Animal Management Foundation Degree (FdSc) Level 5 (part-time)

Entry requirements

You will need:

• A Foundation Degree will be of particular interest if you have completed a Modern Apprenticeship, vocational A-levels, BTEC National or equivalent.
• Foundation Degrees are also particularly suitable if you want to qualify while working.
• UCAS introduced a new tariff for courses from September 2017. This means the points you will be asked for are different to previous years but the grades you receive have not changed.
• As a guideline, a typical offer would require you to obtain a UCAS tariff score of between 32-48 points, based on your level 3 studies.
• Many students studying for foundation degrees come to us through work-based routes so you can apply for a foundation degree even if you don't have traditional academic qualifications.
• We welcome applicants with relevant work experience.

Course content

This course is based around a framework of units core to animal management disciplines, ensuring that you will gain a detailed understanding of animal management, including the underlying principles of biological sciences. Additional units will broaden the scope of the course by including animals in a wider context within the business sector, which is strongly linked to work and employment.

Units you can study on the course will include: 

• Animal Husbandry (ANI003-1) Compulsory
• Animals: Their Environment, Management And Sustainability (ANI002-1) Compulsory
• Business And The Animal Industry Experience (ANI000-1) Compulsory
• Scientific Methods For Animal Management (ANI001-1) Compulsory
• Animal Health And Behaviour (ANI000-2) Compulsory
• Business Enterprise In The Animal Sector (ANI001-2) Compulsory
• Investigating Animals And Their Welfare (ANI003-2) Compulsory
• Physiology And Biotechnology (ANI002-2) Compulsory

Work-based learning is fundamental to this course, as it will bridge the skills, knowledge and attributes gained in the classroom and the working environment, and support your development of wider employment skills. Obtaining placements for work-based learning will help you to apply your learning and help you to demonstrate core competencies. You will need to undertake 100 hours of work-based learning for each of the two years (200 hours in total). A one-week field trip occurs during the first year of the course, which will help to contextualise your learning. Students have previously visited Holland with the trip costing around £350 (paid in instalments).

Assessment methods

All assessments will be undertaken as described in each unit’s learning outcomes, and will be both formative (e.g. computer based exercises, non-assessed presentations, class exercises etc.) and summative (e.g. examinations, computer-based assessments, practical reports, practical skills assessments, seminar presentations, laboratory skills, project report etc.)

Further study and career options

On successful completion of this course you can progress on to a third year top-up course at the University of Bedfordshire to to achieve a BSc in Animal Management or Animal Science. You can also progress to employment in a relevant field: recent graduates have obtained employment at zoos and animal parks, in animal and medical research, in administration and in the teaching of animal related subjects.

Additional information

At this level you will be expected to commit yourself to conducting research and carry out a significant amount of additional study outside College. You will need to purchase overalls and steel toe capped boots. These can be purchased through Bedford College at an approximate cost of £45. There are also optional educational trips available, which could occur a cost of up to £900. You will need to study six hours per week Mon-Wed 9.00am-4.45pm. The days and times will depend on the units your study.

Pay by instalments

The College offers an instalment plan for Further Education and Higher Education courses to students where the total amount payable at the point of enrolment is £200 or more. Within the scheme there is an ability to pay up to 7 instalments, depending on the length of the courses and the final payment must be paid at least a month before the end of the course.