A message to our offer-holders
Congratulations on becoming an offer-holder in our Integrated Foundation Year at The University of Manchester.
By choosing the Integrated Foundation Year at Manchester, you have taken the first steps in becoming fully prepared for degree-level study in engineering or the natural sciences at The University of Manchester.
The Integrated Foundation Year is specifically designed to prepare you for the first year on your chosen degree.
Discover more
Your future
You'll have a guaranteed first-year place if you meet the specified criteria for your chosen department.
Student experience
From teaching, facilities and accommodation, you'll have the same student experience as any other undergraduate.
Graduate employment
We're the most targeted university by the nation's top graduate employers (The Graduate Market in 2023).
Rich heritage
Our university has a rich academic history, with 25 Nobel laureates among our current and former staff and students.
Learning and support
Your learning experience
Academic skills
Learn more about academic skills units in the Foundation Year and why they are important to your learning.
George's foundation year
What is it actually like studying a Foundation Year? Listen to George’s experience in this video.
Student support
Support on your course
We're here for you, providing support every step of the way. From your own personal academic adviser, student communities and ways to look after your health and wellbeing.
Hear from Dr Sly, Head of Foundation Studies and Joanne Taylor, our Student Support Officer about the variety of student support offered when studying the Integrated Foundation Year.
Your health, wellbeing and safety
At Manchester, we offer all our students support and encouragement to stay happy and healthy at university.
Scholarship Ceremony
Hear from previous recipients of our scholarships at last years Scholarship Ceremony.
Get ready to study
Preparing for your course
Getting ready to study at university is exciting but it can also be challenging.
To help you prepare and better understand what will be expected from you, we've outlined some useful things to know.
Our advice for anyone preparing to join us in September is to make sure you are confident in the mathematics, physics and (where applicable) chemistry that you have studied up to this point.
You can do this by looking at your existing notes or textbooks or by using your preferred online resources and videos.
The list below highlights the key 'prerequisite' knowledge that we expect all students to have when they join the Foundation Year:
- The meanings of basic terms such as; atoms, molecules, electrons, fluid, gas, vacuum etc.
- The meaning of quantities such as; speed, velocity, mass, force, pressure, volume, power, cross-sectional area, surface area, density (and the units used to measure them).
- Basic arithmetic, including fractions, indices and solving linear equations with one variable.
- Simple trigonometry, including trig functions and inverse functions and an understanding of which quadrants angles may lie in.
- How to interpret verbal information in mathematical form e.g. ‘Object A has mass ma which is 25% larger than the mass mb of object B; find a formula for mb in terms of ma.
- Work with simple functions, including being able to identify the domain and range.
- How to draw and interpret graphs of physical data and basic mathematical functions e.g. straight line, parabola, trig. and exponential functions.
- Formulae for the surface area and volume of simple shapes (cubes, cylinders, spheres and other shapes based on these - such as hemispheres etc.).
- Work with polynomials, including expanding brackets, factorising expressions and completing the square.
If you have studied Maths beyond GCSE, or if they were included in the curriculum of your previous maths qualifications, we would also expect a student to be able to:
- Work with logarithms and with logarithmic and exponential functions.
- Carry out simple differentiation and integration.
Here are some suggestions for online resources that you might find interesting. Resources range in difficulty, but don’t be deterred - many go well above what we would expect from a new Foundation Year student.
Physics Girl
The Physics Girl YouTube channel creates content with a strong practical component, including home experiments, while also explaining the theory, in a very lively way.
PBS Space Time
PBS Space Time includes quite advanced content, but is entertaining and makes use of sophisticated animations, which help explain the concepts. The emphasis is on theoretical physics.
Steve Mould
Steve Mould’s YouTube videos on various science topics, presented in an informal way.
3blue1brown
3blue1brown has an emphasis on maths; often getting quite advanced, but presented with very effective animations.
Standup Maths
Entertaining videos with a maths theme.
Careers and employability
Supporting your future
Our popular integrated foundation route has produced outstanding graduates across all of our science and engineering courses. Employers will recognise your determination to succeed, adaptability, analytical skills and independent thought.
You can also benefit from our award-winning Careers Service, which will support your first steps towards your dream job and a career for life.
My journey so far
Louisa Mason talks about her Integrated Foundation Year, the work she’s been doing at Manchester and lunch with the Lovell Telescope.
VIDEO: Science alumni panel
Watch the recent science alumni panel where our alumni talk about their time studying at university and their careers since.
A great transition
Ahmed Omara found his Electrical, Electronic and Mechatronic Engineering with an Integrated Foundation Year course to be a great transition from A Level to university study.
VIDEO: Engineering alumni panel
Watch the recent Engineering alumni panel where our alumni talk about their time studying at university and their careers since.
Your next steps
Accept your offer
Received all of your offers? You can accept your offer of a place at university now via UCAS Hub.
Your questions
We're supporting you through the application process by answering your frequently asked questions.
Chat to a student
Discover what it's like to study at Manchester by talking to a current student online.
Explore Manchester
Our brilliant campus, at the heart of the UK's Most Liveable City (The Economist, 2019) and the city voted 3rd Best in the World (TimeOut, 2021).
Further information
