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).

Physics with Particle Physics and Cosmology
Lancaster’s particle physicists work with state-of-the-art particle accelerators to investigate and identify the nature of space and time. Our resident cosmologists employ all of their creative and mathematical abilities to explain the early history of the universe in a way that complements and supports observational and experimental data. All this expertise is translated into an exciting, modern physics course based on the foundation of our core physics programme.

Throughout your MPhys degree you will take a range of subjects including Quantum Physics and Electromagnetism in the first year, as well as Astronomy, Detection of Particles and Introductory Cosmology in the second year. In your third year, your modules include Big Bang Cosmology, Flavour Physics and Particle Physics laboratory studies.

In your final year you will study subjects such as Current Cosmology and Gauge Theory. You can also carry out your extended investigative project using experimental data from the Large Hadron Collider at CERN or the T2K neutrino experiment in Japan. Recent project topics include axions and hidden sector photons, W bosons, CP violation using B mesons, the Higgs particle, ATLAS silicon sensors, quarkonium, neutrino oscillations, neutrino interaction measurements, neutrinoless double beta decay and cosmic inflation.