Foundation Year
The Foundation Year was developed in response to the Government’s Widening Participation agenda. It originated in the Science and Engineering Faculty becoming a whole university initiative in 2000. Currently there are 30 departments involved from six faculties across MMU. The course is also franchised out to Mancat and Cheadle and Marple Sixth Form.
The aim of the Foundation Year is to enable those students who do not have the required qualifications, the opportunity to progress on to a degree at the University. The cohort includes students with non traditional qualifications, those who have been out of education for a few years and those that have not achieved the necessary A Level grades for the course of their choice.
The year concentrates on preparing students for degree level study. It develops their IT, numeracy and study skills through three core units. The remaining credits are taken up by compulsory and optional units related to their linked degree.
Nicola Greaves represents the Foundation Year for the Faculty and works closely with the Foundation Year office based in the Science and Engineering Faculty. The HLSS Faculty has seen an increase in Foundation Year students over the past few years and has overtaken the Business School as the second highest recruiter (Science and Engineering being the first). Across the University this year the Foundation Year has attracted 753 students, 146 of these are linked to this faculty.
The Foundation Year is continually evolving. This year Politics and Sociology introduced new optional units and developments are currently being discussed in Economics and Languages.
For further information on the Foundation Year please contact Nicola Greaves.
Academic Methods
Academic Methods is a 20 credit core unit taken by all Foundation Year students. The current course evolved from an ESF funded project in Sociology which resulted in the development of a module called Skills for Lifelong Learning. This was eventually renamed Academic Methods further to research indicating that students were put off by the term ‘skills’!
The course has offline and online components with students spending an hour in the classroom and an hour in the lab accessing the online materials in WebCT.
The course aims to develop study skills including essay writing, research techniques, presentation skills and citation and referencing. It also develops team working skills through the completion of a group project and employability skills through a number of career planning sessions.
The course is continually evolving to meet the needs of students and departments across the university. This year personal development planning has been incorporated into the course with the development of a portfolio which can be used and further developed as students progress on to their linked degree.
For further information about the course and guest access please contact:
Nicola Greaves
Faculty Foundation Co-ordinator
Tel: 0161 247 6178
E-mail: n.greaves@mmu.ac.uk