letter - St Mary's University College

SECTION 2
OVERVIEW OF THE PROGRAMME STRUCTURE
What is an undergraduate degree?
As you will have gathered from the prospectus, an undergraduate degree is normally
studied full time over 3 years; however this time will be longer if you are studying part
time. The first year of your degree does not count towards your final degree
classification, although you need to pass all the modules you take to obtain your
degree. The first year is used to provide the foundation for your further study and to
help you to produce degree standard work. Experience shows that those students
who perform best in this year generally go on to attain higher degree classifications
than students who perform less well. From the second year onwards your academic
achievement, i.e. the marks that you achieve, contribute towards the classification of
degree you will be awarded at the end of your studies.
What are Credits/Modules?
At St Mary’s University College our programmes comprise of a series of modules,
usually worth 20 credits. Each year you will need to accumulate 120 credits (pass 6
modules), giving you a total of 360 credits to achieve your degree. Some modules
are worth 40 credits, including your final year dissertation/research module. Each 20
credit module equates to approximately 200 hours of learning, some of this time will
be in classes with staff and other students but additionally you are required to
complete further student-led study, this may include reading, preparation for class
sessions, research etc
What is a degree classification?
When you graduate your degree will be classified you will either attain a first-class
degree classification (average of 70% & over), upper-second class (average between
60-69%), lower-second class (average between 50-59%) or third class degree
(average between 40-49%). This classification is based on your performance at
levels 5 and 6 (your second and third year)
What are joint and single honours degrees?
Here at St. Mary’s we offer joint and single honours degrees. Single honours
students in nutrition will take all 360 credits in nutrition related modules. This single
honours pathway is accredited by the Association for Nutrition and entitles graduates
to direct entry to the professional register of nutritionists.
Some students prefer to combine subjects and study a proportion of their modules in
each of two disciplines e.g. you may have decided to combine studies in nutrition with
studies in sports science, health, exercise and physical activity or psychology.
It is possible to transfer from single honours to joint honours and vice versa,
but these transfers MUST occur within the first 2 weeks of your studies so if
NU Student Welcome Pack 2013 5 01/08/2013