1. Skills, Employability and Student Support Dr Debbie Bevitt Deputy Head of School of Biomedical Sciences Debbie.bevitt@ncl.ac.uk

2. School of Biomedical Sciences Strategic Plan 2014/15 The School aims to provide an environment that supports all of our students in achieving their maximum potential and delivers an excellent student experience.

3. How we support our students – Academic and Personal Each student is assigned a personal tutor Meet with tutor at start of course First point of contact throughout the degree programme for any problems Can change tutor on request Back-up system of course advisers Call in students if there appears to be problems (e.g. missing classes or coursework) Study skills advice to students having difficulties Additional specialist help available from a study skills adviser

4. How we Support our Students – Lectures (Blackboard & ReCap) Teaching material (lectures, module guides, extra reading etc) provided on the University Virtual Learning Environment - Blackboard. We ask all staff to ReCap their lectures. This is an automated event recording and delivery system that enables the audio and visual material from events such as lectures/seminars to be made available online. The School has one of the highest proportions of lectures recorded in the University with very positive student feedback

5. How we support our students - Personal and Wellbeing Student advice centre Student wellbeing Counselling service Mental health adviser Financial support Disability support http://www.ncl.ac.uk/students/wellbeing/

6. Transferable skills Skills from an Biomedicine Degree Very large quantity of subject knowledge Strong and explicit links between current world class research and teaching: Specific skills Critical reasoning and analytical skills, including the capacity for solving problems and thinking creatively, often through extensive reading; Computing and statistical skills - gained through use of spreadsheets, databases and presentation packages found in most workplaces; The capacity to think objectively and approach problems and new situations with an open mind; Organisational skills - acquired, for example, through coping with lectures, practicals, study, part-time work and social activities.

7. Vocational choices in final year project Research Laboratory Clinical IT Science education/ communication

8. A wide range of opportunities to add value to your degree  Placement opportunities  Vacation studentships  Year out in industry  Overseas exchanges (Europe, Australia, Singapore)  Links to companies (including spin-offs)  Newcastle Work Experience (NWE) placements  Laboratory Assistant Posts  Part-time paid work in research labs in year 2  Student Mentor Posts  Biomedicine+  Language Modules Jamie Brown (Stage 3 Pharmacology) during exchange to Toulouse, France Tim Ellis (Stage 3 Biochemistry with Immunology) during exchange to Tuebingen, Germany

9. Nisha Chana and Kayleigh Goodman – final year students at PRBB Research Centre University of Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona (top University in Spain). Both are completing their final year projects in Spain on Erasmus funded scholarships. We have further links with University of Toulouse (France), Pierre Curie University (Paris) University of Tubingen (Germany), Westphalian Wilhelms University in Munster (Germany) and Lund University (Sweeden). We will have further opportunities in Singapore, Australia and New Zealand in 2016.

10. Siobhan Lister (3 rd Year Biomedical Sciences) was awarded 1 st prize at the event for her poster presentation: “Does gastro-oesophageal reflux contribute to cystic fibrosis lung disease?” University ‘Celebrating Research and Scholarship Exhibitions 2014

11. Brigitte West (Biomedical Sciences) and Rose Brown (Biomedical Sciences and Medical Microbiology) have started their own website which explains the science behind a range of beauty products http://www.beautybythegeeks.com

12. International Genetically Engineered Machines Competition, MIT, Boston, USA Team 2013: “Bare Cillus” See http://2013.igem.org/Team:Newcastle and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0Kk6bKKOQ0 James (Biomedical Sciences), Alina (Architechture), Justas (Computer Sciences), Isabelle (Biomedical Sciences), Christopher (Synthetic Biology), Vivian (Pharmacology), Vincent (Biomedical Sciences), Robert (Synthetic Biology), Yana (Biotechnology), Geoffrey (Biomedical Sciences) and Matthew (computer Sciences)

13.  Award-winning University Careers Service http://www.ncl.ac.uk/careers/  Large number of employer presentations  SBMS Employability Ambassadors  Also sessions tailored for our students:  Postgraduate study  Applying for Medicine  Voluntary work with SCAN  Talks from SBMS alumni

14. Graduate success in Biomedicine Destinations six months after graduation (2012/13) Newcastle Biomedicine Graduates Newcastle University Graduates All UK undergraduates (2011/2012) Work (full-time/part-time) 51.7%65.0%67.4% Further study/work and further study 43.1%22.9%20.9% Unemployed 5.2%6.1%7.2% Other 4.5%

15. Careers for Bioscientists Graduates are highly employable in a wide range of careers including:  Laboratory scientists Hospitals Universities and research institutes Industry  Science communicators (journalism, medical writing, PR work, medical charities, museums/science centres etc)  Teachers  Other roles in industry e.g. marketing, medical sales, brand management  Patent work  Science funding, policy and administration

16. About 50% of our graduates go on to further study  Higher science degree Masters – MSc/MRes (40.7%) or a PhD (22%)  Medicine (16.5%)  Dentistry (13%), PGCE (Postgraduate Certificate in Education)  A small number of other courses including law, accountancy, physiotherapy etc

17. Profiles on the web: http://www.ncl.ac.uk/biomed/undergrad/profiles/

18. Quality Measures  Teaching Quality All Biomedical Sciences degrees scored 24 points out of a maximum of 24  National student survey 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 93 - 100% overall student satisfaction*  Research Quality The biomedical research carried out in the Institute for Cell and Molecular Biosciences and Institute of Neuroscience was ranked in the top 5 in the UK and top 10 in the UK respectively in the 2014 REF.  Times Good University Guide 2014 8th out of 73 universities* * refers to biomedical sciences/other subjects allied to medicine

19. So why choose Newcastle?  Wide choice of degree programmes  Flexible: can change your programme of study after first year  Transfer options for medicine and dentistry  High quality research-led teaching  High graduate employability, low drop out rates  Excellent student experience