Physics with a year abroad

Course detail Description

We have designed our Physics with a Year Abroad BSc to give you an understanding across all the fundamental aspects of physics. You will study areas such as relativity, quantum mechanics, fields and waves, electromagnetism, nuclear and particle physics and carry out extensive project work in your fourth year.

You will study our standard Physics BSc degree course, but you will spend your third year at a university in Europe, Asia or the USA before returning for a final year with us. This course is ideal if you want to experience a different approach to the subject, demonstrate your capacity to study and work in an overseas environment and develop your language skills.

Problem solving and project work is an important part of this course and you’ll learn about team work, group organisation and the skills of oral and poster presentations. We also encourage you to work with a school, to experience teaching and develop the skill of presenting information to non-experts.

You’ll be assigned a personal tutor to support your development and our Department encourages an atmosphere in which students feel able to easily approach academic staff. Our Student-Staff Liaison Committee provides a forum for the exchange of ideas and feedback on teaching. Staff and students are members of the Maxwell Society, which is the Department of Physics’ social and lecture society.

We will teach you through a combination of lectures and laboratory classes, tutorials and project work. You are expected to spend approximately 10 hours work per credit for each module you attend in your degree, e.g. 150 hours work for a 15 credit module. These hours cover every aspect of the module.

We will assess you primarily through written exams, although occasionally also through practical laboratory examinations, laboratory reports, class tests, coursework and oral presentations.

This course is accredited by the Institute of Physics (IOP).

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Structure

• Year 1
• Year 2
• Year 3
• Year 4

Year 1

Courses are divided into modules. Each year you will normally take modules totalling 120 credits.

King’s College London reviews the modules offered on a regular basis to provide up-to-date, innovative and relevant programmes of study. Therefore, modules offered may change. We suggest you keep an eye on the course finder on our website for updates.

You are required to take:

• Physics Skills & Techniques (30 credits)

• Mathematics & Computation for Physics (30 credits)

• Classical Physics (30 credits)

• Introduction to Modern Physics (15 credits)

In addition, you are required to take one module from a range of optional modules, which may typically include:

• Introduction to Biophysics (15 credits)

• Introduction to Astrophysics (15 credits)

Year 2 Required Modules

You are required to take:

• Experimental Physics (15 credits)

• Mathematical Methods for Physics (15 credits)

• Thermal Physics & Properties of Matter (15 credits)

• Quantum Mechanics I (15 credits)

• Electromagnetism (15 credits)

• Relativity & Sub-atomic Physics (15 credits)

You are required to take one module from a range of optional modules, which may typically include:

• Stellar Structure and Evolution (15 credits)

• Introduction to Numerical Modelling (15 credits)

• Symmetry in Physics (15 credits)

In addition, you are required to take one module from a range of optional modules, which may typically include:

• Mathematical Methods for Theoretical Physics (15 credits)

• Group Project in Applied Physics (15 credits)

• Principles of Biophysics (15 credits)

• Introduction to Medical Physics (15 credits)

Year 3

You will study abroad for the whole of your third year. Our partner institutions currently include:

• University of Chicago

• University of California

• University of North Carolina

• Université Paris Diderot-Paris 7 (basic French language required)

• University of Michigan

• University of Washington

• University of British Columbia

• National University of Singapore

• Hong Kong University

• Australian National University

• University of Sydney

• University of Melbourne

• Bielefeld University

• Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) (French language required)

Please note: Your host institution will make the final decision on your application to study there and it will depend on your performance in your end of year exams.

Year 4 Required Modules

You are required to take:

• Statistical Mechanics (15 credits)

• Quantum Mechanics II (15 credits)

• Optics (15 credits)

• Condensed Matter Physics I (15 credits)

• Particle Physics (15 credits)

• Third year Project in Physics (15 credits)

In addition, you are required to take up to two modules from a range of optional modules, which may typically include:

• University Ambassador Scheme (15 credits)

• Advanced Mathematical Methods for Theoretical Physics (15 credits)

• Fundamentals of Nanotechnology (15 credits)

• General Relativity & Cosmology (15 credits)

• Advanced Biophysics (15 credits)

• Medical Imaging (15 credits)

• Modelling Flow & Transport (15 credits)