Microbiology with a Year in Industry BSc at University of Sheffield

This course allows you to complete a year-long, paid work placement as part of your degree. You'll pay reduced fees for the year you're on placement and you'll have the support you need from your tutor and the University. Most students earn salaries during their placements and many are offered a graduate-level job at the end.

Previous students have found placements at global pharmaceutical companies such as GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer and Unilever. However, your placement doesn't have to be in the lab as this course gives you the freedom to test out an alternative career path. For example, you could pursue a role in market research, communications or business development within or outside of the bioscience industry.

You'll learn about the fundamental role these tiny organisms play in the world and their part in countless scientific advances. Microbes are crucial in the global cycling of nutrients and are the subjects of our most fundamental experiments to understand how life functions, with their genomes being the first to be completely sequenced.

At Sheffield, you'll study the importance of bacteria, viruses and other microbes in the environment and as pathogens.

You'll also learn about how we can manipulate their genetic makeup to put microbes to good use in biotechnology, allowing us to better understand and tackle the global threat of antimicrobial-resistant infections.

Our degrees all start with core subject and skills modules that provide the foundation for your studies. As you progress through your degree, you'll have a chance to explore your core subjects in greater depth, choose optional modules across the biosciences to help broaden your knowledge and skills and participate in a research activity. Moving to a different degree course is possible, especially in the first year, and depending on your qualifications.

If you want to study microbiology but don't meet the entry requirements to go straight into the first year, our Biosciences with a Foundation Year could be for you. After successfully completing the one-year programme, you'll progress onto the first year of your chosen degree.