Program Overview

An International Foundation Year at our International Study Centre prepares you for your degree at Lancaster University. You will focus on English language, university-level study skills, and academic modules that relate to your degree subject.

Supporting your progression to the University
At the International Study Centre, we take every measure to ensure you are supported in your academic journey. Our programmes allow for increased time spent learning, researching and developing your skills. By studying with us, you will benefit from:

• Formal assessments at the end of each term.
• An improved English language module, Academic English Skills, providing greater opportunity for informal assessments and feedback.
• Combining and reducing the number of module assessments allowing more time to prepare.
• A personal tutorial system with a focus on your academic progress at key points of the academic year, creating action plans based on your performance and progession options.

Engineering and Computing
An International Foundation Year in Engineering and Computing leads to a choice of degrees in the Faculty of Science and Technology. To prepare for your degree you will study core English language modules, and subject modules for Engineering and Computing Foundation Year. Degree options include Chemical Engineering, Natural Sciences and Physics.

You will develop your understanding of Pure Mathematics, Applied Mathematics, and Physics. Areas of study include number theory and graph theory (Pure Mathematics); vectors and variable acceleration (Applied Mathematics); and induction and inductors (Physics).

Nuclear Engineering
Nuclear engineers design, build and operate equipment and processes that benefit humanity. Our programme focuses on creativity and ingenuity to develop your design and implementation skills, and prepare you for your chosen career.

Nuclear applications cover a broad range of sectors from healthcare and cancer treatment through to power generation, national security and decommissioning activity. The industry is set to expand over the next ten years. With an estimated international spend of around £930 billion for building new reactors and £250 billion for decommissioning those coming offline, there is potential for the generation of 40,000 jobs in the UK nuclear sector alone.

Your degree will begin with a common first year, where you will be taught a series of modules that are taken by all first-year engineering students. We will introduce you to many of the key features of engineering, equipping you with a well-rounded understanding and skill set. Following the first year, you will have the opportunity to consider and plan your academic progression. At this stage, you may choose to begin your Nuclear Engineering study, or move onto any of our other specialist programmes.

Specialist modules in nuclear engineering begin in the second year, where you will also continue to develop your core skills as an engineer. This year you will study modules covering topics such as nuclear chemistry, nuclear engineering systems and nuclear safety. As our flexible programme begins to focus in on core aspects of nuclear engineering, you will develop practical skills, and test and analyse your design ideas in the laboratory or through computer simulation, using engineering IT tools.

On this programme, you may decide to spend a year in industry, gaining valuable experience and enhancing your employability. We have extensive links built through our leadership in research and have students undergoing placements with multinational corporate companies through to smaller specialist SMEs. We would recommend the most appropriate time to do this would be at the end of year two, once you have gained a reasonable amount of engineering knowledge.

Your third year enables you to apply your skills in an individual project, during which you will learn to use professional software and develop your research and design skills further. You will also gain specialist knowledge, develop an interdisciplinary approach, and apply engineering principles to analyse key processes. This experience will allow you to grow and enhance your professional and discipline specific skills, and you will gain relevant real-world experience.

The BEng course is accredited by the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) on behalf of the Engineering Council for the purposes of fully meeting the academic requirement for registration as an Incorporated Engineer and partly meeting the academic requirement for registration as a Chartered Engineer. The degree is also professionally accredited by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE).

All of your teaching is delivered by world-class academics and shaped by their outstanding research output. You will gain hands-on experience with access to cutting-edge facilities and an array of high-quality equipment in our state-of-the-art Engineering Building.