Teaching and examinations

Our undergraduate degrees are well suited to part-time students and all lectures and classes are held between 6pm and 9pm.
Each course on the programme is valued at one course unit; a course unit amounts to approximately 50 hours of teaching (lectures and classes). Each course meets one night a week during the teaching term.
The degree involves attendance, on average, on two or three evenings a week for approximately 20 weeks per year.

Most course units are taught by a combination of lectures and student-led discussion. The evening will typically begin with a lecture of about 60 minutes in length that will identify the main themes and debates for each given topic. The balance of the session is then usually spent in classes organised according to a variety of formats.
The lectures introduce students to the subject matter and principal themes of a particular course, and to the current scholarly interpretation of the subject. Their aim is not primarily to transmit a body of detailed information but to help students orient themselves in the subject and to establish a framework within which to set their own reading and class work. Visual aids (maps, slides, overheads) may be used, and a summary of the structure and content of each lecture may be distributed for reference.
Seminar classes are a particularly useful part of the teaching and learning process, so it is helpful to get used to participating fully in group discussions in classes from the beginning. Classes are not oral examinations and you should not be afraid to take part. The object of the classes are two-fold: to enable students to gain confidence in this teaching method, which is used in all the courses, and to get used to exchanging ideas - however outrageous - which is an important part of the learning process.

All tutors are available to answer student queries about their work or to assist where students are experiencing difficulties relating to the subject matter covered during the course.

At the end of the academic year you will be examined in the units you have completed that year. The exam period starts in early May and ends in mid-June. The exam timetable is published in March.
You will need to make sure that you are available during the full exam period, since no alternative arrangements for sitting the exams can be made. In order to accommodate the number of exams set across the College, exams are taken during the working day. It will, therefore, be necessary for you to arrange time off with your employer once the exam timetable is known.