MSci (Hons) Natural Sciences

The Natural Sciences degree programme has a wide choice of subjects and there is choice between modules within subjects. It is a flexible degree programme and with most subjects you can delay choosing your subjects until you get to Durham and you can also change the shape of your degree at the end of the first year. The University operates on a system of undergraduates studying 120 credits each year drawn by combining modules offered by departments.There are two types of degree that you can obtain a 3-year BSc (CFG0) or a 4-year MSci (FGC0). The MSci is only available in certain subjects namely Biology, Computer Science, Chemistry, Earth Sciences, Maths and Physics. Both the BSc and the MSci contain BSc Joint Honours and MSci Joint Honours degrees as well as the more broad BSc Natural Sciences and MSci Natural Sciences degrees. You should note that not all combinations of all modules in all subjects are feasible. Choices are constrained by the limits of the University timetable which changes every year.For an MSci in Natural Sciences you must be taking at least one of the following subjects: Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science, Earth Sciences, Mathematics, and Physics. Biology has a very limited range of modules at fourth year level so Biology can only be included in a Joint Honours degree with Chemistry or Physics. An MSci can be a slight variation from one of the MSci Joint Honours degrees below. Alternatively it could be just one of the subjects above (eg Chemistry) with modules from other subjects (eg Anthropology and Philosophy) for the first three years. In this case your fourth year would have to consist of all six modules from the subject listed above (Chemistry in this case).The MSci is available as a Joint Honours degree in one of five pairs: Biology and Chemistry; Biology and Physics; Chemistry and Maths; Chemistry and Physics; Maths and Physics.Students on the programme design their own programme, so depending on their choices they learn through a combination of lectures, seminars, tutorials, practical classes, fieldwork, informal but scheduled one-to-one support, and self-directed learning, such as research, reading, and writing. All of these are supported by a virtual learning environment.Tutorials, seminars, workshops, and practical classes are much smaller groups than lectures, small enough to allow one-to-one interaction with a member of staff. Practicals also allow hands-on experience of the work of professionals in the disciplines studied on the programme. The same is true of fieldwork and consists of engaging in, for example, geological, biological, geographical, or anthropological work in the field with members of academic staff. This emphasis on small-group and practical teaching reflects a conscious choice to enhance the quality of the learning experience rather than the number of formal sessions.The degree programmes are designed to feature fewer formal sessions and more independent research as students move from their first to their final year. Small-group teaching and one-to-one attention from the personal academic advisor (provided for all students when they enter the programme) are part of the learning experience throughout, but by the final year classroom time gives way, to some extent, to independent research, including a major project that makes up a minimum of a third of final year credits. In this way, the degree programme systematically transforms the student from a consumer of knowledge in the classroom to a generator of knowledge, ready for professional or postgraduate life. These formal teaching arrangements are supported by “drop-in” surgeries with teaching staff and induction sessions that begin in the week before the start of the programme and continue at key times throughout each year of t