University Workload Statement
Undergraduate Students
Success as an undergraduate student depends on you being able to make the transition to self-motivated, independent learning. Programmes are designed to assist you in this development, in many cases by starting with units in which timetabled teaching, such as lectures and practical classes, provides the foundations of knowledge and skills in a subject, moving on to individual research-based work. Over time you will be expected to take increasing responsibility for your own learning, guided by the feedback on your work that you will receive.
Postgraduate Students
Taught postgraduate students are generally studying for one academic year. This is a longer year than for undergraduates, normally culminating in a research project. In a one-year full-time programme your workload will be distributed as evenly as possible, but this will depend on the precise arrangements for your programme. You will be expected to take responsibility for your own learning, guided by the feedback on your work that you will receive.
All students
At the heart of your studies at every level there must be regular and disciplined individual reading, reflection and writing and it is this skill of independent studies, above all others, that will serve you best when you leave the University.
Most programmes use credits. An undergraduate 120 credit point year broadly equates to 1200 hours of student input and a postgraduate 180 credit point year to 1800 hours. This includes all activities related to the teaching, learning and assessment of taught units, including the ways that welcome week, preparation/consolidation weeks, revision weeks and assessment weeks prepare you for teaching and learning and enable you to demonstrate your achievement of the learning outcomes.
A component of this is directed study, which is time that you spend in class, interacting with the teaching staff and includes activities such as lectures, laboratories, tutorials, problem-solving classes and fieldwork. Some of this activity may be online and could consist of activity that is synchronous (using real-time environments, with the whole group working at the same time) or asynchronous (using tools such as tutor moderated discussion forums, blogs or wikis, working on examples sheets, completing coursework which you manage in your non-directed study time). Asynchronous study may be a pre-cursor to directed activities and should be completed in a timely manner (e.g. pre-reading for a tutorial).
In some programmes there are field courses and/or placements that will take place in specific periods of time.
In addition to directed study you are expected to pursue independent study to build your knowledge and understanding of the subjects you are studying. Such independent activities include (but are not limited to) reviewing lecture material; reading textbooks; exploring the research literature and reading journal articles; writing up laboratory notes; preparing for in-class progress tests and revising for examinations.
We recognise that many students undertake paid employment. To achieve a sensible balance between work and study, you are advised to undertake paid work for no more than 15 hours per week in term-time, ensuring you remain within the terms of your visa if applicable. We understand that some students may need to work more than this and encourage students to reach out for additional support and guidance from personal tutors and student finance where appropriate.
Additional information for UG Professional Programmes in the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences
For these professional programmes, full time attendance is compulsory unless absence is formally approved. Academic activities are timetabled throughout the 5-day week and student workload is around 40 hours per week on average. Where possible, students in the early years are permitted Wednesday afternoons for sport and extra-curricula activities. This is usually not available in later years of professional programmes as when a student progresses through their curriculum there is an increasing exposure to clinical and professional activities. Students in clinic or on placements may need to stay later than core times of 08.00 – 18.00 or even overnight to observe out-of-hours activities. It may also be necessary to work or travel to clinical placements at the weekend. This increasing exposure to clinical activities means that students on these professional programmes often have longer term dates than the University standard. Individual years within programmes are likely to vary in length (for example because of the timings of placements) and further information on this will be found in individual programme information. Another important point to note is that many of the assessments sit outside the standard University examination timetable and are likely to be more frequent, meaning that students will need to engage in revision activities and self-directed learning (including when on clinical placements).
