We will be offering a new degree programme in this area which will first appear in the UCAS Handbook for entry in October 2002, however, students who enter the Chemistry degree in October 2001 will be able to transfer into it after one year of study. The entrance qualifications are shown below . Typical curricula for each of the first two years are shown below. Fast-track entrants may also be required to take a Mathematics course depending on entrance qualifications. In these years students take a mixture of core and optional lecture modules which include Biological Chemistry, Medicinal Chemistry and Biotechnology, Biophysical Chemistry and Synthetic Chemistry and many other options.
All students carry out an extensive research project in their final year.
The penultimate year of the MChem also includes three group projects in which students learn interactive working skills. This course has the same structure as the Medicinal and Biological Chemistry degree for the first three years. Students then spend a full year in industrial placement with a company in the pharmaceutical or related industry before their return to Edinburgh for the final year where they take a mixture of core and optional lectures and a research project. Placements are taken in a variety of companies, for example SmithKline Beecham, Glaxo-Wellcome, Avecia. Selection for placements is dependent on a good academic record and by interview with the company concerned.