Home students can prepare themselves for study abroad by finding out about their parents’ home universities and cultures. The Face to Face contact board is online. To join the scheme, contact angela.farrand@manchester.ac.uk.

Open Learning Facilities – The University Centre for Academic English open learning facilities, situated in the Samuel Alexander Building, offer:

• A library of multi-format materials in 82 languages
• Multimedia PCs for computer-aided language learning, video conferencing, multilingual word processing and DVD viewing
• Film viewing facilities for groups
• A stock of camera equipment, digital recorders and headsets
• Advice for language learners through online resources

A full guide to the University Centre for Academic English courses, services and it’s language learning resources is available here.

Language courses

Offered as part of the University Centre for Academic English institution-wide language programme (LEAP), these courses are available to students from across the University and may be studied on a credit or on a non-credit basis to complement your degree. Currently there are 13 languages offered, ranging from the main international languages to a number of less-widely taught languages:

Arabic British Sign Language Chinese French German Japanese

Korean Polish Persian Russian Spanish Turkish Urdu

For more information on the full range of languages and levels that are available, please consult the University Centre for Academic English website at University Centre for Academic English – LEAP courses – School of Arts, Languages and Cultures – The University of Manchester

Peer Assisted Study Sessions (PASS)

Peer Assisted Study Sessions (PASS) are operated by second, third and final year students to assist first year students in the transition to University life. Groups of first year students will be assigned 2 PASS leaders by PASS scheme student coordinators and the School Sabbatical Student Intern at the start of their programme and will be scheduled to meet with their PASS leaders at regular intervals during the year. Any queries about PASS should be addressed to the Student Intern responsible for the scheme (peersupport@manchester.ac.uk).

The aims of the scheme are to:

• enable a clear view of course expectations
• promote a non-threatening environment
• provide an effective method to:
• assist learning
• develop interpersonal/transferable skills (communication, team working, problem solving)
• develop self confidence
• increase responsibility and motivation
• increase peer interaction
• obtain inside knowledge
• allow students to give real-time feedback
• generate real-time feedback for the teaching staff
• challenge the barrier between year groups

Additional information on the PASS scheme can be found at http://www.peersupport.manchester.ac.uk/.

Textbooks and other requirements

Included in most of the unit descriptions and on the Blackboard sites for each unit are the text-book(s) recommended for the unit, and any other special requirements. You are advised not to purchase textbooks until the Unit Coordinator has had a chance to discuss these with you, and perhaps show you samples – sometimes there is a choice of recommended texts, depending on the other units that you are taking. Copies of all recommended texts are in The University of Manchester Library and multiple copies are available for overnight loan.

Where no ‘recommended reading’ list has been provided in the unit description or on Blackboard, it can be assumed that there are no set texts that cover the unit or that would be useful to read before the unit begins, and that reading material will be recommended once the course has started.

White lab coats and safety spectacles are required for all practical classes and will be provided at the start of the academic year – it is your responsibility to ensure that you bring your lab coat and safety spectacles to each practical. A pocket calculator will also be necessary.

NB: Calculators capable of storing and retrieving text (or having a full alphabet keyboard) are not permitted in University examinations. Please refer to the “Guidance on the use of calculators in examinations” for further information.

J. COURSE UNIT SELECTION

Academic Advisement sheets can be found on the intranet at the following link: https://app.bmh.manchester.ac.uk/education/cm/academicadvisement.aspx

You must complete your optional course unit selections before teaching commences. You can make changes to your selection up until the end of the 2nd week of teaching – Friday 5th October 2024. You can look up details of a course using the Course Unit Profile database:  link to course unit profile database

Should you require assistance with this process, please contact the Student Support Office:

School of Biological Sciences – Student Support Office

Opening Hours: Monday to Friday: 09:00 – 17:00

sbs.hub@manchester.ac.uk

Please remember to include your Student ID number in all communication.

Degree Programme requirements

The requirements for each Degree Programme are laid out in a table at the below links. The table is designed to enable you to check which units are core for your Degree Programme and which are recommended optional units. You may be able to take other units but you must be able to fit them into your timetable and you should talk to your Programme Director or Academic Advisor about this.

More detailed information on your Degree Programme structure for each level of study can be found on the intranet under the heading ‘academic advisement’ – https://app.bmh.manchester.ac.uk/education/cm/academicadvisement.aspx

Academic Advisement is the term used in Campus Solutions for the way in which Degree Programmes are structured, e.g. which course units students take in each academic year, which of those units are core, and which units may be selected as options. By following the above link you will be able to access the academic advisement documents for your Degree Programme. These sheets are used at registration for your Programme Director to agree your choice of units with you.

Course unit profiles

Profiles of the course units on offer from the School of Biological Sciences for the current academic year can be found via your MyManchester portal, as well as on the intranet. Profiles include Aims, Intended Learning Outcomes, lecture and/or practical content, along with details of the assessments, recommended texts and prerequisites. The Unit Coordinator and principal lecturers teaching on the unit are also listed. A list of the employability skills that the course unit will allow you to develop is also given; employers often ask for examples of these skills when applying for a job, either within your CV, on their job application form or during interviews. In addition to MyManchester, course unit information is also available on the School’s intranet.

If you have any questions about a unit once it has started, you should approach the lecturer directly, or consult the Unit Coordinator.

Students wishing to contact a Unit Coordinator directly should do so by email.

Full descriptions of language units for those students taking the four-year degrees with a language are available from the Course unit information portlet.

In addition, information on course units run by the University College for Interdisciplinary Learning (available University-wide) can be found on their website. Details of how to contact the College are listed below.

Please note, although students are permitted to take units outside the School, timetable constraints may not allow some of these units to be taken in conjunction with some compulsory School. Please discuss this with your Programme Director.

Alliance Manchester Business School (BMAN units)

For further information please consult the BMaP Student Handbook and timetabling information at the following link:

https://ughandbook.portals.mbs.ac.uk/Non-AllianceMBSstudents/BMaPcoursesandapplicationprocess.aspx

School of Arts, Languages and Cultures – Language units

Students registered on a ‘with language’ Degree Programme only.

If you are on a ‘with language’ degree, you will be enrolled on your Language units alongside your core BIOL units on the Student System. Should you have any questions about your Language units please contact the Student Support Office.

Masood Entrepreneurship Centre (MCEL units)

Details of the course units offered and contact details can be found at the following link:

https://www.alliancembs.manchester.ac.uk/media/ambs/content-assets/documents/enterprise/masood-enterprise-centre-elective-units-2020-21.pdf

School of Psychological Sciences (PSYC units)

PLEASE NOTE: PSYC units are only taken by students enrolled on the Cognitive Neuroscience & Psychology programme.

For information on PSYC units please contact ug.psychology@manchester.ac.uk.

School of Psychological Sciences

Coupland 1 Building

Coupland Street

https://www.bmh.manchester.ac.uk/psychology/

Programme Director – Dr Donna Lloyd (donna.lloyd@manchester.ac.uk)

University College for Interdisciplinary Learning (UCIL)

The University College for Interdisciplinary Learning presents an opportunity for students to broaden their educational horizons. It offers courses that showcase the research and knowledge found at the University and encourages student to go beyond the boundaries of their Degree Programme.

See the University College website for further information on available course units http://www.college.manchester.ac.uk/courses/. Students wishing to enrol on University College units can do so by self-selection via the Student System.

The Manchester Leadership Programme (MLP)

UCIL20021	Leadership in Action (sem 1)
UCIL20022	Leadership in Action (sem 2)
UCIL20020	Leadership in Action (sem 1&2)
UCIL20031	Leadership in Action (sem 1) – online unit

See the Manchester Leadership Programme website for further details of the course units on offer The Manchester Leadership Programme offers a unique combination of academic units and volunteering. MLP students:

• Learn the importance of leadership that promotes social, economic and environmental sustainability
• Gain an insight into some of the key issues facing 21st-century societies.
• Develop practical skills such as team working, project management and presentation skills.

Helpful hints

The first numerical digit in the code shows the Level it is taught at: 1 = First year, 2 = Second year; 3 = Third year. The semester a course is taught in is identified by the last digit in the course code: 0 = Year Long course; 1 = First semester; 2 = Second semester. You must ensure that the total credits you take over the year is 120 – this is most important and your responsibility. You should take no more than 60 credits per semester (maximum exception of 70 credits allowed, and only with Programme Director consent) as specified in the University’s Manual of Academic Procedures. How to read a course unit code: B I O L 1 0 2 2 1 Subject area – Biological Sciences Level – 1 A course unit for first year students Semester – 1 A course unit running in Semester 1 When you have completed Course Unit Selection you should be registered for a total of 120 credits. If you are registered for a non-language degree you need to take a total of 10 units (usually 8 lecture units, 1 EDM and 1 RSM) (100 credits). These are in addition to the compulsory Tutorial and Dissertation units (10 credits each). Joint honours students may take a different combination of units – please refer to the Course Unit Plan. If you are registered for a degree with language: for route a), you need to select 6 units (60 credits), these are in addition to the compulsory Tutorial, Dissertation, EDM and RSM units (total 40 credits). In addition you will take language units to the equivalent of 20 credits. For route b), you need to select 4 units (40 credits), these are in addition to the compulsory Tutorial, Dissertation, EDM and RSM units (total 40 credits). In addition you will take language units to the equivalent of 40 credits. Check that you are aware of any recommended or pre/co-requisite units associated with your choice. Check with your Programme Director or the Unit Coordinator if you are in any doubt about the suitability or content of any of your choices. Check that the units you have selected do not clash on the School timetable AND on the timetable for any other School that manages units you intend to take. Check that the units you have chosen provide a suitable foundation for the final year units you wish to take. Wildcards – You may choose any course unit in the specified subject area at the level you will be studying at e.g. BIOL wildcard – for your level 2 study, you may choose any* BIOL level 2 course unit. *Providing you have the pre/co-requisites, excluding EDMs, RSMs and field courses.

Pre-/Co-requisites

Listed below are units from the School of Biological Sciences with their listed core co/prerequisites, or recommended co/prerequisites. If a unit has prerequisites, this means that you may need to take the prerequisite unit(s) in order to take this unit. For example, BIOL10221 is a compulsory prerequisite for BIOL20332, therefore, if you do not take BIOL10221 in your first year, you will not be able to take BIOL20332 in your second year. Your first year choices can therefore influence what is available to you in subsequent years of your Degree Programme.

Unit Code	Unit Title	Core co/pre requisite	Recommended co/pre requisite
BIOL10822	Drugs: From Mols		BIOL10811
BIOL20302	Science & Society RSM		HSTM10721
BIOL20322	Cell Biology RSM	BIOL21121 OR BIOL21141
BIOL20332	Genetics RSM	BIOL10221 & BIOL10521 & BIOL21371	BIOL21172
BIOL20342	Microbiology RSM	BIOL21181
BIOL20872	FC RSM		level 1 FC strongly recomm
BIOL20912	Anatomy RSM	BIOL10811 & BIOL21291	BIOL21061
BIOL20922	Neuro RSM	BIOL10832 & BIOL21332 & BIOL21341
BIOL20932	Pharm RSM	BIOL20302 & BIOL21412 OR BIOL20302
BIOL20942	Phys RSM	BIOL10832 & BIOL21141 & BIOL21321	BIOL21141 OR BIOL21321
BIOL20952	Immunology RSM	BIOL21242	BIOL21252
BIOL20972	Dev Biol RSM	BIOL10521 & BIOL21172	BIOL10221 & BIOL21371
BIOL21101	Genome Maint	BIOL10221	BIOL10212
BIOL21111	Proteins	BIOL10212	CHEM10021 OR CHEM10022
BIOL21121	Dynamic Cell	BIOL10232
BIOL21132	Cell M & MC		BIOL21111
BIOL21141	Cell Memb & Struc		BIOL10212 OR BIOL10232
BIOL21152	Omic Technologies	BIOL10221	BIOL21101
BIOL21172	Principles of Dev Biol	BIOL10521
BIOL21181	Fundamentals of Bacteria		BIOL10532
BIOL21192	Principles of ID	BIOL10532	BIOL21181 & BIOL21242
BIOL21202	Plants for Future		BIOL10511
BIOL21232	Funds of Evol Biol	BIOL10521
BIOL21272	Gut & Renal		BIOL21141 & BIOL21321
BIOL21291	Human Anatomy		BIOL10811
BIOL21302	Clinical Drug Dev	BIOL10822
BIOL21312	Drugs & Brain	BIOL10822	BIOL21302
BIOL21321	Memb Excit	BIOL10832
BIOL21332	Motor Systems	BIOL10832	BIOL21341
BIOL21341	Sensory Systs	BIOL10832
BIOL21351	Mols & Cells in HD		BIOL10232 & BIOL10822
BIOL21371	Organismal Biol		BIOL10221 & BIOL10822
BIOL21402	Anat of Spec Senses	BIOL21291
BIOL21412	Drugs Mols & Mechs	BIOL10822 & BIOL20932
BIOL21432	Animal Behaviour	BIOL10521	BIOL21232
BIOL21442	Disease in Nature		BIOL10532 & BIOL21221
BIOL21451	How to Make a Brain	BIOL10832
BIOL21742	Introduction to Cancer	BIOL10232
BIOL31311	Protein Assemb	BIOL21111
BIOL31341	Macro Recog	BIOL21111
BIOL31371	Adv Immunology	BIOL21242	BIOL21192 & BIOL21252
BIOL31402	Human Gens & Evo		BIOL10521 & BIOL21232 & BIOL21371
BIOL31451	Comparative Dev Biol	BIOL21172
BIOL31471	Advanced Behav		BIOL10521 & BIOL21232 & BIOL21432
BIOL31482	Conservation Biology	BIOL21232
BIOL31582	Cardiovascular Systems	BIOL21141 & BIOL21321	BIOL21272
BIOL31602	Toxins, Toxicants		BIOL21302
BIOL31612	Neuroinflamation	BIOL10832	BIOL21312
BIOL31622	Ion Transport		BIOL10832
BIOL31651	Advances in Anat Sci	BIOL21291	BIOL20912 & BIOL21402
BIOL31671	Neuropharm of HH	BIOL21312
BIOL31751	Stem Cells	BIOL21172	BIOL21121 & BIOL21351
BIOL31802	Immune Resp & Disease	BIOL21242 & BIOL31371

The above resources will enable you to identify the core units you will be studying and you should have consulted the individual course unit profiles to identify optional units you feel you would enjoy. However, don’t worry if you are unsure of your choices as you will finalise your selection of optional units with your Programme Director during Welcome Week and can change your optional units for a short time after they have started.

Withdrawal of units

The information provided is correct at the time of publication. The School reserves the right to withdraw or alter units should there be changes in academic staff or insufficient registrations.