Biology with a Modern Language

BSc (C1R9)

Entry Requirements: BSc AAB

Biology is the science of life: how living organisms function, develop, reproduce and evolve, from the scale of genes up to that of ecosystems. It is also a global science, and it addresses many questions that have an explicitly international dimension:

• Where are the centres of global biodiversity and how can these be protected?
  
• How will we provide enough food to feed the world's population?
  
• Can benefits of genomics and biotechnology be made available where they are most needed?
  
• How can biological science be best communicated between nations and cultures?

The four-year Biology with a Modern Language (BSc) course has been designed specifically for those students who would like to combine a high level of scientific expertise with the ability to communicate that expertise in a foreign language. The significance of ideas and developments in bioscience are global, but taking advantage of international research opportunities, and ensuring their insights are available to all requires an understanding of how science works in different cultures and how it can be communicated.

Biology with a Modern Language will equip you with an excellent understanding of biology alongside practical experience of living and learning abroad, and working in biology through the medium of more than one language. It provides an ideal qualification for jobs in science with an international dimension, from research abroad, to technology translation, or international conservation.

At levels one and two, you combine the study of Biology with French, German, Spanish or Italian.  You will spend up to one-third of your time studying your chosen language at levels one and two.  These core language modules develop language skills and prepare you for your year abroad. In level two, there are opportunities to enhance your language skills, including taking notes from a native speaker, and being introduced to the culture and customs of the placement country. For more information on the language module options please visit www.shef.ac.uk/mltc/courses/undergraduates/stem

The third year is spent following a specified biology programme at a French-, Spanish-, Italian-, or German-speaking Erasmus Exchange university (links to current host institutions are shown in the list on the right). You will return to Sheffield for the fourth year, where you follow the level three Biology programme, combined with further modules in your chosen language.

• Download course leaflet (pdf)

Why Biology with a Modern Language at Sheffield?

This course is based on our very successful Biology degree programme (C100), which benefits from the outstanding breadth of biological expertise at Sheffield. We have academic staff with interests in all major groups of organisms from micro-organisms and plants through to fish, birds and mammals. The course provides excellent training in key aspects of modern life sciences such as molecular biology, genetics and cell biology, together with opportunities to specialize in a wide range of areas of whole-organism biology.

The key thing that makes this course unique is obviously the opportunity to combine study of a modern language, with a top-rated course in biological sciences.  This allows those with strong interests in science, but who have also done a modern language to an advanced level, to maintain both those interests, and to capitalise on the unique mix of skills this can provide.  The language component does mean you do a little less biology in each year, but by taking the course over four years your biology training will have the equivalent scope of the Biology BSc, with the added experience that results from the different elements of biology that may be on offer in the institution where you do your third year.

What can I do with a degree in Biology with a Modern Language?

The biology component of this course will equip you for any of the wide range of opportunities which the Biology BSc would provide, but the combination of language skills with the science training will also open up a wider range of options.  Bioscience is an international business with many scientific industries and conservation organizations working across national boundaries, and research opportunities existing in many different parts of the world.  Other opportunities such as technical translation and writing may also be an option.   The course also provides training in transferable skills, such as data analysis, project planning, critical thinking and written and spoken communication, which are useful in whatever career direction you choose.