Our Foundation Year provides an excellent alternative route to Keele, providing a unique opportunity to better prepare for your chosen degree, and with guaranteed entry onto your undergraduate course once you successfully complete your Foundation Year.

This extra year of study can improve your academic skills, expand your subject knowledge, give you a better understanding of higher education and, perhaps most importantly of all, build your confidence.

Keele University is consistently ranked among the top universities for student satisfaction, and we have over 70 years' experience of teaching a foundation year to students. On the Keele Foundation Year, you'll study on campus, joining our undergraduate community from the outset, with access to all the facilities and support that you'd get as an undergraduate student at Keele.

Course content

Our Foundation Year allows you to develop your critical thinking, academic reading, writing, and communication study skills along with subject-specific knowledge and skills. Upon meeting the progression criteria and successfully completing our Foundation Year, you will automatically progress into your Keele undergraduate degree with the confidence that you have the skills, and knowledge needed to successfully complete your course.

This Foundation Year is a two semester programme which provides a tailored pre-degree programme of study to better prepare you for the MPharm Pharmacy course. For example, in the Academic and Professional Development for Health module you will begin to develop an awareness of professional standards that you will be working to in your degree and professional career. Course content has been developed in collaboration with degree teaching teams, so that by the time you begin Year 1, you will be ready to excel at your studies, as the majority of our Foundation Year students do.

On this Foundation Year, we will advance your knowledge of human biology and chemistry, giving you a solid grasp of body systems, science and lab work. You'll develop safe, professional laboratory skills and get to know the mathematical techniques and quantitative methods used across health science-related and social care programmes. You will also be introduced to concepts relating to organic, inorganic, physical and analytical chemistry.

Throughout the programme, you will develop subject-specific and broad based skills that will be invaluable in your academic career and beyond. You can find out more about our Foundation Year, Including Information on learning, teaching and assessment methods and further opportunities available to you by visiting our homepage. 

Course structure

The module details given below are indicative and will give you a good idea of the range of subjects that we teach. We regularly review our teaching to ensure that the modules we offer are up-to-date; therefore, the modules available to study are liable to change.

Semester one modules

Semester two modules

Year long modules (semesters one and two)

Entry requirements

Criminal records declaration (DBS/Disclosure Scotland)

A satisfactory Disclosure and Barring Service check (Enhanced plus Barring Lists) will be required for successful candidates.

Health checks

A satisfactory health check will be required for successful candidates.

Interview

If you meet the academic entry requirements you will be offered an interview. The interview will be conducted virtually by an academic from the School of Pharmacy and Bioengineering and a current student, using Microsoft Teams. If you are successful at interview you will be made an offer.

Progression requirements 

To progress to Year 1, students will be required to achieve an average of 40% from the Semester 1 modules, plus a 65% average from the remaining 75 credits to give a total of 120 credits. You will also be required to complete a declaration stating no change in your fitness to practice.

How to apply

UCAS Applications

Visit UCAS for applications. You should apply for Pharmacy with Foundation Year

UCAS code: B231

Direct entry students

If you are a UK or EU student, already have your qualifications, are not expecting any further results and only wish to apply to Keele, please contact the Admissions Office directly.

We also offer a January start for some of our Foundation Year courses. Adopting a blended learning approach, the January start is particularly useful for students wishing to return to education following time out of studying, or who are seeking a flexible approach to their Foundation Year studies. Our January start is available across most of our Science, Humanities, Social Science and Business courses.

Whilst still being a full-time course, our blended delivery model combines live teaching sessions - both online and on-campus - with self-directed study, enabling you to predominantly study at a time that suits your lifestyle. You will benefit from weekly online taught sessions which encourage you to engage with your teachers and peers.

In addition to online study there will be a series of full study days that you will be required to attend throughout each semester. These sessions may include lab-based activities, group work, review of course and assessment materials studied online. They will emphasise opportunities for you to deepen your knowledge and understanding of your chosen route.

Please refer to the September start tab for more information about the entry requirements, what you will study, and how to apply for a Foundation Year. The modules that you will take on a January start Foundation Year will be similar to those for the September start, but in a slightly different order and pattern.

For more information, including fees and how you will be taught, please visit our January Start Foundation Year webpage.

Our International Foundation Year is delivered on campus through Keele University International College (KUIC). Find out more about the International Foundation Year options on the KUIC website.