FoundationSTEM Foundation Year
Why study a STEM foundation year?
Prepare for a STEM degree with essential maths, technical skills, and career planning on this foundation year for engineering, computing or built environment.
- £0minvestment in our campus and industry-standard facilities
- Top0%for student satisfaction (Complete University Guide 2025)
- Top0best student city (StudentCrowd, 2024)
- Supportive and student-focused approach to learning.
- Gain essential academic and subject-specific skills to progress seamlessly on to an engineering, yacht design, computing, or built environment degree.
- Develop transferable skills such as problem-solving, teamwork, and digital literacy, valued across all STEM careers.
- Build confidence in higher education study with tailored support and structured learning.
- Many of the academic team on the foundation year also teach on the degree-level courses.
Course overview
The STEM Foundation Year is the ideal way to prepare for degree study, with successful completion granting direct access to undergraduate engineering, yacht design, computing, or built environment degree courses.
By the time you start your degree course you will have acquired an essential portfolio of academic and subject specific skills, giving you the very best chance of achieving a high-level degree.
You'll study modules that give you a solid foundation in STEM subjects before exploring your subject area of interest in greater detail in preparation for beginning your degree studies. The foundation year culminates with a degree-related project, which you'll develop with the support of academics who will be teaching on the degree programme you have chosen. This ensures that the skills and knowledge you develop during the foundation year will be directly applicable to your degree studies.
You'll also be encouraged to work collaborative working with your peers. From the start of the year, you’ll work on both individual and group project, helping you to meet fellow students and develop collaborative working skills. These are essential in the STEM industries, where cross-discipline working and teamwork are vital parts of delivering successful projects.
Any questions?
Contact international admissions
Email:Â Call:ÂWho this course is for
The STEM Foundation Year is ideal for students who want to progress to a degree in engineering, computing, or the built environment but don’t meet standard entry requirements. It’s designed for those keen to build essential maths and technical skills, gain confidence in higher education study, and prepare for a professional STEM career.
- Foundation years are designed to help prepare you for undergraduate study and are ideal for gaining an introduction into your chosen subject area.
- If you've been out of education for a while, a foundation year provides a supportive environment for returning to studying.
- Foundation year students have access to the same facilities, and academic and student support as students on undergraduate degrees.
What you'll study
Find your degree
Meet the team
The teaching team for the foundation year is made up of lecturers who also teach on the degree courses.
Entry requirements
48 UCAS tariff points
- A minimum of two completed A-levels, a BTEC Extended Diploma at PPP or BTEC Diploma at MP, a T-Level Pass (D or E), or equivalent.
- We will consider mature students who have not recently undertaken a formal course of study at A-level, or equivalent, but can demonstrate relevant work or voluntary experience, that's indicative of their ability to complete the course successfully.
For international and EU students
- As a general guide, we look for qualifications that are equivalent to the British high school A-levels.
- If you are applying from outside the UK, find information about entry requirements, visas and agents for your country here.
- For further information about qualifications, please contact admissions.
Contextual offers
Solent endeavours to offer learning opportunities to students from all backgrounds. When we receive and review an application, we take into consideration the context and personal circumstances of applicants when making a decision, which means our advertised entry tariff could be reduced.
Language requirements
Applicants who do not have English as their first language will be required to demonstrate an approved level of proficiency in the use of the English language. The agreed minimum requirements for this course are:
-
IELTS 6.0 overall with a minimum of 5.5 in each individual component, or equivalent.
Qualifications
Qualifications are checked before enrolment, and international students must bring their original certificates or certified copies when coming to study at the University.
The University also offers a pre-sessional English programme for international students who wish to improve their level of English before starting a degree course.
Find your degree
Our foundation years are designed to offer a broad range of academic skills alongside a taste of the wider industry before you start your chosen specialist undergraduate degree. Some degrees also include a year in industry, meaning you can gain valuable first-hand work experience with a year-long full-time work placement between the second and third years of your degree.
Applying is simple, just:
- 1
Find the undergraduate degree you’re interested in studying, and explore the course page – this is also where you’ll find the modules you will study throughout your degree.
- 2
Make sure you’ve selected a ‘foundation year’ (or foundation year and year in industry) variant; you’ll find this under ‘Course length’, near the top of the relevant course page.
- 3
Click the ‘Apply on UCAS’ button, and check the UCAS summary mentions ‘foundation year’ under ‘Study mode’.
And don’t worry if you discover a new skill or subject you love during your foundation year, it’s easy to switch to another linked degree!
