Unis for biomed

Lancaster Student Ambassador

heyo i applied for biomedical science this year. i switched to biochem but i think i can still help :smile:

so there are two types of universities offering biomed. IBMS accredited degrees and non-IBMS accredited degrees.

IBMS accredited universities are universities accredited by the institute of biomedical science. you have to go to one of these universities if you want to work in the NHS as biomedical scientist as they offer a rigid structure which prepares you for working in the NHS. you can find a list of them here https://careers.ibms.org/students/accredited-degree-courses/undergraduate-uk-courses/
i'm gonna be honest and say not many "good" universities offer an accredited degree with the exception of Lancaster, Surrey & maybe Reading

non-IBMS accredited universities aren't accredited and so you can't work in the NHS with this degree unless you take top up modules. they're usually offered by large research universities such as UCL, Manchester, Kings etc

Reply 2

Official Rep

15

Original post by maddielle222

I was wondering what some of the best unis are in England for biomedical science (not including oxbridge) as I've been told don't always rely on league tables. This is in regards to the teaching, results etc.

Any suggestions would be helpful, thanks!

Hi @maddielle222,
I studied a similar course to BioMed at Lancaster - I'd be happy to help you!
What kind of things would you like to know?
Our entry requirements are AAB - you'll study a range of modules: genetics, microbiology, biochemistry etc - but essentially the course is accredited so if you wanted to become a biomedical scientist for the NHS you could. A lot of students also do placements in biomedical science labs.
We're a UK Top 10 University in the North of England.
Let me know if you have any questions or anything I can help you with - I really enjoyed my time at Lancaster and would recommend my department!
Charlotte :smile:

3rd year Biological Sciences with Biomedicine

Reply 3

maddielle222

OP

Original post by aw03

heyo i applied for biomedical science this year. i switched to biochem but i think i can still help :smile:

so there are two types of universities offering biomed. IBMS accredited degrees and non-IBMS accredited degrees.

IBMS accredited universities are universities accredited by the institute of biomedical science. you have to go to one of these universities if you want to work in the NHS as biomedical scientist as they offer a rigid structure which prepares you for working in the NHS. you can find a list of them here https://careers.ibms.org/students/accredited-degree-courses/undergraduate-uk-courses/
i'm gonna be honest and say not many "good" universities offer an accredited degree with the exception of Lancaster, Surrey & maybe Reading

non-IBMS accredited universities aren't accredited and so you can't work in the NHS with this degree unless you take top up modules. they're usually offered by large research universities such as UCL, Manchester, Kings etc

Thank you for the help!
Would I need to make sure the degree is accredited if I want to work for the NHS but not as a biomedical scientist, for example as a clinical scientist in immunology?

Reply 4

maddielle222

OP

Original post by Lancaster Student Ambassador

Hi @maddielle222,
I studied a similar course to BioMed at Lancaster - I'd be happy to help you!
What kind of things would you like to know?
Our entry requirements are AAB - you'll study a range of modules: genetics, microbiology, biochemistry etc - but essentially the course is accredited so if you wanted to become a biomedical scientist for the NHS you could. A lot of students also do placements in biomedical science labs.
We're a UK Top 10 University in the North of England.
Let me know if you have any questions or anything I can help you with - I really enjoyed my time at Lancaster and would recommend my department!
Charlotte :smile:

3rd year Biological Sciences with Biomedicine

Thank you for responding.
Did you do a placement year? If so would you recommend to do one?

Reply 5

Depends on what you want to do after the degree. If you want to work as a biomedical scientist in the NHS after graduating, the courses you should be focusing on are the Healthcare Sciences (Life Sciences) courses that form part of the NHS Practitioner Training Programme (PTP). These are listed on the PTP site here: https://nshcs.hee.nhs.uk/services/accreditation/ptp-academic-programmes/. The relevant specialisms are either the general route (Life Sciences) or the specialty routes (Infection/Blood/Cellular Sciences). These are the only degree programmes which have both the IBMS accreditation and integrated placements in approved NHS pathology labs that allow you to register with the HCPC and thus apply to Band 5 BMS roles in the NHS on graduation. Otherwise your best best are IBMS accredited degrees with sandwich/placement years, and hope you can get a placement in an approved NHS pathology lab. Those are quite competitive to apply to though, as I believe usually the placements are prioritised for internal applicants and those on local PTP courses as above.

Reply 6

University of Essex has a really good IBMS accredited BSc Biomedical Sciences (https://www.essex.ac.uk/courses/ug00039/1/bsc-biomedical-science). Essex also has a 4 years accredited Applied Biomedical Sciences course with 1 year NHS placement (https://www.essex.ac.uk/courses/ug00039/3/bsc-biomedical-science). The department has an academic placement officer which help set up the application and interview for the placement, and also provide training for the interview.
The Department also offer support for HCPC application at the end of the Applied Biomed Science course. 95.5% of Essex Applied Biomedical Sciences graduates are in graduate employment. Interestingly, most students tend to go back to the hospital where they did their placement, cause it is really a positive and transformative experience.

If you want to chat with a student or staff at Essex you can use this: https://www.essex.ac.uk/life/chat
There is also a clearing open day https://www.essex.ac.uk/events/2020/08/10/clearing-virtual-open-week---august-10-17

Essex is better than Surry and definitely better than Reading in Biomedical Sciences. Essex has invested nearly £20M in a new STEM centre with a brand new teaching lab https://www1.essex.ac.uk/virtual-tours/colchester/
The NSS results for student satisfaction just got out and the School of Life Sciences at Essex had an overall satisfaction of 94%, which is really high (The NSS results on the Essex website have not been updated yet, more info directly on the NSS website https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/student-information-and-data/national-student-survey-nss/get-the-nss-data/)

Essex is a very green campus, all students live in the campus in the students accommodations, you have shops, pubs, clubs, restaurants, GP, student centre, student union, a small lake with bbq area and a massive sport centre.

(edited 3 years ago)

Reply 7

Original post by artful_lounger

Depends on what you want to do after the degree. If you want to work as a biomedical scientist in the NHS after graduating, the courses you should be focusing on are the Healthcare Sciences (Life Sciences) courses that form part of the NHS Practitioner Training Programme (PTP). These are listed on the PTP site here: https://nshcs.hee.nhs.uk/services/accreditation/ptp-academic-programmes/. The relevant specialisms are either the general route (Life Sciences) or the specialty routes (Infection/Blood/Cellular Sciences). These are the only degree programmes which have both the IBMS accreditation and integrated placements in approved NHS pathology labs that allow you to register with the HCPC and thus apply to Band 5 BMS roles in the NHS on graduation. Otherwise your best best are IBMS accredited degrees with sandwich/placement years, and hope you can get a placement in an approved NHS pathology lab. Those are quite competitive to apply to though, as I believe usually the placements are prioritised for internal applicants and those on local PTP courses as above.

Not completely correct. See my reply above (and links) and you can see there are BSc Biomedical Sciences IBMS accredited 4 year courses which gives access to HCPC, which are not PTP.

Reply 8

Original post by fprischi

Not completely correct. See my reply above (and links) and you can see there are BSc Biomedical Sciences IBMS accredited 4 year courses which gives access to HCPC, which are not PTP.

That's only if the student gets a placement in an approved lab, which is not guaranteed normally. Usually those courses you have to apply competitively to the placements after getting onto the course. The Healthcare Sciences courses have them integrated and if you get onto the course, you get the placements.

Reply 9

Original post by artful_lounger

Usually those courses you have to apply competitively to the placements after getting onto the course.

Essex has about 25/30 placements a year. This because the School of Life Sciences has an active collaboration with more than 20 Hospitals and an officer that set up all the placements. There are no competitive application that the students themselves have to do. However, the hospitals reserve the right to select the student and, as such, students have to do a good job during the interview. Students get extensive training and mock interview, so usually that is not a problem.

Reply 10

Original post by fprischi

Essex has about 25/30 placements a year. This because the School of Life Sciences has an active collaboration with more than 20 Hospitals and an officer that set up all the placements. There are no competitive application that the students themselves have to do. However, the hospitals reserve the right to select the student and, as such, students have to do a good job during the interview. Students get extensive training and mock interview, so usually that is not a problem.

If they have to have an interview and there are fewer placements than students on the course, then it's a competitive application process to get a placement.

Reply 11

University of Sheffield Students

Original post by fprischi

I'm going to take this as a question.
The number of placements is balanced with the number of students in the course. So it is not competitive, because rarely there is more than 1 student per placement.

I don't know why you keep harping on about this, when it seems pretty clear that the placement is not guaranteed beyond mere progression requirements, therefore HCPC registration is not guaranteed. It's a perfectly fine course if the OP can't get into the healthcare sciences courses or is limited to that area for some reason. However the healthcare sciences courses are the better option, all things considered.

How many students are on the course? How many placements are there available every year? Has every student that wanted to go on placement been able to in the last 5 years? Perhaps instead of evasively asserting that this course is better than the courses specifically designed to meet the needs of the NHS you could provide some hard data, preferably from a reliable source that can be verified elsewhere on the internet.

Reply 12

Official Rep

14

Original post by maddielle222

I was wondering what some of the best unis are in England for biomedical science (not including oxbridge) as I've been told don't always rely on league tables. This is in regards to the teaching, results etc.

Any suggestions would be helpful, thanks!

Hi @maddielle222!

I have just finished my undergrad in Biomedical Science at Sheffield and loved it! The teaching quality is really high as the lecturers are experts in their fields and very knowledgeable, friendly and always willing to help. We have state-of-the-art facilities and teaching labs, and Sheffield is one of the only universities in the UK to offer cadaver dissection for teaching anatomy to Biomed undergrads (dissection is the best way to learn anatomy!). Student satisfaction and employment rates are also very high. Generally, I really loved Sheffield as a student city; it's cheap, has good transport, amazing sense of community and loads to explore! There are tons of student societies (the Student's Union has been best in the country for over a decade now!) and a lot of opportunities to get involved with. I had several part time jobs, voluntary roles, and was on two committees throughout my time at Sheffield and still managed my time well and did well on the course.

Another thing I love about the Biomedical Science department is that they really care about the students. I have been on the student-staff committee for 3 years and they implemented so many changes that will beneficially impact students in the future (e.g. removing negative marking). The department put a lot of measures in place and were continuously supportive during the transition to online teaching as well, so if you want to get your voice heard, Sheffield's Biomedical science department would really suit you.

Do you have any other specific questions about the Biomedical science course at Sheffield?

I have a specific "Ask Me Anything" thread for Biomedical science and Sheffield related questions here: https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=6574458

Feel free to chat to me or any other ambassadors here: https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/study/chat

- Soumya :smile:

(Biomedical Science graduate, The University of Sheffield)

Reply 13

Original post by fprischi

University of Essex has a really good IBMS accredited BSc Biomedical Sciences (https://www.essex.ac.uk/courses/ug00039/1/bsc-biomedical-science). Essex also has a 4 years accredited Applied Biomedical Sciences course with 1 year NHS placement (https://www.essex.ac.uk/courses/ug00039/3/bsc-biomedical-science). The department has an academic placement officer which help set up the application and interview for the placement, and also provide training for the interview.
The Department also offer support for HCPC application at the end of the Applied Biomed Science course. 95.5% of Essex Applied Biomedical Sciences graduates are in graduate employment. Interestingly, most students tend to go back to the hospital where they did their placement, cause it is really a positive and transformative experience.

If you want to chat with a student or staff at Essex you can use this: https://www.essex.ac.uk/life/chat
There is also a clearing open day https://www.essex.ac.uk/events/2020/08/10/clearing-virtual-open-week---august-10-17

Essex is better than Surry and definitely better than Reading in Biomedical Sciences. Essex has invested nearly £20M in a new STEM centre with a brand new teaching lab https://www1.essex.ac.uk/virtual-tours/colchester/
The NSS results for student satisfaction just got out and the School of Life Sciences at Essex had an overall satisfaction of 94%, which is really high (The NSS results on the Essex website have not been updated yet, more info directly on the NSS website https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/student-information-and-data/national-student-survey-nss/get-the-nss-data/)

Essex is a very green campus, all students live in the campus in the students accommodations, you have shops, pubs, clubs, restaurants, GP, student centre, student union, a small lake with bbq area and a massive sport centre.

are you an essex student? 😹

Reply 14

Original post by aw03

are you an essex student? 😹

is it that obvious? :biggrin:

Reply 15

Original post by maddielle222

Thank you for the help!
Would I need to make sure the degree is accredited if I want to work for the NHS but not as a biomedical scientist, for example as a clinical scientist in immunology?

i believe to become a clinical scientist, you would need to apply to the NHS Scientist Training Programme after you degree.
https://www.healthcareers.nhs.uk/i-am/considering-or-university/not-studying-health-related-degree/nhs-scientist-training-programme

you don’t need an accredited degree to apply to the STP :smile:

Reply 16

Original post by fprischi

is it that obvious? :biggrin:

hahahha it is!! Essex is a really good uni, i was considering applying there but decided it was too close to home lmao

it’s awesome that you love your uni

Reply 17

maddielle222

OP