Forensic Science degree course guide

Television programmes and scientific advancements have made forensic science an exceptionally popular career choice?Photo: United National Photographers/Rex Features

"Nature composes some of her loveliest poems for the microscope and the telescope." Theodore Roszak

What qualification do you leave with?

Students leave with a BSc but many students specialise in crime scene science as a postgraduate.

It usually takes three years to complete a BSc.

What does it cover?

Students usually begin with getting a good grounding in some of the fundamental scientific ideas which underpin forensic science such as cellular chemistry, genetics, physiology and criminal psychology. Students are then gradually able to apply these ideas to forensic settings and at the University of Bedford this culminates with students working with new areas of forensics such as DNA profiling and compiling legal case studies. Students at Teesside University have access to a mock courtroom and must produce a professional standard photographic portfolio for assessment.

What can you expect?

Students might find the glamour of CSI quickly dissipates and human tragedy comes to the fore but forensic scientists are responsible for keeping us safe from some of our most dangerous fellow citizens.

What are the usual A-levels you need?

Applications come from quite a diverse pool of students but at least one science at A level will usually be expected.

Career prospects

The government's own Forensic Science Service warns potential applicants that "generally, all applicants have achieved a high standard with many having gained a PhD, Masters or other postgraduate qualification". This means that if students are looking to take a role in a forensic science lab then their undergraduate studies might be only the beginning of a long process. Alternatively, a student's broad legal and scientific knowledge can make him/her useful employees in a large range of research and management roles in both the public and private sectors.

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Top 10 computer science degree courses

IT and computer science degree students at Edinburgh University are the most privileged when it comes to the amount of money spent on them by their department. Just under ￡20,000 was spent on each of the 455 graduates last year. The course also has one of the lowest student to staff ratios in the country, with eight students to one teacher. Unsurprisingly, 85 per cent of course graduates left saying how satisfied they were.

This list is compiled from data on employment prospects provided by the Higher Education Statistics Agency. For a full comparison see the Telegraph University and Course Finder tool.

Picture: ITV/Rex Features

Agriculture & Forestry degree course guide

Agriculture and forestry degrees have emerged as vital fields of science, applied art, and technology.?Photo: LYNN M. STONE / Nature Picture Library/Rex Features

"For in the true nature of things, if we rightly consider, every green tree is far more glorious than if it were made of gold and silver." Martin Luther

What qualification do you leave with?

Commonly students leave with a Bachelor of Science (BSc).

Most students complete their studies in three years but many institutions will expect you to have built up a number of months of work experience before you begin (perhaps to make sure students are used to waking up before dawn).

What does it cover?

Farming in the UK is changing and farmers are being forced to diversify. For this reason core early courses now often include business and food production as well as crop and livestock science. Environmentalism and even agricultural marketing are included in agricultural degrees and institutions such as the Royal Agricultural College and Harpers College organise paid placements on farms whilst larger institutions such as the highly-ranked University of Nottingham have their own out-of-town campuses where students can learn about farming, the environment and animal husbandry first hand. The University of Nottingham also offers an Agriculture and European Studies degree which allows students to gain an extra language (complete with relevent terminology) and experience farming methods in another country. The National School of Forestry at the University of Cumbria runs a Forestry and Woodland Managment undergraduate degree and a masters degree in Forest Ecosystems Management which enable students to design sustainable forests and better understand the inner workings of the UK's wooded regions. A range of Agricutural and Forestry degrees enable students to concentrate on animal welfare, soil science, environmentalism, business management and many other specialisms.

What can you expect?

A lot of walking outdoors, getting muddy shoes, rosy cheeks and frozen hands. Students will come away with the tools to appreciate and protect one of the UK's most valuable and yet threatened resources: our green spaces.

What are the usual A-levels you need?

Nottingham's top-rated agriculture course usually requires two A-levels in science subjects whilst the forestry course accredited by the University of Cumbria looks for roughly the equivalent of three Cs at A-level from students. More than many subjects, agriculture and forestry students will be expected to have shown a commitment prior to arriving for interview and work experience or previous employment in the sector is as good as mandatory for many institutions.

Career prospects

As well as the obvious career route into farming or gamekeeping, students find employment in consultancy, working for companies that support farming, country park management and environmentally focused charities and businesses.

Top places to study

The latest Complete University Guide (published in April 2011) rates Nottingham, Reading, Harper Adams, Aberdeen and Queen's Belfast as the top five universities for this subject according to an index based on student satisfaction, entry standards, an assessment of the quality of the university's research and graduate prospects.

Top 10 medicine courses

The University of Oxford offers medicine degree students the best combination of employment prospects and course satisfaction, according to the Telegraph University and Course Finder tool.

Last year, 100 per cent of its students found employment within six months of graduating. 95 per cent of those students declared themselves satisfied with the course.

The school is also very generous: last year it spent ￡47,784 per student, more than any other institute named in this top 10.

‧ For a full comparison see the Telegraph University and Course Finder tool.

Picture: Charles Bowman, Robert Harding, John Lawrence / Rex Features

Oxford Tories' nights of port and Nazi songs

One officer claimed that members regularly sang a song which includes the words: “Dashing through the Reich…killing lots of kike (Jews).”

The Daily Telegraph has been shown a video of one of the members reciting the first line of the song before a friend silences him, saying, “No, no!”

Matters came to a head this week after a series of emails in which senior members express concerns about the “absolutely disgraceful” behaviour at meetings were leaked to The Oxford Student newspaper.

One officer told the newspaper that “lots of people were singing (the song) that night, and indeed on many other nights”.

Joe Cooke, who was president of OUCA during this year’s spring term, is one of the senior members who have decided to resign.

He told The Daily Telegraph he was quitting “because of the extent of the debauchery” at meetings, where the annual bill for port runs to ￡10,000, the equivalent of a third of a bottle per person per meeting.

“It has become more like a pub than a political association,” he said, likening the meetings to those of the Bullingdon Club, the drinking club once frequented by David Cameron.

“I am committed to the Conservative Party but this association has come to represent everything we’re supposed to stand against,” he added.

The students’ antics are a far cry from the days when the likes of Margaret Thatcher, Edward Heath and Theresa May were members.

At one recent event, OUCA’s returning officer, Tom Hendriks, was photographed pouring alcohol into a pith helmet as another student drank through a hole in the top.

Another picture shows a fancy dress party in which one student is dressed as Baroness Thatcher, while another is dressed as a miner and a third is holding a sign saying “miners love shafting”.

Mr Cooke, 21, who is a former comprehensive school pupil from Barnsley, added that when he spoke at meetings after he first joined the Association “I was ridiculed for my accent…they would say things like ‘ee bah gum’ and create a culture of intimidation”.

OUCA has faced repeated accusations of racism in the past. In 2000 four members were expelled for making Nazi-style salutes and in 2009 Oxford University temporarily banned OUCA from using “Oxford University” in its name after two candidates made racist jokes at a hustings meeting.

James Lawson, a student at St Edmund Hall college and president of OUCA, said: “I haven't seen the video yet and we are investigating to find out whether this was a member of the Association.

"If it turns out this person is a member we will take immediate action to expel them from the Association. Racism has no place in the Association or our society.”

OUCA is the biggest single organisation within Conservative Future, the body for young Tories which is run from the party’s London headquarters.

A spokesman for the Conservative Party said: “Racism of any kind has absolutely no place in the Conservative Party, and we will look into any allegation against a party member as a matter of urgency.”

A spokesman for Oxford University said: “The University Proctors, who are responsible for discipline, have been made aware of the article and will be considering whether there are grounds for further investigation.”

Additional reporting by James Rothwell

Geography and environmental science degree course guide

It's very possible that some of this century's most important figures will be geographers?Photo: KPA/Zuma/Rex Features

"One touch of nature makes the whole world kin." William Shakespeare, Troilus and Cressida

What qualification do you leave with?

As geography covers areas of anthropology, chemistry, biology and history and many other diverse subjects, both BA and BSc degrees are available.

Three years is the standard length but the opportunities to study abroad and/or learn a language to aid the research process means students can easily extend their degree by one year.

What does it cover?

In the first year, students are usually taught the basics behind the two major areas of geography: human and physical. This might mean studying immigration and urban development as well as theories behind earthquakes and cloud structure. The vast array of fields of study mean that second and third year are often dominated by elected options where students can concentrate on subjects such as deforestation, climate change, earth history and tectonics. Oxford University offers courses in the geographies of finance and studies in post-Communist Russia in latter years and the London School of Economics' whole department concentrates on studying societies, history and other areas of human geography. Sussex, meanwhile, offers a final year course in the biogeography of tropical rainforests as part of their BSc programme.

What can you expect?

Gone is the stereotype of the boring geography lessons that plagued older generations' school lives. Thanks to climate change, globalisation and events such as 2011's Japanese earthquake, geography has become political and moved to the cutting edge of scientific research.

What are the usual A-levels you need?

Geography, for most places, is a must. Other A-level requirements are usually dictated by the areas of study on which a student wishes to focus. A BSc programme that looks into declining polar bear numbers might not look too kindly on a sociology qualification but it would be useful for a programme that concentrates on urbanisation and developing economies.

Career prospects

Individuals who can advise local government or business on being more environmentally friendly are extremely valuable and the growing importance of climate change and conservation in the political arena means that 'green' industries are growing rapidly. This focus also makes a career in research – exploring the world's most interesting corners – a very real possibility for many graduates.

Top places to study

The Complete University Guide rates Cambridge, Oxford, LSE, Durham and Bristol as the top five universities for geography and environmental science according to an index based on student satisfaction, entry standards, an assessment of the quality of the university's research and graduate prospects.