Overseas students or students whose first language is not English will be required to complete the Professional Certificate in English, which is awarded by MDIS, an Associate Institute of the University of Bradford, U.K.

Those applicants without a minimum C6 pass in English ‘O’ Levels or equivalent will be required to pass an English placement test prior to admission.

• The main levels within a taxonomic hierarchy and the general features of the kingdoms and selected phyla and classes
• The flow of energy and nutrients through various specified ecosystems and the principles of tropic interaction and population dynamics
• The fundamental life processes common to all living things
• The prokaryotic level of organisation and the typical structure of a prokaryotic cell
• The eukaryotic cell, organelles and inclusions
• The fluid mosaic model of membrane structure and the significance of various membrane components
• The various methods available for exchange between cells and their environment
• The structure and significance of viruses
• The impact of human action on the environment (using pollution as a specific example)
• The use of biological tools and techniques (such as microscopy, spectrophotometry, etc)

• Atomic structure and chemical bonds
• Solutions, units and concentrations
• The concept of the mole as an expression of the amount of a substance and molarity as an expression of its concentration
• Balancing chemical equations
• Hydrogen ion concentration Acid/Base titration and the use of indicators
• Redox systems The definition of oxidation and reduction
• Simple electrochemical cells Half-reactions
• reactions
• The Electrochemical Series
• Organic chemistry
• The chemistry of carbon compounds
• Hydrocarbons and their structure Properties and nomenclature
• Structural and geometric isomers Molecular shapes
• Identification of the major organic functional groups

• Handling numbers
• Logarithmic, exponential and trigonometric functions
• Graphs
• Solving equations

• Units
• Structure of matter
• Basic forces
• Electricity
• Waves
• Light

• Histology - major types of tissues - epithelial, connective, nervous and muscular tissues
• Blood, lymph and lymphoid organs
• Gross anatomy of the different organs - heart, lungs, kidneys, liver, stomach, sense organs etc
• Gross anatomy of organ systems in the body - the respiratory, urinary, digestive, cardiovascular, nervous, muscular and reproductive systems

• Cell division
• Mendelian Genetics, heredity, inheritance and the transmission of genetic material
• The chromosomal basis of Mendelian Genetics
• Linkage and Crossing over
• Sex determination
• Chromosome mapping
• Variation in chromosome number and structure
• Errors of cell division
• Chromosomal abnormalities
• Mutation and Migration
• Natural selection
• DNA structure and the Double Helix
• Genetic mutations and disease
• Nature of the genome

• Principles of homeostasis, feedback mechanisms and the control of body processes
• Functioning of specialised mammalian tissues- blood, muscles and nerves
• Mechanisms of muscle contraction - the sarcomere, the myofibrils and the sliding filament mechanism
• Nervous system - Central, Peripheral, Autonomic
• Cardiovascular system - heart, blood, blood vessels
• Lymphatic system - lymph, lymph nodes, lymphoid organs
• Respiratory system - the lungs
• Urinary system - the nephrons
• Digestive system - the alimentary canal
• Reproductive system - male and female
• Immune system and the fight against diseases

• Introduction to Statistics
• Probability and probability distributions
• Estimation
• Statistical testing
• Correlation and regression
• Introduction to differential calculus
• Integral calculus

• Motion
• Forces and energy
• Power
• Dynamics: Newton’s Law of Motion
• Materials in biological and biotechnological sciences.
• Density
• Fluids, liquid and gases
• Magnetism
• Practical electricity

• Structural, geometric and optical isomers
• Optical activity and the molecular criteria that determine it
• Balanced equations to represent organic reactions
• Typical functional groups of organic compounds
• Structure and reactivity of primary, secondary and tertiary alcohols and amines
• Structure of biological molecules - carbohydrates, proteins, lipids, enzymes
• Nature of an acid, a base and a buffer solution
• Acidity constant (Ka), pH and pKa; calculation of these values from provided data on acid/base ratios in the Henderson-Hasselbach equation
• Titration curves for weak acids and weak bases to show buffer regions, pKa and end-points
• Nature of chemical equilibrium and the Law of Mass Action
• Le Chatelier’s Principle in equilibrium situations
• Nature of catalysis
• Factors that affect reaction rates
• Energy profiles of exothermic and endothermic processes and the nature of activation energy
• Enthalpy
• Energy of a reaction in relation to the concentration equilibrium constant, Kc
• Structure of simple organic compounds in relation to their physical properties (such as boiling point, melting point and water solubility)
• Intermolecular Van der Waals forces and hydrogen bonding

• Structure and function of basic cell components and surface molecules microscopy, cell staining and cell counting
• Enzyme structure, properties, function, factors affecting activity in vitro and in vivo
• Energy metabolism, metabolic inter-relationships, metabolic control, DNA replication and cell cycle
• The Central Dogma: Transcription and mRNA. Translation and proteins
• Introduction to biotechnology and genetic engineering, plasmids, bacteriophages, transformation, cloning

• IT and biological data
• Biological databases - sequences, structures, genomes, pathways
• Introduction to bioinformatics software
• Gene and protein sequence comparisons
• Molecular sequence alignments
• Macromolecular visualisation