Forensic Investigation including Foundation Year
Designed to prepare you for real-world investigation, this professionally accredited degree places you in industry-standard labs and immersive crime scene facilities, guided by experienced practitioners so you graduate confident, credible, and ready for professional forensic practice.
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Key Course Details
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UCAS Code
FF4F
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Start Date
September
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Location
Pontypridd
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Campus Code
A
Fees
Home students
£9,790*
International students
£17,200*
- Full-time fees are per year. Part-time fees are per 20 credits.
You’ll build a strong understanding of the criminal justice system and the laws that shape it. You’ll learn how evidence is examined and challenged, developing the skills to think clearly, question assumptions, and make responsible decisions in real situations, with science used as a practical tool along the way.
DESIGNED FOR
If you’re interested in how science is used to solve real problems, this course is for you. It’s suited to students with an interest in forensics who want to examine evidence, ask questions, and apply their skills to real investigations.
Accredited by
- The Chartered Society of Forensic Sciences
Careers Paths
- Crime scene unit
- Forensic investigation unit
- Wider criminal justice sector
- Further study
Skills taught
- Crime scene evidence analysis and interpretation
- Science laboratory techniques
- Problem solving in science, mathematics and data analysis
- Project management and leadership
- Confident communication skills
Course Highlights
Module Overview
In your Foundation Year, you’ll explore how forensic investigation works in practice, tackling real-world challenges while building practical skills, academic confidence, and the problem-solving ability to move forward into future study.
Starting Your University Journey
This module helps you develop academic, personal and professional skills for university study. You’ll reflect on your progress, build confidence, and create an evidence-based portfolio to support your future learning.
Case Closed: The Forensic Journey
You’ll be introduced to the forensic journey from crime scene to courtroom. Building practical skills, and exploring real investigative processes, you will develop confidence in applying evidence to support justice outcomes.
Inside the Investigation: Understanding Crime and Policing Practice
Discover how criminal investigations work in England and Wales. You’ll follow the investigative journey from initial report to case outcomes, exploring ethical choices and professional practice. Through realistic scenarios across crime types, you’ll develop the investigative mindset that underpins forensic casework.
The Impact Challenge
You’ll work in teams with other Foundation Year students to tackle real-world challenges, developing solutions through research, curiosity, collaboration, and responsible problem-solving while building skills that will support your future studies.
Course Highlights
How you'll learn
You’ll learn by doing, through real-world activities that help you understand how learning works at university. You’ll be encouraged to ask questions, explore new ideas and work with others, as well as independently. Teaching builds confidence, critical thinking and reflection, supported by digital tools. Regular feedback helps you track progress, plan next steps and build resilience and a strong sense of belonging as you prepare for higher-level study.
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How you'll be assessed
You’ll be assessed in different ways, including short tasks, coursework, presentations, and group work. Early assessments are designed to support your learning and help you understand what is expected at university. Most assessments are coursework-based and help you develop key skills such as research, academic writing, teamwork, and communication. You’ll also reflect on your progress and use university systems and digital tools. Clear, timely feedback will help you understand how to improve and support your next steps.
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Placements
As you progress onto your degree, you’ll have the opportunity to undertake a sandwich placement after your second year. We support you with applications to South Wales Police’s Graduate Internship and our outstanding careers team is here to help source other placements if you wish. However, with so much real-world experience embedded within the course, you still receive comprehensive workplace preparation even if you decide not to do a placement.
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Facilities
Our facilities set this course apart and get you hands on from day one. You will work in our multi room crime scene house and excavation area, gaining real experience in managing scenes and recovering evidence. State of the art surveillance equipment allows lecturers to observe your work and give live feedback, helping you improve in the moment. You will also have access to the George Knox laboratories, using a full range of industry standard equipment including chemistry labs, spectrometers, microscopes, and chromatographs. All teaching is based at the Glyntaff campus, a green and open environment with a strong community feel that supports learning and collaboration.
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Jakob
Forensic Investigation student
Emma Barrett
Forensic Investigation student
Emily Rees
Forensic Science graduate
Ella Mugford
Biomedical Science student
Clare Wilkie
Biomedical Science student
Accreditations and partnerships
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ENTRY REQUIREMENTS
48 UCAS Points (or above)
Typical qualification requirements:
- A Level: DD
- BTEC: BTEC Extended Diploma Pass Pass Pass or BTEC Diploma Pass Pass in a relevant subject
- Access to HE: Pass Access to HE Diploma with a minimum of 48 UCAS Tariff points
International applications welcomed:
We welcome international applications with equivalent qualifications of our entry requirements. For more details related to your country of residence, please view our dedicated country pages.
English language requirements
International applicants will need to have achieved an overall of IELTS 6.0 with a minimum of 5.5 in each component/TOEFL 4 overall and a minimum of 4 in each component or equivalent.
Equivalents can be located on our English Language pages.
If you have previously studied through the medium of English, IELTS might not be required, please visit our country specific page for further details. If your country is not featured, please contact us.
If you do not meet the English entry criteria, please visit our Pre-Sessional course pages.
Contextual offers
We may make you a lower offer based on a range of factors, including your background (where you live and the school or college that you attended, for example), your experiences and individual circumstances (as a care leaver, for example). This is referred to as a contextual offer, and we receive data from UCAS to support us in making these decisions.
USW prides itself on its student experience and we support our students to achieve their goals and become a successful graduate. This approach helps us to support students who have the potential to succeed and who may have faced barriers that make it more difficult to access university.
We're here to help
Whether you a have a question about your course, fees and funding, the application process or anything else, there are plenty of ways you can get in touch, and we'd love to talk to you. You can contact our friendly admissions team by phone, email or chat to us online.
Fees and Funding
£9,790
per year*£17,200
per year*Additional Costs
Whilst in most cases these resources are more than sufficient in supporting you with completing your course, additional costs, both obligatory and optional, may be required or requested for the likes of stationery, printing, or equipment during your foundation year. For costs after you progress to year 1 of your degree programme, please see the list below.
Students are encouraged to equip themselves with a suitable cotton laboratory coat, suitable for working in a chemical laboratory, and a pair of personal protective laboratory goggles, although the School does provide these items. Students who are successful in securing an industry-based project may, in a small number of cases, be required to purchase additional personal protective equipment as specified by the specific organisation or company.
Students who successfully secure a placement in industry to complete their major research project would be expected to pay their own travel costs to and from the venue during the period of placement. The cost of this will of course vary and some students have also paid for accommodation close to their place of work for the duration of their placement.
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Course Kit Bursary
As a student of BSc (Hons) Forensic Investigation, you'll receive a USW-branded lab coat and goggles when you enrol, to support you with course costs.
University Quality Assurance
At USW, we regularly review our courses in response to changing patterns of employment and skills demand to ensure we offer learning designed to reflect today’s student needs and tomorrow’s employer demands.
If during a review process course content is significantly changed, we’ll write to inform you and talk you through the changes for the coming year. But whatever the outcome, we aim to equip our students with the skillset and the mindset to succeed whatever tomorrow may bring. Your future, future-proofed.
Life at USW
Halls are a big part of your student experience and there’s accommodation at all three of our locations. If you don’t want to live near the campus, there are great transport links to keep you connected.
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How to apply
All applications for full-time undergraduate courses or foundation degrees should be made via UCAS. Take the next step: Apply through UCAS. You can apply to us directly for all part-time undergraduate courses, if you’re seeking advanced entry or you’re an international student. To apply directly, please choose the application form below for your preferred start date and mode of study (full-time or part-time).
Advanced entry
If you already have a relevant qualification or experience related to the course you're applying for, you may be eligible to start at a later stage of the course. For example, students from partner colleges can ‘top up’ their qualifications to a degree by joining us in Year Two or Year Three of a course. This process is known as ‘advanced entry’, you can apply directly to the University for 'advanced entry' using the application forms provided above.
Applicants accepted through advanced entry may study a different combination of modules to those advertised, as they will be joining a course already in progress. You will be contacted and advised about these modules once your application has been processed and an offer made.
International admissions
International applicants can apply to us directly. If the University has an in-country team in your region, your application will be assigned to them for assistance.
