Physics with Integrated Foundation Year BSc (Hons)

Royal Holloway, University of London

Our Integrated Foundation Year will take you through a carefully-designed programme to help you to progress confidently onto your undergraduate degree.

Engineering, Physical, Computational and Mathematical sciences underpin modern technological society and can help us provide answers to fundamental questions. Graduates with these degrees are highly sought after by employers. The (Physics/Electronic Engineering/Computer Science/Mathematics) Foundation Year provides progressive structures in which you are able to gain knowledge and understanding of approaches to scientific study and your chosen degree subject. 

All Foundation Year students take ‘Global Perspectives’, then four subject-based courses provide familiarity with Mathematics and computation – the language of modern science and technology, and key for success in science, technology and engineering.

Once you have completed your Foundation year, you progress onto the full degree programme, MSci Physics.

Our students often say their enthusiasm to study Physics stems from wanting to learn more about the Higgs particle, dark matter, nanotechnology or just a wide-ranging curiosity about how things really work. Whatever your reasons, our Physics department aims to inform and excite you in the study of Physics, the most fundamental of the sciences.

As one of the most respected centres for Physics teaching and research in the UK, you will join a vibrant environment, where you can pursue your studies and plan your future career.

On our four-year MSci course, we’ll cover the core material that a graduate physicist would be expected to know, including quantum mechanics, electromagnetism, statistical physics and thermodynamics, Einstein’s relativistic physics and the study of the fundamental structure of matter and the universe.  You’ll also develop the mathematical, experimental and conceptual knowledge and skills to a more advanced level.

Your fourth year is intercollegiate, which means you can pick choices from other University of London colleges – modules can include Quantum Computation, Nanoscale Physics and others. You’ll also develop experimental, conceptual and observational skills from your final year Major Project, which will make you an attractive candidate in a range of sectors, including management and finance, as well as scientific, technical, engineering and teaching careers. 

We’re based at the heart of the campus, where you’ll have access to laboratories, technical help, academic staff and, on the roof of the department, our astronomical dome. In Egham Surrey, we’re well away from the light pollution of the big city so our telescopes can give you the best observational astronomy in the University of London. Beyond the specialist equipment, we also have video-conferencing facilities that allow people to take part in seminars and lectures at other institutions. 

• Research is expanding in new and exciting directions, plus strategic partnerships such as CERN and the National Physical Laboratory (NPL), SNOLAB and with industry, and there are impressive research facilities in the Physics labs with dedicated technical help.
• We put a real emphasis on small group teaching – a close-knit, friendly and supportive environment with high staff-student ratio and an open door policy.
• We enjoy a strong track record of high student satisfaction in the annual National Student Survey.
• We’ve been awarded IOP Juno Champion and Athena SWAN silver awards for best practice in equality, promoting women in science and welcoming large cohorts of female students
• This course is fully accredited by the Institute of Physics (IOP)