Biomedical Engineering - BEng (Hons)
Currently viewing course to start in 2024/25 Entry.
Are you interested in engineering that interacts with the human body? Our practice-led Biomedical Engineering degree explores mathematics, anatomy, physiology and computing to meet the rapid advancement in technology which is becoming a vital part of healthcare. Throughout this programme, you will have the option to carry out exciting work placements in the UK and abroad....
- Level Undergraduate
- Study mode Full Time
- Location City Centre / City South
- Award BEng (Hons)
- Start date September 2024
- Fees View course fees
- School School of Health Sciences
- Faculty Faculty of Health, Education and Life Sciences
This course is:
Open to International Students
Overview
Are you interested in engineering that interacts with the human body? Our practice-led Biomedical Engineering degree explores mathematics, anatomy, physiology and computing to meet the rapid advancement in technology which is becoming a vital part of healthcare. Throughout this programme, you will have the option to carry out exciting work placements in the UK and abroad. If this sounds like the degree for you then find out more about our university entry requirements.
What's covered in this course?
Our unique Biomedical Engineering degree programme will provide you with the skills and expertise needed to work in specialist areas such as assistive technology, rehabilitation, medical imaging and robotics, physiology monitoring, cardiopulmonary engineering, m-health and e-health, orthopaedic implants and regenerative medicine/ tissue engineering.
Biomedical Engineering (also known as bioengineering) is a discipline of engineering that interacts with the human body. You will be developing and applying innovative skills in the design, manufacturing and maintenance of medical equipment and devices covering all spectrums from the new born to assistive living for the elderly. Industrial-led practical workshops and labs will help enhance your technical skills. This will enable you to relate ‘real-life’ commercial innovations to the underpinning academic theory learnt in the lectures.
Our state-of-the-art facilities will allow you to explore a variety of biomedical applications including: sensing and measuring on micro and nano scales, personal health tracking, remote diagnosis and monitoring, biomaterials to name a few. The knowledge acquired will then enable you to engage in exciting projects such as designing prostheses or devising new medical technology for physicians and medical professionals to be used in the prognosis, diagnosis and treatment of patients.
Along with these technical skills, as an engineer you will also gain a diverse range of transferrable skills, including effective communication, leadership, the ability to critically assess gaps in target healthcare markets, and the tools required to provide solutions to bridge those gaps.
The programme is currently in progression of accreditation by the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET).
Where will I study?
You will learn within our recently extended £71 million City South Campus, located in Edgbaston just five minutes from Birmingham City Centre. Our campus has been recently re-developed and provides access to cutting-edge facilities that will enhance and support your learning during your time here.
It’s really challenging, it’s a course that takes your mind to a place you didn’t even think imaginable. For me, this is a pathway to graduate medicine, for others it’s to hospital engineering departments or health app programming, the possibilities are endless.
Christina Lawrence
Allen Biju
Allen always knew that he wanted to work in medicine, and his love of Maths and Physics led him to study Biomedical Engineering at BCU. Nowadays, he’s working in Regulatory Affairs as a Product Support Engineer.
Read in fullWhy Choose Us?
- Explore and prepare for a multi-disciplinary of a career in Biomedical Engineering; you’ll have access to facilities at both our City South and City Centre campuses to cover the health and engineering elements of the course, ensuring you get the benefit of both disciplines in terms of resources and the range of academics who teach you.
- Our City South Campus features specialist biomedical engineering labs and over £250,000 worth of cutting-edge technology and equipment, such as thermal imagers, a Codamotion system for gait analysis, a 3D printer and ANSYS engineering simulation software.
- We support you with a personal tutor to guide you in achieving your goals.
- Get work experience abroad - you can apply for a travel scholarship as part of our Go Abroad scheme to carry out exciting work placements overseas
- Strong partnerships, networking, and links with medical devices firms and healthcare providers, including the NHS and private sector, providing you with opportunities to explore your career options ready for when you graduate.
- Access to our cutting-edge virtual technologies, such as our Anatomage tables (3D virtual dissection platform) and 5G telehealth suite.
Similar Courses
Open Days
Join us for an on-campus Open Day where you'll be able to meet us in person. Booking for the next event isn’t open yet. Register your interest below and we’ll email you as soon as booking goes live.
Next Open Day: 29 June 2024
Entry Requirements
These entry requirements apply for entry in 2024/25.
All required qualifications/grades must have been achieved and evidenced at the earliest opportunity after accepting an offer to help confirm admission and allow for on-time enrolment. This can also include other requirements, like a fee status form and relevant documents. Applicants can track their application and outstanding information requests through their BCU mySRS account.
112 UCAS tariff points
Please note: If you qualify for our BCU Accelerate scheme, you could receive an offer that is two grades below our normal entry requirements. Find out more about BCU Accelerate.
If you have a qualification that is not listed, please contact us.
Fees & How to Apply
UK students
Annual and modular tuition fees shown are applicable to the first year of study. The University reserves the right to increase fees for subsequent years of study in line with increases in inflation (capped at 5%) or to reflect changes in Government funding policies or changes agreed by Parliament. View fees for continuing students.
Award: BEng (Hons)
Starting: Sep 2024
- Mode
- Duration
- Fees
- Full Time
- 3 years
- £9,250 in 2024/25
- Apply via UCAS
International students
Annual and modular tuition fees shown are applicable to the first year of study. The University reserves the right to increase fees for subsequent years of study in line with increases in inflation (capped at 5%) or to reflect changes in Government funding policies or changes agreed by Parliament. View fees for continuing students.
Award: BEng (Hons)
Starting: Sep 2024
- Mode
- Duration
- Fees
- Full Time
- 3 years
- £16,085 in 2024/25
Guidance for UK/EU students
UK and EU students applying for most undergraduate degree courses in the UK will need to apply through UCAS.
The Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) is a UK organisation responsible for managing applications to university and college.
Applying through UCAS
Register with UCAS
Login to UCAS
Complete your details
Select your course
Write a personal statement
Get a reference
Pay your application fee
Send UCAS your application
Guidance for International students
There are three ways to apply:
1) Direct to the University
You will need to complete our International Application Form and Equal Opportunities Form, and submit them together with scan copies of your original academic transcripts and certificates.
2) Through a country representative
Our in-country representatives can help you make your application and apply for a visa. They can also offer advice on travel, living in the UK and studying abroad.
3) Through UCAS
If you are applying for an undergraduate degree or a Higher National Diploma (HND), you can apply through the UK’s Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS).
You can request a printed form from your school or nearest British Council office. You will be charged for applying through UCAS. Birmingham City University’s UCAS code is B25 BCITY.
Personal statement
Your personal statement is a highly important part of your application. It gives you a crucial opportunity to say why you’re applying and why the institution should accept you.
Here are the key areas you’ll need to address:
Course choice
Why does this course appeal? What areas are of particular interest?
Career plans
If you have a specific career in mind, say how your chosen course will help you pursue this goal.
Work experience
Mention any work that is relevant to your subject, highlighting the skills and experience gained.
School or college experience
Highlight skills gained at school/college, eg summer schools or mentoring activities.
Non-accredited skills or achievement
eg Duke of Edinburgh Award, Young Enterprise scheme.
You should also mention your future plans – if you’re planning to take a year out, don't forget to give your reasons. Talk about any subjects you’re studying that don’t have a formal assessment and any sponsorships or placements you’ve applied for. And don't be scared to add in details about your social, sports or leisure interests.
Get more information on writing personal statements.
Course in Depth
Year One
In order to complete this course a student must successfully complete all the following CORE modules (totalling 120 credits):
The module aims to provide the underpinning knowledge and problem solving skills in engineering science to enable you to progress to the next module in the theme, Engineering Principles II, and then on to the second year of a range of engineering degrees.
Mathematics plays a key role in establishing and grounding the skills of an engineer, and the ability to communicate the ideas of engineering that are expected of an engineering graduates.
The module aims to provide the underpinning knowledge and problem solving skills in engineering science to enable you to progress to the second year of a wide range of engineering degrees. As the practical aspects of engineering science are delivered in another theme of the common first year, the Engineering Principles modules concentrate on the theoretical aspects. The subject material will be delivered in two coherent streams one of which contains predominantly mechanical science and the other contains predominantly electrical science.
The module aims to provide the professional skills needed to enable you to progress to the next stage of the practical theme, onto your next module: Integrated Engineering Project, and then into the second year of an engineering degree.
The subject material will be delivered in two core streams: a PC-based stream, which will include the use of software to support project planning, communication and analysis, and a project-space stream, where you have the opportunity to integrate learning from across all elements of the semester.
You will develop practical professional engineering skills; including skills required for conceiving, designing, implementing and operating (CDIO) engineering solutions.
This module will interact with modules in the other two themes in the first year, relying on the knowledge of mathematical techniques, and the theoretical underpinning of the engineering principles, design and professional skills.
This module will focus on introducing and building on well-established techniques for mathematically modelling dynamic systems (systems of interest for engineering) for contextualised engineering applications. The module will include an introduction to sophisticated signal analysis technique, Fourier series, which is used to transform time-domain signals into their frequency spectra.
This module is designed to give you a sound understanding of essential human anatomy and physiology, providing a solid foundation for biomedical engineering applications. It is intended that by studying this module you will develop your knowledge and understanding of functions and mechanisms of cells, tissues, organs and organ systems, and appreciate how they interact and communicate to make the human body function optimally in an ever changing environment. It will focus on areas of pathology that provide opportunities and challenges to biomedical engineers to intervene and correct with the latest technology where biology alone is insufficient.
Year Two
In order to complete this course a student must successfully complete all the following CORE modules (totalling 120 credits):
Information is the basic thread of life and signals are the medium by which information is passed. This module will focus on classifying and mathematical modelling of signals and systems in the context of Electrical and Biomedical Engineering.
During the module, analytical techniques will be used to transform signals from one domain to another and vice versa. Mathematical techniques will be used and contextualised for actual system hardware.
This module introduces you to the fundamentals of analogue and digital electronics using a circuit approach. It has been designed to give you a usable level of electronics theory to demonstrate key concepts.
This module will focus on contextualising the theory gained in Analogue and Digital electronics as well introducing embedded systems for both electronic engineering and biomedical applications.
If conducted in the right way biomedical engineering research and design of medical devices will contribute to improved healthcare and quality of life, but too much time and resources are wasted on badly designed and conducted research. This module is designed to give you the necessary skills and knowledge required to design, execute and disseminate a research project in biomedical engineering.
This module will enable you to build upon the knowledge and skills that you have developed earlier as part of this programme. It is intended that by engaging in this module, you will be able to develop a sound understanding of application of physics in medicine and thereby its application in the field of medical imaging.
This module will build upon the foundation knowledge and skills that you have developed earlier as part of this programme. It is intended that by engaging in this module, you will be able to apply various principles underpinning; science, biology and medicine alongside mechanical, electrical and electronic engineering in acquiring measurements from various physiological systems.
Year Three
In order to complete this course a student must successfully complete at least 120 credits from the following list of CORE modules.
It is intended that by engaging in this module, you will be able to demonstrate creativity in your approach to integrate engineering principles, skills and knowledge to plan, design, execute and communicate a sustained piece of independent work, critically addressing a specific question by bridging the gap identified in the literature of Biomedical Engineering.
This module will build upon the common engineering science / skills that you have developed earlier as part of this programme. It is intended that by engaging in this module, you will be able to develop a sound understanding of the physical principles and concepts underpinning the mechanics of living system and human body, which is the basis of movement science.
This module will build upon the common engineering science / skills that you have developed earlier as part of this programme. It is intended that by engaging in this module, you will be able to develop a sound understanding of; the material science and apply the concepts underpinning the interaction of substances, engineered for medical applications, with biological system.
This module will build upon the knowledge and skills that you have developed earlier as part of this programme. It is intended that by engaging in this module, you will be able to develop a sound understanding of; the working principle, operation and troubleshooting procedures of various lower order and higher order medical devices used for medical applications within a health care setting.
This module will enable you to build upon the knowledge and skills that you have developed earlier as part of this programme. It is intended that by engaging in this module, you will be able to develop a sound understanding of; digital image processing, medical image analysis and application within medical image processing.
Download course specification
Download nowCourse structure
This biomedical engineering course is delivered by a team of experienced scientists, and biomedical and clinical engineers. You'll be exposed to a number of different teaching and learning styles, as well as a range of assessment types.
An interdisciplinary approach will introduce you to a range of modules that will focus on human physiology, engineering design principles, digital signal processing, biomechanics and biomaterials. Additional modules in laboratory skills and research methods will prepare you for your research topic in the final year.
A key feature of your first year is a shared core module which will allow you to learn alongside students on other health, life sciences and engineering courses in the School of Health Sciences, the School of Computing and Engineering, and the School of Digital Media and Technology.
Employability
Enhancing your employability skills
We'll develop you into a work-ready graduate. By undertaking suitable elective/optional placement opportunities, you'll gain a greater understanding of the causes and mechanisms underlying health, ageing and disease. This will allow you to collaboratively support the design and delivery of healthcare technology and or medical devices within a clinical or industrial setting.
You may also have invaluable opportunities to test and demonstrate new electro-mechanical models and tools for health and care delivery.
Placements
You may have the chance to undertake valuable work placements, either in the UK or internationally. This could be done in a local hospital, a manufacturing company or in another relevant sector.
International
Birmingham City University is a vibrant and multicultural university in the heart of a modern and diverse city. We welcome many international students every year – there are currently students from more than 80 countries among our student community.
The University is conveniently placed, with Birmingham International Airport nearby and first-rate transport connections to London and the rest of the UK.
Our international pages contain a wealth of information for international students who are considering applying to study here, including:
- Explore some of the good reasons why you should study here.
- Find out how to improve your language skills before starting your studies.
- Find all the information relevant to applicants from your country.
- Learn where to find financial support for your studies.
Facilities & Staff
We have invested over £400 million in our facilities, including an upgrade to our Skills and Simulation facilities at City South Campus. We boast up-to-date, innovative facilities that simulate the real situations that you may come across in the workplace. These resources are essential in offering you a hands-on introduction to health and social care practice.
Biomechanics Laboratory
Our biomechanics laboratory features pressure plates in the floor and cameras mounted at the side. Sensors linked to a computer are used to record motion, evaluate people’s movements and analyse gait.
Nutrition Science Kitchen
Our kitchen has several workstations to allow you to wash, prepare and cook food. There are multi-coloured chopping boards (following food hygiene standard regulations) and a range of utensils and appliances. This space is used by a range of courses including Dietetics, Secondary Design and Technology and Sport. You may use this room to prepare certain meals for teaching basic cooking or baking skills to school children and exploring nutritional education, or protein high recipes for athletes to support their training and fitness regime.
Microbiology Laboratory
The lab is equipped with modern equipment for teaching the molecular biology techniques that underpin modern clinical and research labs such as polymerase chain reaction (PCR) machines and a variety of cell-analysis and cell-culture tools. The department also has DNA sequencing equipment.
Bioscience Laboratory
These Zeiss PrimoStar microscopes have a camera head and are connected to our IT network, meaning everything that students can see in their microscope can also be accessed via an app on our iPads and large screens, giving our lecturers and students a totally new way to share and discuss microscopy images.
Nutrition Science Research Laboratory
This laboratory is used by staff or students doing specific projects such as analysing the chemistry of food in the later stages of their degree.
Skills Classroom
This room can be used to practise a variety of skills but is primarily home to our Anatomage tables. An Anatomage table allows you to investigate anatomy digitally, from organs and muscles to skeletal forms and blood flow, the software includes real-life MRI scan data to help you develop your understanding of anatomy.
Our staff
Dr Vivek Indramohan
Associate Professor and Course Lead - Biomedical Engineering
With an overseas research student award (ORSAS) and University of Strathclyde scholarship, Vivek completed his Ph.D. (in Bioengineering) in 2009. Following the completion of his research degree, he commenced his work as a Research Assistant at University College of London (UCL) for 6 months, during which he was successful in obtaining a...
More about VivekDr Mona Salary
Lecturer
Mona received her M.Eng in Mechanical Engineering (Biomechanics) in 2013 and her PhD in Material Science (Biomaterials) in 2019 from University of Birmingham.
More about MonaDr George Oguntala
Course Lead for MSc Medical Engineering and MSc Medical Imaging Technology
Dr George Oguntala PhD, CEng is a Lecturer in Biomedical Engineering. George joined Birmingham City University in 2020. He is the leader for the Interdisciplinary Research Cluster for Healthcare, Technology and Diseases. Before joining the University, George worked as an electronics engineer and consultant, as well as research assistant and...
More about GeorgeIan Chell
Visiting Lecturer for Biomedical Engineering
Ian Chell MSc FSRP, is the visiting lecturer working with Viji on the Medical Device module. Ian is an experienced x-ray and medical engineer who obtained his Master of Science in Medical Electronics and Physics at St Barts Medical School, now QM Westfield.
More about Ian