Course summary

Our degree courses with foundation year offer the opportunity to prepare you for advanced study before you progress onto a full honours degree at the University of Westminster. Whether you do not feel ready for degree-level study, don’t have the right qualifications, want to change your subject specialism or return to study after an absence from education, we aim to encourage a broad range of students to undertake our foundation year in order to progress onto their full honours degree with us.

The foundation year is designed to give you the opportunity to explore new ideas, opening up new perspectives on the key debates within your chosen field. Core modules accelerate your academic and professional development and you will also take modules from areas closely related to your chosen field, giving you the chance to develop a cross-disciplinary perspective on your course.

On successful completion of the foundation year, you will be able to move on to study for the Pharmacology and Physiology BSc Honours degree.

Pharmacology and physiology are two closely related disciplines. Pharmacology is the study of drug action and how medicines may modify disease states. Physiology is concerned with how the body and its systems are controlled, and in the changes that lead to disease states (pathophysiology).

This course will provide you with a sound understanding of the biological action of drugs and other biomolecules at the whole-body, tissue, cellular and sub-cellular levels, and their uses as medicines for the treatment of disease. It provides an ideal grounding for a career in the pharmaceutical industry or other areas of biomedical research, academia, the Scientific Civil Service and healthcare provision.

Opportunities exist for you to enhance your practical and related transferable skills within our research laboratories. Teaching is informed by high-quality research in relevant cognate areas, within the department.

In addition, new students will benefit from our use of the APOLLO Patient Care Simulator platform, as an exciting novel teaching tool.

The Pharmacology and Physiology BSc will enable you to acquire a broad understanding of the normal and abnormal physiological function, including the biology of representative disease states.

You'll become proficient in explaining and applying information about the mode of therapeutic action, undesirable and toxic effects, absorption, distribution and elimination of exemplar drugs. You'll also develop the problem-solving skills and research strategies necessary to evaluate, critically appraise and systematically review pharmacology and physiology.

The learning and teaching strategies include a mixture of formal contact – such as large and small group lectures, seminars, tutorials, workshops, laboratory practical sessions and demonstrations – as well as independent work and online support activities.