Notes for Advisers of Studies

Notes for Advisers of Studies

MA (Social Sciences)

2015-2016

September 2015

Contents

The General (Ordinary, non Honours) MA (Social Sciences) Degree 4

Group A Subjects 4

MA (Social Sciences) Honours Degree 4

Entry to Honours 4

MyCampus and Student Registration 5

ID Cards for new students 5

Student’s Responsibility 5

Course Choices 6

Progress Regulations 6

Additional Forms 7

GROUP A SUBJECTS 9

Accountancy: 9

Business and Management: 9

Economics: 9

Economic and Social History: 10

Geography: 10

Law: 10

Philosophy: 10

Politics: 10

Psychology: 10

Social and Public Policy: 11

Sociology: 11

OTHER SUBJECTS 11

Contact the Advising & Student Support Team for up to date information 11

Archaeology: 11

Biology: 11

Computing Science: 11

English Literature: 11

Fundamentals of Education: 11

Mathematics: 11

Languages: 11

History: 11

Statistics: 12

Theology: 12

Part-time Centre for Open Studies courses: 12

Adviser of Studies Moodle (SLSD) Information 12

OTHER POINTS TO REMEMBER 12

These notes are designed to cover the main issues for MA (Social Sciences) Advisers of Studies.

They do not include details of Honours courses which are largely the responsibility of Subject Areas / Honours Convenors.

The General (Ordinary, non Honours) MA (Social Sciences) Degree

As a reminder of the arrangements, students progressing to the general degree must take non-Honours Level 3 courses in designated subjects. Students with 40 credits at grade D grade in a Subject’s Level 2 courses can take 60 credits of non-Honours Level 3 electives in that Subject in their third year. This applies to all Social Sciences based Group “A” subjects (see below).

Geography Level 3 is available to MA (Social Sciences) students at the discretion of the Head of Subject.

Psychology non-Honours students are required to study 120 level 3 credits in the final year.

If students have grade D in two Level 2 Social Sciences subjects (i.e. 80 credits in total) they can also take 60 credits of non-Honours Level 3 electives in the second subject but this is usually a minority of students. They are strongly advised to take level 3 in only one subject, to maximise their opportunity to return to Honours.

To graduate students must have achieved at least 60 credits of Level 3 courses at grade D or above. For times and places of classes refer students to the online Course Catalogue at http://www.gla.ac.uk/coursecatalogue/

· Note that non-Honours students are only allowed 120 non-Social Sciences courses in the curriculum. This also applies to transferring non-Honours students.

Group A Subjects

Along with Mathematics, the following subjects are recognised as group A core Social Science courses:

(a) Levels 1, 2 and 3 courses in: Business & Management, Central & East European Studies, Economic & Social History, Economics, Geography, Politics, Psychology, Social and Public Policy, Sociology

(b) Second year students only: Business Reporting & Financial Management 1, Management Accounting & Finance 1, Business Law 1, Introduction to Finance, Investments & Institutions, Forensic Medicine 1, Entrepreneurship 1A and 1B

First year students should select three level 1 courses that potentially lead to an Honours degree.

MA (Social Sciences) Honours Degree

Entry to Honours

The College has rationalised the requirements for entry to Honours across all College Subjects, but Psychology and Geography will still maintain their separate requirements (see below).

For the Adam Smith Business School and the School of Political and Social Sciences Subject areas, entry to Honours will be 40 credits at Grade C (average) in the relevant level 2 course(s). Subjects with capacity in Honours classes may apply discretion to allow a few students with grade D results entry to Honours but students should not expect discretion to be applied unless it is written into the Level 2 handbooks.

For entry to Honours, the Calendar regulations require a student to have 240 credits at levels 1 and 2 with a grade point average of at least 9 and at least 200 credits at Grade D or above. An additional requirement is that a student must have 80 credits of level 2 courses at Grade D or above for entry to Junior Honours.

· Geography requires 60 credits at grade C at Level 2

· From 2012 onwards, Psychology requires 60 credits at grade B at Level 2

Warning: Business & Management and Psychology is not a good combination for level 2 if students have not achieved at least better than D in year 1 as both have high rates of students failing to access Honours.

Warning: There are several combinations of subject where there is an irresolvable timetable clash in level 2. These combinations do not exist as UCAS offerings (check here to see if the combination exists). Two examples are: Geography/Psychology and Business Management/Spanish.

MyCampus and Student Registration

All new and continuing students are required to register online using MyCampus, the University's student information system. MyCampus can be accessed from any computer, at any time, from any location. MyCampus is accessed through the student portal – MyGlasgow.

The Registration process allows students to register and confirm personal, academic and financial information. Once registration is complete the student will be issued with a student card and can enrol in courses/classes.

Some Registration support information is available from the Registry web pages. The University is providing Registration support at: http://www.gla.ac.uk/services/registry/registration/help/

ID Cards for new students

After registration student ID cards will be available for collection during orientation week and the timetable for collection is at Student ID collection timetable.

New Students

New students are to follow the instructions sent to them by Registry in order to complete enrolment procedures. MA (Social Sciences) students will be emailed directly by the Advising & Student Support Team, throughout the registration and enrolment period.

A “Guide for New Students” is made available to all new students in August on our web pages, prior to the start of the year, and a link to this can be found on the MA (Social Sciences) Web pages (maintained by Fiona Webster and Liz Turner).

During the registration and enrolment period, the Advising & Student Support Team will check enrolments for all first and second year students, and new students will be seen by a senior adviser at the group advising meeting during Fresher’s Week. Once we are sure that students are beginning year 1 on a plan leading to an Honours degree qualification, they will remove the R05 service indicator from the students’ records.

Continuing Students

All students moving from year 1 to year 2 or year 2 into year 3 who have not satisfied the progression rules will have a service indicator (“in review, COMM etc.,”) on their record. The Advising & Student Support Team will check all such students and notify them of their situation on an individual basis, consulting with advisers or the Chief Adviser, as required.

Following reassessments or first attempts in the summer diet, and once Subject areas have confirmed entry to Honours, students will be progressed by the Advising & Student Support team, so that they can register and enrol. If you find a student has a hold on their record please consult with the Advising & Student Support Team as to whether the hold should be taken off or not.

For students repeating a year or going part-time or exams only, their academic load will need to be changed and if this has not been done, please refer students to the Advising & Student Support Team who can investigate and make the change.

Student’s Responsibility

All new students will have been emailed by the Advising & Student Support Team and directed to the “Guide for New Students” - designed to encourage them to think about their courses before arriving at the University.

It also explains the registration and enrolment procedures which require students to have entered their provisional course selection before coming to their advising meeting which will take place in Fresher’s Week. The MA (Social Sciences) Guide for New Students is available on the MA (Social Sciences) web pages.

A table in this handbook (also available online) is designed to let students look ahead towards second and third year courses and their timetable implications. Students should be encouraged to complete this since it is ultimately their responsibility to choose their subjects.

We strongly recommend that students should use the “enrol by requirements” link in MyCampus as this will lead them to the correct courses for their particular plan. If you are asked a question and are unsure what to adviser the student to do, please direct the students to the Advising & Student Support Team.

You should presume that all students intend to proceed to Honours and therefore an advising priority is to help students identify practical pathways to Honours. Students should be reminded that admission to Honours depends primarily on the standard of performance in second year i.e. a C3 average grade at Level 2, except for Psychology which retains grade B and other requirements.

The ideal is for the three subjects chosen in first year to lead to single Honours in any one and joint Honours in any two (even though this may require transfer out to another College if non-Social Sciences subjects such as languages are chosen - this is not a problem). Subjects such as Statistics and Entrepreneurship should be taken in year 2 only.

Note that the College of Social Sciences does not offer joint degrees with a language, but students can take a language with us in first and second year. If they intend a joint Honours degree they must transfer to the College of Arts, and a language year abroad is required. The “with” language degree option where the language is a subsidiary element was closed to new students from session 2013-14.

Warning: If a student insists on a curriculum against your advice, or one which contravenes the guidelines or Regulations, please ensure that you have a written note of the position and a written note from any appropriate Subject area that may have agreed to the “irregular” curriculum. If any student goes to appeal it is important to have a transparent paper or email trail and unfortunately there are more appeals and complaints these days.

All such confirmations should be copied to the Advising & Student Support Team:

Course Choices

Most students will take courses A and B of each subject in a year e.g. Economics 1A (Semester 1) and Economics 1B (Semester 2). Choice of courses may restrict the choice of Honours degrees. Most, but not all, Subjects will only allow entry to second year on the basis of 40 credits from first year courses in that Subject. For Geography the 40 credit Level 1 course has a 20 credit early exit point for students struggling with the subject.

The Advising & Student Support Team are familiar with subjects which do not require 40 credits to progress to second year, so you can direct student queries to them – particularly where students want to change a semester two course having decided in semester one that it is not for them.

The online Course Catalogue 2015-16 is available at http://www.gla.ac.uk/coursecatalogue/

Again, strongly advise students to “enrol by requirements”, in MyCampus, and they will be directed to the correct courses.

Progress Regulations

The most important point to note is that each year of study comprises 120 credits. Students require 80 credits at D or above to proceed to second year and 160 credits at D or above, including 40 credits at Level 2 at D or above, to proceed to year 3 of the MA (Social Sciences) General Degree.

Students failing to achieve these requirements after the resit exams will be subject to the Progress Regulations and their academic record will be considered by the Progress Committee at its meeting on 16th September 2015 for a decision on whether each student can progress their studies or not. Advisers are notified of the decisions of the Progress Committee and any actions required on MyCampus for their advisees will be undertaken by the Advising & Student Support Team, or the College Office.

Note: The College now holds a Progress Committee in late June/early July solely to deal with Honours students who are not meeting the requirements to progress.

Problem Curricula

Some students subject to the Progress Regulations may be required to complete a year of part-time study to catch up. Students and Advisers will be notified of this.

Students may also have difficulty completing the MA (Social Sciences) General Degree due to a lack of Level 1 credits and again part time study or the use of Open Studies courses is a way of helping students to complete.

Remember it is part of our role as Advisers to suggest ways students can progress to graduation. If you have any doubts or questions, please contact the Advising & Student Support Team, who will help you.

Overseas students must check with RIO International Student Support / Tier 4 Compliance to confirm that it is possible to study part-time.

Additional Forms

Transfer form: Students cannot transfer between Colleges in first year. The College of Social Sciences and the College of Arts have many joint students and to facilitate movement, at appropriate points of the year, a transfer form has been created. This is available from the MA (Social Sciences) web pages. The student should complete the form and return to the Chief Adviser in the receiving College.

Withdrawal form: Students should complete a withdrawal form and send to the Advising & Student Support Team, in the first instance so that we can ensure they get the correct advice and guidance. The forms will then be sent to Registry for processing.

Readmission form: Readmission is not automatic and students must submit a readmission form for review by the Readmission & Transfer Committee.

All forms are available from the MA (Social Sciences) web pages, under the “Policies & Procedures” tab.

College Support

If you are unsure about any point then contact: