About This Course
The Psychology with Foundation Year programme combines a foundation year with the three year Honours Degree to create an integrated four year programme. The programme provides an excellent introduction to studying a science subject at university and will provide you with the knowledge, skills and confidence required to study at degree-level.
The Psychology with Foundation Year programme is ideal for applicants who do not quite meet the entry requirements for the three year degree or who would benefit from further a further year’s study in relation to studying a science subject. Successful completion of the Foundation Year will see you progress to Year 1 of the BSc Psychology programme. You can also choose to transfer onto one of the other psychology degree programmes – BSc Psychology with Clinical & Health Psychology, BSc Psychology with Neuropsychology or BSc Psychology with Forensic Psychology.
As you progress from the foundation elements to the main degree elements of this course your horizons will be broadened by learning all of the exciting and diverse areas that a psychology degree has to offer. You’ll learn about human development through the lifespan and the myriad of influences upon people from their biology and physiology to how parenting and socialisation influence us. You’ll learn not only about the intricacies of what makes humans tick and how we are able to navigate such a complex internal and external environment but also the mechanics and effects of what happens when these complex systems stop working well.
You’ll also learn from a wide range of modules about some of the tools that psychologists use to support and understand human behaviour and will have access to exciting research tools to understand brain activity, developing interventions for people in distress, and many other opportunities to develop into a well-rounded psychologist. This degree will give you a broad foundation in psychology that you can tailor to your own interests and provide you with a stable base from which to dive into a varied number of career opportunities.
Psychology at Bangor University was founded in 1963 and is one of the UK's oldest and largest psychology departments. We regularly rank among the top 10 in the National Student Survey for overall student satisfaction and with over 1,000 students we're also one of the largest departments in the UK. Not only are we highly ranked for our teaching but we also have a global reputation for the quality of our research. In the most recent Research Excellence Framework, 85% of our research considered either 'Internationally Excellent' or 'World-leading'. This research feeds directly into our teaching ensuring a fresh, vibrant learning experience and a large and varied range of modules studied with academics who have an international reputation in their specialist area.
We have a cosmopolitan feel and a global outlook that attracts staff and students from all over the world to work and study with us. A key aspect of our success is our focus on both the academic and pastoral sides of the student experience and this effort is led by academics in the teaching team who provide high levels of support to our students. All of this combines to provide you with what we believe is a uniquely supportive, exciting and rewarding environment in which to study psychology.
Additional Course Options
This course is available with a Placement Year option where you will study for 1 additional year. The Placement Year is undertaken at the end of the second year and students are away for the whole of the academic year.
The Placement Year provides you with a fantastic opportunity to broaden your horizons and develop valuable skills and contacts through working with a self-sourced organisation relevant to your degree subject. The minimum period in placement (at one or more locations) is seven calendar months; more usually you would spend 10-12 months with a placement provider. You would normally start sometime in the period June to September of your second year and finish between June and September the following year. Placements can be UK-based or overseas and you will work with staff to plan and finalise the placement arrangements.
You will be expected to find and arrange a suitable placement to complement your degree and will be fully supported throughout by a dedicated member of staff at your academic School and the University’s Careers and Employability Services.
You will have the opportunity to fully consider this option when you have started your course at Bangor and can make an application for a transfer onto this pathway at the appropriate time. Read more about the work experience opportunities that may be available to you or, if you have any questions, please get in touch.
This course is available with an International Experience Year option where you will study or work abroad for 1 additional year. You will have ‘with International Experience’ added to your degree title on graduating.
Studying abroad is a great opportunity to see a different way of life, learn about new cultures and broaden your horizons. With international experience of this kind, you’ll really improve your career prospects. There are a wide variety of destinations and partner universities to choose from. If you plan to study in a country where English is not spoken natively, there may be language courses available for you at Bangor and in your host university to improve your language skills.
You will have the opportunity to fully consider this option at any time during your degree at Bangor and make your application. If you have any questions in the meantime, please get in touch.
Read more about the International Experience Year programme and see the studying or working abroad options on the Student Exchanges section of our website.
Course Content
You’ll learn through a variety of lectures, seminars, tutorials, and practicals as well as self-guided learning. As an undergraduate student, you’ll gain an excellent grounding in various research methodologies used in the field by participating in current cutting-edge research being conducted in the school. We make extensive use of technology in order to enhance the learning experience including recording podcasts, and an innovative range of online assessments that, amongst other advantages, provide instant feedback. An increasing number of our modules can be followed through the medium of Welsh and students can choose to have a Welsh speaking tutor and complete their project in Welsh.
There is a wide range of continuous assessment on offer across the modules including essays, weekly homework, multiple choice tests, presentations, blogs, quizzes etc. throughout each semester and many modules include end of semester examinations.
The Foundation Year component of the programme is designed to prepare you for degree-level study. You will study a range of modules focused on your developing your academic skills and subject-specific knowledge, ahead of progressing to Year 1 of the programme. You will complete modules focusing on IT and Communication Skills, Essential Mathematics and Biology and develop a range of skills through a subject specific research project.
In subsequent years, you will follow the same modules as BSc Psychology or whichever route you transfer to if you decide to pursue one of the other Psychology degrees.
What will you study on this course?
Each year you study a total of 120 credits and the modules build up over the years to provide both breadth and depth of understanding in wide-ranging areas of psychology, ultimately tailored by you to your interests and career plans.
All graduates who achieve at least a 2:2 will be eligible for Graduate Based Chartered Membership (GBC) of the British Psychological Society (BPS).
Modules for the current academic year
Module listings are for guide purposes only and are subject to change. Find out what our students are currently studying on the Psychology (with Foundation Year) BSc (Hons) Modules page.
Course content is for guidance purposes only and may be subject to change.
Facilities
Psychology facilities
Throughout your degree, you’ll have the opportunity to access these facilities as participants in research projects, and you’ll be involved in some of these facilities as researchers during your project in the third year.
Psychology has its own research dedicated MRI/fMRI Philips Elition 3T Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scanner. Our new research-dedicated scanner was installed in summer 2019 in the main psychology building. This scanner offers cutting-edge MR imaging technique and includes MRI-compatible eye-tracking and capacity for in-scanner EEG recordings, and a nearby mock scanner to support training studies and work with children. The scanner is also equipped for 4D cardiac, diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), and magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS). As an example of how you may experience the scanner, apart from as a research participant, is that 3rd-year undergraduate students doing their project within Dr Koldewyn’s lab have been involved in studies involving the brain response to observed social interactions, including data collection and analysis of developmental data from primary-aged children.
Expertise in electrophysiological methods (EEG/ERP) is a particular strength in the School. The Psychology Open-access Electroencephalography and Topography (POET) lab consists of a fully shielded sound-attenuated testing booth, 128 channel BioSemi EEG system, and all equipment necessary for auditory and visual EEG/ERP experiments, with synchronized remote eye-tracking. Apart from opportunities to be involved as a research participant, undergraduate students in the 3rd year have had the opportunity to be actively involved in EEG/ERP lab for their 3rd year project.
Currently, the POET lab is used to investigate a diverse range of topics such as:
- machine learning to predict motor sequences from EEG activity
- social development and self-perception in infants
- development of single EEG trial analyses to compare language processing in typical and developmentally challenged groups.
The Brain Stimulation Lab is equipped with two different types of stimulation equipment, transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS). Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a non-invasive technique that uses strong magnetic fields to briefly interrupt the processing of nerve cells in a small area of the underlying surface of the brain. An electrical current is passed very briefly through the stimulator device - a coil of copper wires (encased in plastic) held on the surface of the scalp. This current induces a magnetic field around the coil that, in turn, induces an electrical current in the underlying nerve cells on the surface of the brain. While the nerve cells are being stimulated, and for a few 10ths of a second afterward, they cannot perform their normal functions. This does not cause damage or injury to the nerve cells.
The second type of stimulation is called transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), and like the TMS, it is non-invasive and painless, and uses low-intensity electrical currents to excite or inhibit neuronal activity in specific parts of the brain. Both of these systems have been interfaced in experiments with equipment for eye-tracking, electromyography (EMG), electroencephalography (EEG), and for kinematic recording.
Psychology houses a number of motion capture labs for capturing of complex full body and limb motion for research with equipment including a Polhemus motion capture system (16-channels) that enables us to study skilled actions with high spatio-temporal precision.
Some recent examples of activity within these labs include Prof. Robert Ward investigating how body motion information is perceived by observers, and to what extent this information is reliable or deceptive. Dr. Koldewyn has used the systems to record search patterns during a physical search task designed to explore how quickly children learn where a target object is likely to be, and how that learning is influenced by observing others. 3rd-year project students were involved in designing the study and in collecting data from primary-aged children.
In addition to open-access shared facilities, the school has highly specialised facilities dedicated to specific academics such as:
- several dedicated EEG labs in addition to our open-access facility
- two sound-proofed labs for auditory studies
- virtual-reality (VR) and augmented-reality (AR) robotically controlled force-feedback systems
- mobile eye and pen tracking for studies of literacy development in schools and the lab
- a food and psychopharmacology lab including hardware and software for specialised food dispensing machine
- video analysis suite for children’s cardio-respiratory fitness and fundamental movement skills
- MRI-compatible force transducer keyboard (10-channels) to record bimanual finger presses continuously including preparatory and mirror movements
- Transcranial Doppler Sonography lab to allow for measurement of blood flow into each half of the brain.
The School shares University and College-wide licensing for Qualtrics and Pavlovia platforms to facilitate online research.
Several participant panels are available to help researchers in the School of Psychology recruit participants. As a psychology student you’ll be involved in the student panel (SONA) and in total our students participate in about 4000 hours of research overall each year.
We also maintain specialised participant panels which may form part of your third-year project:
- Neurological patient panel, in collaboration with the NHS.
- Learning disorders panel: focused on Dyslexia (in cooperation with our Miles Dyslexia Centre) and including other learning disorders in adult participants
- Community Participant Panel: These are helpful for identifying Bilinguals, People with Dyslexia, and the Elderly, and particularly for recruiting matched controls for patient case studies, and for providing a pool of bilingual Welsh/English participants.
- Infant/ Child Development Database
Psychology researchers studying child development benefit from a close relationship with Bangor’s Tír na nÓg Nursery. The nursery provides a unique resource for researchers in the Clinical, Health, and Behavioural Psychology and Language, Bilingualism, and Cognitive Development Research groups. Tír na nÓg is equipped with special facilities, such as an observation lounge and video cameras. Subject to the consent of the children’s parents or guardians, observations can be made to further understanding of language, learning, and development.
General University Facilities
Library and Archive Services
Our four libraries provide a range of attractive study environments including collaborative work areas, meeting rooms and silent study spaces.
We have an extensive collection of books and journals and many of the journals are available online in full-text format.
We house one of the largest university-based archives not only in Wales, but also the UK. Allied to the Archives is the Special Collections of rare printed books.
Learning Resources
There is a range of learning resources available, supported by experienced staff, to help you in your studies.
The University’s IT Services provides computing, media and reprographics facilities and services including:
- Over 1,150 computers for students, with some PC rooms open 24 hours a day
- Blackboard, a commercial Virtual Learning Environment, that makes learning materials available on-line.
Course Costs
General University Costs
Home (UK) students
- The cost of a full-time undergraduate course is £9,000 per year (2021/22 entry and 2022/23 entry).
- The fee for all placement, international, and sandwich years is £1,350 (2021/22 and 2022/23).
- More information on fees and finance for Home (UK) students.
International (including EU) students
Additional Costs
There are also some common additional costs that are likely to arise for students on all courses, for example:
- If you choose to study abroad or take the International Experience Year as part of your course.
- If you attend your Graduation Ceremony, there will be a cost for gown hire (£25-£75) and cost for additional guest tickets (c.£12 each).
Course-specific additional costs
Depending on the course you are studying, there may be additional course-specific costs that you will be required to meet. These fall into three categories:
- Mandatory Costs: these are related to a particular core or compulsory module that you’ll be required to complete to achieve your qualification e.g. compulsory field trips, uniforms for students on placement, DBS Check.
- Necessarily Incurred Costs: these may not be experienced by all students, and will vary depending on the course e.g. professional body membership, travel to placements, specialist software, personal safety equipment.
- Optional Costs: these depend on your choice of modules or activity and they are shown to give you an indication of the optional costs that may arise to make sure your choice is as informed as possible. These can include graduation events for your course, optional field trips, Welcome Week trips.
Entry Requirements
GCSE: grade C/4 in GCSE Maths (or equivalent) required.
Offers are tariff based, 72 -120 tariff points, from Level 3 qualification(s)* e.g.
- A Levels (including: AS-levels, General Studies)
- International Baccalaureate: accepted
- Extended Project Qualification (EPQ): accepted
- BTEC: Diplomas and Certificate accepted
- Cambridge Technical: Diplomas and Certificates accepted
- City & Guilds: Advanced Technical Diplomas accepted
- Welsh Baccalaureate: accepted
- Scottish Highers: accepted
- Irish Leaving Certificate: accepted
- T-levels: considered on a case-by-case basis
We also welcome applications from mature applicants. Mature students and/or those with other qualifications are considered on individual merit.
*For a full list of accepted Level 3 qualifications, go to www.ucas.com.
International Applicants We are currently unable to accept applications from international students for this course.
If you are an international student your recommended route of study for this degree is through our International College. Successful completion of Year 0 of the equivalent International programme guarantees entry to Year 1 of the same Bangor University degree programme. Through this route, Year 0 is delivered at Bangor University International College (BUIC) located at the heart of our University Campus and run by our partner, Oxford International Education Group.
For more information, visit Bangor University's International College pages.
General University Requirements
To study for a degree, you’ll be asked for a minimum of UCAS Tariff points. For a fuller explanation of the UCAS Tariff Points, please see www.ucas.com.
We accept students with a wide range of qualifications and backgrounds and consider each application individually. All students need to have good basic skills and the University also values IT and communication skills. As part of the University’s policy, we consider applications from prospective disabled students on the same grounds as all other students.
We also consider applications from mature students who can demonstrate the motivation and commitment to study a university programme. Each year we enrol a significant number of mature students. For more information about studying as a mature student, see our Studying at Bangor section of the website.
GCSE: grade C/4 in GCSE Maths (or equivalent) required.
Offers are tariff based, 72 -120 tariff points, from Level 3 qualification(s)* e.g.
- A Levels (including: AS-levels, General Studies)
- International Baccalaureate: accepted
- Extended Project Qualification (EPQ): accepted
- BTEC: Diplomas and Certificate accepted
- Cambridge Technical: Diplomas and Certificates accepted
- City & Guilds: Advanced Technical Diplomas accepted
- Welsh Baccalaureate: accepted
- Scottish Highers: accepted
- Irish Leaving Certificate: accepted
- T-levels: considered on a case-by-case basis
We also welcome applications from mature applicants. Mature students and/or those with other qualifications are considered on individual merit.
*For a full list of accepted Level 3 qualifications, go to www.ucas.com.
International Applicants We are currently unable to accept applications from international students for this course.
If you are an international student your recommended route of study for this degree is through our International College. Successful completion of Year 0 of the equivalent International programme guarantees entry to Year 1 of the same Bangor University degree programme. Through this route, Year 0 is delivered at Bangor University International College (BUIC) located at the heart of our University Campus and run by our partner, Oxford International Education Group.
For more information, visit Bangor University's International College pages.
General University Requirements
To study for a degree, you’ll be asked for a minimum of UCAS Tariff points. For a fuller explanation of the UCAS Tariff Points, please see www.ucas.com.
We accept students with a wide range of qualifications and backgrounds and consider each application individually. All students need to have good basic skills and the University also values IT and communication skills. As part of the University’s policy, we consider applications from prospective disabled students on the same grounds as all other students.
We also consider applications from mature students who can demonstrate the motivation and commitment to study a university programme. Each year we enrol a significant number of mature students. For more information about studying as a mature student, see our Studying at Bangor section of the website.
Careers
This foundation year is integrated into BSc Psychology but you can also use it to access other psychology degrees and you can find career information on those course pages depending on which degree route you intend to follow.
Opportunities at Bangor
The University’s Careers and Employability Service provides a wide range of resources to help you achieve your graduate ambitions.
The Bangor Employability Award (BEA)
The BEA is a comprehensive online course that you can work through at your own pace, taking you through all the steps you need to take to explore, prepare and apply for your dream career.
Internships
Bangor University runs a paid internship scheme within the university’s academic and service departments.
Student Volunteering
Volunteering widens your experience and improves your employability. Find out more about volunteering on the Students’ Union’s website.
