Our Undergraduate UN I prospectus V Open Days 2016 ER S I TY Saturday 9 July Focus on Medicine Day OF Friday 22 July LEICE Saturday 17 September ST Saturday 15 October ER UND ER Book a place online at G www.le.ac.uk/opendays R ADUAT E P R OSP EC TUS 2 0 1 7 @uniofleicester · /uniofleicester University of Leicester Student Recruitment University Road Leicester LE1 7RH UK This prospectus was printed by an t: +44 (0)116 252 2674 ISO14001 printer using vegetable- e: [email protected] based inks on an elementally www.le.ac.uk chlorine free FSC certified stock. LEICR L34 2 Your Your 4 Students’ Learning Union Your Your 4 Experience Leicester Open Days Experience There’s no better way of finding out more about the University of Leicester than coming to one of our Open Days. Your 16 Career Saturday You’ll be 9 July 2016 able to: Focus on Medicine Day • Find out all you can about courses from the people who teach them – it’s your Friday chance to quiz the tutors. • Have a look round the campus – check Your 22 July 2016 out our facilities and just get a feel for 3 Campus the place. Welcome 6 Saturday • Visit our accommodation to see where 2 you might like to live. September 2016 4 Your Learning Experience 17 • Experience a taster lecture. 16 Your Career Saturday 24 Your Students’ Union 15 Oc tober 2016 Top five 36 Your Campus questions to ask: 40 Your Accommodation 48 Your Sport What course modules are on offer and do 54 Your City Book a place 1 I get a choice? 60 Your Support online at What kind of careers support is there? www.le.ac.uk/opendays 2 68 Your International University 3 Can I have a year abroad or in industry? 72 Your Alumni Association What’s the cost of living like? e.g. travel, 76 Your Pathways 4 accommodation, going out. 84 At-a-Glance Guide 5 Can I study a language in addition to my degree? 240 Your Application 241 Adult Learners OPEN 242 Your Maps YOUR LEICESTER EXPERIENCE Your 40 Accommodation Your 54 City Your 48 Sport Our 78Courses 86 American Studies 172 Mathematics 90 Archaeology and Ancient History 178 Media and Communication 96 Biological Sciences 182 Medical Sciences 102 Chemistry 186 Medicine 106 Computer Science 190 Modern Languages 110 Criminology 202 Natural Sciences 114 Economics 206 Operating Department Practice 122 Engineering 210 Physics and Astronomy 128 English 216 Politics and International Relations 134 Film Studies 222 Psychology 140 Geography 226 Sociology 144 Geosciences 232 Science, Technology, Engineering 148 History and Mathematics (STEM) with 154 History of Art Foundation Year 158 International Degree 234 Part-Time Degree Study and Preparation Programmes Foundation Degrees 239 Physiotherapy 160 Law 246 List of Courses 166 Management Studies 1 to Leicester 2 At Leicester we believe that our world-changing research produces the highest quality teaching – and will inspire you to go further Our research is all about pushing the boundaries and breaking new ground. Whether it’s our revolutionary work in DNA fingerprinting, the discovery of Richard III or breakthroughs in the treatment of degenerative diseases, we consider education and knowledge to be a power for good. But this is not just about what we do – this is about you. We’re equally as passionate about giving you the chance to find your own way, make your own discoveries and put your mark on the world. We know our work is better in a shared academic community that includes you. Where you’re coming from and your journey up to this point will have given you your own personal perspectives and ideas. These, along with your energy and willingness to ask the difficult questions, benefit both you and us. At Leicester our academics are at the cutting-edge of their disciplines. By sharing their enthusiasm you’ll be immersed into a stimulating and innovative learning environment. Great things happen when inspiring academics get the opportunity to teach bright and committed high-flyers. You’ll graduate with that extra dimension – a degree from a leading institution and an inquisitiveness and sharpness of mind that can take you to the highest level. 3 Your Learning Experience 4 Leicester students share our academics’ passion for their subject Studying at university requires you to be motivated, ambitious and dedicated to your subject. It can be a challenge, but that is exactly what higher education is about. At Leicester we’re not only proud of our reputation as a world-class institution, but also for being a friendly, inclusive and supportive community. Our commitment to your education means that the work of our leading research academics will shape the course of your education. Their enthusiasm and knowledge, combined with your appetite for learning, is an inspiring and infectious mix. It creates a reciprocal, high-quality learning environment that enables you to reach the very top. You will have the chance to shape your degree the way you want. You can explore your personal interests through optional modules and projects. Alongside lectures, smaller informal seminar groups and tutorials can give you a voice – allowing you to share your opinions, present ideas and debate theories with your fellow students and academics. Our credentials are impressive and so is our success in delivering the very best education for our students. 5 Teaching that’s inspired by research The teaching is without doubt of an As part of our continued focus on research excellence, exceptional we’re intent on bringing together imaginative, insightful standard. and inventive people to tackle global intellectual, medical, Maryam, Medical Physiology scientific, cultural, environmental and economic issues. Our approach and our world-class research reputation continue to encourage the best academic minds to join our teaching staff – innovators at the cutting-edge of their field. As you’ll see throughout this prospectus, our researchers have made some pretty impressive discoveries. These academics can help you to realise your potential and compete alongside the very best. We are ranked in the top one percent of universities in the world (Times Higher Education World University Ranking 2015). 6 Our forensic research reopened ‘cold cases’ by revealing fingerprints on bullets. What evidence will you uncover? Dr John Bond in our Department of Chemistry developed a ground breaking technique that is able to analyse fingerprints on spent cartridge casings even after they’ve been wiped clean. Sweat corrodes metal, so by applying an electrical charge and a fine carbon powder to the corroded area, a fingerprint can still be revealed. Our students reward the efforts of their lecturers through the Students’ Union Superstar Awards. Your Dr Ben Parsons, from the Department of English, Superstars is one of the academics who has been recognised. Here is his take on teaching at Leicester. My work focusses on the earlier periods of English, especially medieval and early modern literature. When teaching I often introduce material that can be difficult at first glance, either It’s important because it was written for audiences with that students different needs to our own, or because it expresses unfamiliar concepts. One of are able to the main challenges is to make these texts trust their comprehensible without simply neutralising judgements their strangeness: after all, the very oddity of these pieces is part of their value, not Dr Ben Parsons, simply because of the thrill of the exotic, English but because they serve to remind us that our own thinking is not timeless. Received wisdom would have us believe that there is a clear distinction between reading for pleasure and reading for study. I do not accept this. In my teaching, I try to bring together both types of activity. I approach texts as puzzles that dare us to make sense of them. I also encourage students to think in terms that a text lays out for them, and to understand that sophisticated reasoning and complex debates lie behind even ostensibly absurd content. I urge students to think carefully about their own reactions when reading; after all, a first response to a text, whether it be shock, laughter, even boredom, is still a reaction to it at some level, and can tell us a lot about the distance between the texts and ourselves. It’s important that students are able to trust these judgements – but they also need to rationalise them, and be conscious of the reasoning that produces them. 8 We believe that successful communication can break down cultural barriers. What borders will you cross? In the School of Modern Languages we are involved in boundary-breaking research projects across the fields of cultural studies, international communication and translation – exploring the cultural complexities of our globalised world. Academic Facilities Leicester is a great place to study, sharpen The award-winning £32 million David Wilson Library is a your skills, meet light, airy, five-storey building providing state-of-the-art friends, gain facilities for all our students. knowledge and be set up for the rest of We invest over £6 million per year in the Library. Self-service loan and return, group study your life. rooms, hundreds of PCs, laptop loans, wireless access throughout, a staffed Help Zone in the Library and online, 24/5 opening during term-time, plus a bookshop and café create Harriet, Law a first-class study environment. There is access to a digital library of over 50,000 electronic journals and 500,000 eBooks, as well as over one million printed volumes. Our digital library can be accessed from anywhere you have an Internet connection.