Degrees in Integrated Sciences
(iSciences)
Integrated Sciences (iSciences) is an innovative new degree course that enables students to study a combination of the three sciences and their applications to degree level. Launched by the Institute of Physics in September 2007, the course is part of a government sponsored initiative to improve participation in STEM (Science Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) subjects in the UK and is supported by leading science organisations including the Royal Society and the British Association. The new degree is being piloted at four partner universities: East Anglia, Leicester London South Bank and Surrey.
Integrated Sciences at the partner universities hopes to attract a wide range of students. The new course will appeal to students who are expected to achieve good grades in traditional sciences subjects at A-level but who do not wish to specialise in any one area of science. Students should be interested in the fundamental principles that all the sciences share and the intersections and overlaps between the main sciences. Integrated sciences is also part of the national effort to widen access to science and engineering to groups of students who traditionally are under-represented, including those from ethnic minorities, women and mature students. Such students may not have studied the traditional three sciences at A level, but who are interested in a broader and more applied view.
Entry requirements differ at the four partners, but the minimum entry requirement is just one science A level alongside other A levels (or equivalent qualifications from FE colleges or from overseas) as well as good mathematics at GCSE. Detailed entry requirements are available from each partner. All the degrees are designed to allow students to move on to specialist science degrees if their interest develops particular focus during their studies.
The new degree has been carefully designed to give students greater freedom to choose from a wide range of science subjects while still maintaining the quality and rigour of other bachelor's degrees. It enables students to study all three of the basic sciences (Physics
Chemistry and Biology) to degree level and has been carefully designed at each partner university to provide students with the interdisciplinary skills and knowledge that employers are increasingly looking for from science graduates. It has an initial bias towards physics, covering al the main first year material of a typical physics degree in its first two years.
The key to the new course is integration. Global challenges such climate change, providing enough food, water and energy for everybody while still maintaining a healthy planet leaves us with no doubt that we need to understand the science behind these challenges and be able to use a variety of scientific skills to solve the problems. Nature does not package these challenges into neat packets labelled 'Physics', or 'Chemistry' or 'Biology'; quite the contrary, they are multidisciplinary. If we reflect on our own homes and families, it is apparent that our lifestyles and our health also depend on sophisticated science-based technology that is equally multidisciplinary. Hence the iSciences courses at all the partners include problem based learning calling on whatever science skills are necessary for the task in hand. The courses also emphasise the development of experimental skills, the skills of scientific measurement and the scientific method. These skills are arguably the most valuable of all, giving us the power and confidence to tackle to new problems. These are the skills that employers value above others and the reason why the course has backing from large industrial partners.
To ensure academic quality and high standards, Integrated Sciences is endorsed by the Institute of Physics (IoP), a membership and communication organisation for physicists and physics that includes some of the world's leading experts. All four of the Integrated Sciences degree programmes are recognised by the IoP for the purposes of membership. The Institute has ensured that the curriculum combines a good coverage of essential physics with appropriate transferrable scientific skills.
Interdisciplinary science isn't the same as combined science, or a pick 'n mix degree where students choose stand alone units for their own sake. Such degrees don't have the structure of the new iSciences degrees, where the designers have worked backwards from the knowledge and skills needed to solve problems in the 21st century. Units Students participate in modules based on real life problem solving where they will learn how to apply all three disciplines to the task at hand.
Across the different partners, students can study a huge range of subjects and their interconnections, from genetics and bioinformatics to cosmology and astrobiology, biochemistry, molecular biology and physiology and medical physics as well as the applications of science in engineering, communications and design.
The cross-disciplinary nature of Integrated Sciences enables graduates to progress to further specialised study or directly into a number of careers in science and technology based industry. Alongside the employment potential in industry, iSciences provides an excellent grounding for those wishing to become science teachers. Multidisciplinary skills such as logic, problemsolving and attention to detail are all transferable skills and don't just lead to scientific careers. An iSciences degree gives a huge range of career options: engineering, science and technology, science education, finance, the public sector, advertising and marketing, quality assurance, IT, recruitment, scientific publishing, and much more At London South Bank there is also an extended year for iSciences. The extended year is before the first year of the normal BSc and is all about widening access. It is for students who have studied 'A' level or equivalent, or mature students with appropriate experience, but whose profile doesn't allow them immediate entry to iSciences. So in the extended year, students develop the basic scientific skills in physics, chemistry and mathematics. Students are given the opportunity to gain confidence in a range of laboratory environments and to develop abilities in IT. Study skills are extended through problem solving, data handling and report writing exercises. Studying these fundamental areas of science provides students with the knowledge, theory and practical skills necessary to progress to iSciences.
Integrated Sciences is not a soft option. Obviously the iSciences degrees have less specialised content than single honours sciences, but crossing the boundaries and tackling real and applied problems is equally or even more challenging. It leads away from the safety of standard theory and textbooks to develop confidence in just those areas where employers see their greatest need. Real science is interdisciplinary, real industry is also like this, as is research, bringing together physicists, chemists, biologists, and mathematicians. Some new sciences don't fit at all into the old categories (medical and biophysics, environmental sciences, nanotechnology). This is the starting point for the new degree and its greatest strength, in the connections that make science a whole.
Contacts and further information
www.integratedsciences.org.uk
University of Surrey
0800 052 2248
Prof. Jim Al-Khalili
j.al-khalili@surrey.ac.uk
University of Leicester
0116 223 1069
Prof. DerekRaine
i-science@leicester.ac.uk
London South Bank University
020 7815 7815
Dr. Bob Kaye
kayerd@lsbu.ac.uk
University of East Anglia
01603 593139 or593894
Prof. Karen Heywood
sci.admiss@uea.ac.uk
Article By South Bank University
Faculty of Engineering, Science & The Built Environment
