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Full Time: 4 Years
Not many degrees give you the chance to study animals in their natural habitat or get your hands on a lion’s skull at the University’s own Museum, but with our BSc Zoology with Professional Experience course, that’s just a tiny part of what’s on offer.
Zoology is the science of animals. Whether you’re passionate about one particular group of animals, or love the subject as a whole, our enthusiastic academics will help you get the most out of this degree.
Many other universities offer a one-size-fits-all shared first year to all students from ecologists to biochemists, but at Reading you will study animals from day one. You will have the opportunity to build up field experience and select optional modules to follow your specific interests in this vast and fascinating area of study.
You study animal life at all levels, from the simplest forms through to birds and mammals. You will learn about populations and ecosystems, animal behaviour, evolution, biodiversity and conservation.
In your second year you can undertake field work in a variety of locations including Devon, Sweden, Spain, South Africa and a tropical site, which in the past has included Borneo and Madagascar. The costs of these trips are not included, although all are subsidised.
In your third year you will complete a professional industry placement, allowing you to develop technical expertise and experience that aim to increase your employability and widen your skill set.
In the final year, you can complete a cutting-edge research project under expert supervision, either in the field or the lab – an opportunity that is no longer offered in many universities. We arrange projects on a wide range of animals including urban mammals such as hedgehogs and foxes, red kites, insects and pond or fresh-water animals. We also offer projects on animals in zoos.
In the final year there is also an opportunity to carry out your final-year research project at a European university under the Erasmus+ scheme. Previous students have worked at an overseas institute during the summer such as KL University in Malaysia or have studied leopards in South Africa. We achieved an overall student satisfaction score of 92% in the National Student Survey 2020 in BSc Zoology.
Our new £60m Health and Life Sciences building will open in 2020. As the new home of the School of Biological Sciences, it will offer state-of-the-art research and teaching laboratories, seminar rooms, and plenty of study and social space, including a café. The building will also house the Cole Museum of Zoology. The collection, featuring over 3,500 natural history specimens, provides a fantastic resource for biological scientists and the wider community.
The Museum is used extensively in teaching in Zoology and provides you with unique opportunities to develop hands-on skills in taxonomy and natural history conservation. You can volunteer at the museum and receive training in natural history curation.
Placement
All our degrees offer placement opportunities, both as a one year option or as a summer module. Students receive help and training to find the ideal placement for them.
For more information about securing and completing a placement for your placement year, please visit our Important Information page.
For more information, please visit the Zoology website.
Typical offer A Level BBB | IB 30 points overall
What will you study?
How much will it cost?
New UK/EU students: £9,250* per year
New international students: £20,830 per year
* UK and EU fee changes
UK undergraduate fees are regulated by the government. These fees are subject to parliamentary approval and any decision on raising the tuition fees cap for new UK and EU** students would require the formal approval of both Houses of Parliament before it becomes law.
From 2020, the UK government may link tuition fees to the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF).
**EU students
For more information on fees, loans and grants for EU students, see fees and funding for home/EU students.
Additional costs
These course fees cover the cost of your tuition. Some courses will require additional payments for field trips and extra resources. You will also need to budget for your accommodation and living costs. See our information on living costs for more details.
Placement Year fees
If you spend a full year on placement – including professional and research placements and industrial experience – you’ll pay a discounted tuition fee for that year.
For Home/EU students, the discounted fee is subject to parliamentary approval and is currently capped at £1,385.
For International students, the discount is 15% of your normal tuition fee.
For more information, please contact placements@reading.ac.uk.
Financial support for your studies
You may be eligible for a scholarship or bursary to help pay for your study. Students from the UK and other EU countries may also be eligible for a student loan to help cover these costs. See our fees and funding information for more information on what's available.
* UK and EU Fee Changes
Subject to the Government passing legislation to raise the minimum fee cap, we will raise undergraduate tuition fees from £9,000 to £9,250 for new UK/EU students applying to start courses in the 2017/18 academic year. You will not be affected by this rise if you have deferred entry to the 2017/18 academic year. The Government will confirm future arrangements for EU students in due course.
The tuition fee will remain £9,000 per year for the full duration of this course if you start in the 2016/17 academic year or have accepted an offer but deferred your entry until the 2017/18 academic year. This is unlike other institutions who are planning to raise fees midway through courses.
For further information, please see our webpage on the Teaching Excellence Framework and future tuition fees.
Additional costs
These course fees cover the cost of your tuition. Some courses will require additional payments for field trips and extra resources. You will also need to budget for your accommodation and living costs. See our information on living costs for more details.
Financial support for your studies
You may be eligible for a scholarship or bursary to help pay for your study. Students from the UK and other EU countries may also be eligible for a student loan to help cover these costs. See our fees and funding information for more information on what's available.
What career can you have?
Our Zoology graduates enter a wide variety of careers in the biological sciences, including jobs in conservation, animal welfare, education, consultancy, pharmaceuticals, agriculture, the civil service and other public bodies such as local government conservation units and animal charities. Overall, 94% of our graduates are in employment or further study 15 months after the end of their course [1].
This may require some form of postgraduate training (PGCE, MSc, PhD), and we run two very successful MSc courses: Wildlife Management and Conservation, and Species Identification and Survey Skills.
As numerate scientists, our zoology graduates have many transferable skills that prepare them for any animal-based or biological career, or employment in a much wider range of sectors. Our graduates work in conservation, animal welfare, education, wildlife management, ecotourism, consultancy, pharmaceuticals, agriculture, the civil service and other public bodies such as local government conservation units and animal charities.
All our graduates are eligible for membership of the Society of Biology and can apply for Chartered Biologist status.
[1] Graduate Outcomes Survey 2017/18; First Degree responders from Zoology.