Medical Ultrasound with Foundation Year – BSc (Hons) *
Course Feature
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Attendance Full Time (1 year foundation followed by 3 year degree)
Class Description
Start your journey to a highly rewarding profession as a sonographer with our BSc (Hons) Medical Ultrasound with a Foundation Year course. As the first university to offer an undergraduate course in Medical Ultrasound, you can rest assured that you will be learning from experienced practitioners and a proven course structure that will successfully prepare you for a fulfilling career.
As a sonographer, you will produce detailed medical images, interpret them and at the same time provide support and communicate your findings with patients in your care. The work of a sonographer can be very rewarding and your clinical expertise will be sought after in a range of medical settings such as hospital imaging departments, maternity units, doctor’s surgeries, community clinics and private sector ultrasound clinics.
Tailor your Health Sciences Degree
When you successfully complete your Foundation Year, you will be able to progress onto a range of Undergraduate courses at the Birmingham City School of Health Sciences and School of Nursing and Midwifery. These include:
- BSc (Hons) Biomedical Sciences
- BSc (Hons) Diagnostic Radiography
- BSc (Hons) Food and Nutrition
- BSc (Hons) Health Studies (Public Health)
- BSc (Hons) Medical Ultrasound
- BSc (Hons) Midwifery
- BSc (Hons) Nursing – Adult
- BSc (Hons) Nursing – Child
- BSc (Hons) Nursing – Learning Disability
- BSc (Hons) Nursing – Mental Health
- BSc (Hons) Operating Department Practice
- BSc (Hons) Paramedic Science
- BSc (Hons) Radiotherapy
- BSc (Hons) Speech & Language Therapy
Why choose a foundation year course?
By studying a foundation year in Health Sciences, your first year will be spent learning a wide range of broad subject areas which then open up opportunities for you to specialise further in your next year – which would be the first year of a full degree programme.
You will study very broad subjects in your foundation year, which is designed to prepare you for a range of courses and not just one particular BSc degree.
So although you are studying a BSc in a specific course – BSc Medical Ultrasound – the foundation year sets you up for a number of other possible degrees starting the following year. It may be that you don’t end up doing a degree in precisely the same subject as your foundation year.
This flexibility is one of the great things about the foundation year category – Health Sciences, allowing you to find out more about your interests and talents before focusing on a three year degree. The foundation year also helps us at BCU to make sure we help to match you to the degree that fits you best.
Please note: entry requirements for degree course
Upon completion of your Foundation Year, if your chosen course is regulated by a professional body such as the National College for Teaching and Leadership, you will be required to successfully complete the University’s selection process for the specific programme which will include an interview in order to proceed onto year one of the full degree programme. Entry onto year one of the degree programme will also be subject to a satisfactory DBS and Occupational Health Assessment.
What’s covered in the course?
Our Medical Ultrasound course will enable you to develop the core skills of a sonographer such as care and communications, technical skills and clinical knowledge to make an accurate diagnosis.
Your skills will be developed through real-life work placements, lectures and seminars in the classroom held by experienced staff who are practicing or former sonographers or radiographers, independent study time, e-learning and ultrasound simulators within our £41 million City South Campus.
A variety of learning and teaching methods will be used for your development into a technically competent, caring and knowledgeable sonographer. It is essential to the practice that you respect diversity, ensure equality and use a sound understanding of legal, ethical and professional issues to positively impact on care scenarios and delivery.
Please note that ‘sonographer’ is not currently a protected title in the UK and, at this present time, graduates will NOT be eligible to be registered with the Health and Care Professions Council, although it is hoped that this will become a possibility in the future. For this reason, employment may not be possible in certain NHS trusts and some private sector organisations, although many organisations already employ sonographers from non-traditional backgrounds.
Why Choose Us?
- We are the leading centre for ultrasound imaging
- We are the first university in the UK to offer an undergraduate programme in medical ultrasound
- Experienced staff
- We boast strong links with local clinical ultrasound departments
- Study in our £41 million campus
- Based in the heart of Birmingham
