Physics with Astrophysics The University of Exeter

Overview

Key Selling Points

• Top 10 in the UK for Physics and Astronomy - 9th in the Guardian University Guide 2024 and 10th in The Times and The Sunday Times Good University Guide 2024

• A strong student-led community that act as a single voice to influence the running of the department, organising networking, social and academic support events.

• The opportunity to work with world-leading researchers from academia or industry. Support is provided for student placements, with local opportunities at organisations such as the Met office.

• We are passionate about training new physicists and believe that is done via a supportive and inclusive student-staff environment.

The Physics with Astrophysics BSc programme from The University of Exeter key features are:

• BSc research projects are often based on data from world-class ground and space-based facilities and state-of-the-art computational codes for theoretical astrophysics
• Observational astrophysics is taught using our recently upgraded teaching observatory
• Learn within a supportive community characterised by genuine student-staff relationships and small tutorial groups, typically made up of five students
• Opportunity to join a close-knit student society with great social events throughout the year
• Benefit from access to advanced research facilities including clean-rooms, a helium liquefier, a water tank, amplified ultra-fast laser systems, and a suite of instruments for imaging biological materials

Career opportunities:

Employability skills are an integral part of the physics curriculum. The flexibility and adaptability of a well-trained physicist is appreciated by employers: they acknowledge the benefits of excellent problem solving skills, an educated scientific intuition, and the confidence to be able to grasp new concepts quickly.

The Physics with Astrophysics programme at The University of Exeter include:

• A two-day employability and graduate development workshop in year one

• A two-day communication skills course in year one

• Annual personal development planning exercises

• Training in the formulation and solution of problems

• Substantial amounts of practical and project work, the results of which must be presented and defended in various formats (written reports, posters, oral presentations)

• Working with others in projects and problem-solving classes

• IT skills training

• Mathematical skills training

• An opportunity to take a commercial and industrial experience module

In addition, the purpose of the extended project work in both the BSc and MPhys programmes is for you to develop research skills. You will learn to present and scientifically defend your work and ideas in a variety of ways. The experience and skills developed not only form a valuable basis for a research career, but are also known to be highly valued by employers.