College of Science & Engineering

Within Science, we offer the following degrees:

• MSci
• BSc Honours
• BSc in a Designated Subject

The BSc Designated degree requires in-depth study of a subject to third year. A designated degree can be awarded in a single subject or in an approved combination of two subjects. This degree can be awarded with merit or distinction, depending on your grades.

The BSc Honours degree is a four-year degree. Entry to honours courses comes at the start of third year and admission is dependent on achievement in all courses and particularly the chosen subject area over years one and two. Honours degrees are awarded on the basis of results achieved over the third and fourth years and are classified as first, upper or lower second or third class. Honours degrees can be awarded in a single subject or in an approved combination of two subjects. 

The MSci degree offers an opportunity for more advanced and intensive study in particular subjects, or approved combinations, over a five-year programme. Some MSci programmes involve a year spent on work placement or in a European university working on a research project after the third year. The placement is assessed and contributes to the final award. Entry to an MSci, like entry to BSc Honours, comes at the start of third year. MSci degrees are awarded based on results achieved over the third, fourth and fifth years and are classified as first, upper or lower second or third class. Admission is competitive and open only to the most able students.

You can find a BSc/MSci degree options.  

Some students come to university with precise intentions.  Others will be less certain and will wish to keep a number of options open. This is perfectly possible with our flexible system of entry to Science. Whatever your situation you should discuss your course choices in advance with your Adviser.  We will attempt to contact you over the summer to organise such a discussion; alternatively, you should contact science-chief-adviser@glasgow.ac.uk

The programme to which you were admitted through UCAS will show in ‘MyCampus’. This is merely a method of identifying appropriate subjects for you to study in first year. It means that the compulsory courses will be shown and you may have to choose the remaining 40 or, perhaps, 80 credits. (In a few cases you will have no choice!) It is important that you use ‘My Requirements’ in MyCampus as this will guide you through both your compulsory courses and the wide range of optional courses that you can select (provided it is possible to timetable these).

In some cases, a first year curriculum is the possible foundation of more than one honours programme, and usually a choice of honours programmes will remain open until the end of second year. If planned well, you will have the choice between two subject areas in which you could specialise at honours level.  However, if you want to change your degree programme, you need to make a transfer request and it's not always possible to approve all requests.

Science courses are generally any course offered by the Schools of Chemistry, Computing Science, Geographical & Earth Sciences, Mathematics & Statistics, and Physics & Astronomy.

Other courses are those offered by the School of Humanities in Archaeology, the School of Engineering in Electronics & Electrical Engineering, the Adam Smith Business School in Economics, and Accounting and Finance, and from the Life Sciences in Biology and Psychology.

The first year curriculum for science students consists of at least three level-1 subjects. All level-1 courses are worth 10, 20 or 40 credits and your curriculum should add up to 120 credits.

Level 2 students, who need to find additional courses can enrol for level 1 courses, assuming they have at least 60 credits at level 2 relevant to their degree.

Please note that you must study a minimum of 80 credits in science subjects in level 1.

Courses can all be science subjects but it is possible to include one non-science subject out of general interest. If you would like to study a subject in another area, details of courses are available in MyCampus (you will be guided by ‘My Requirements’), or see below for further suggestions.

Here are a few notes of general guidance:

1. Normally you must include 40 credits of your intending honours subject in your starting curriculum. The sole exception to this rule is statistics; the prerequisite for studying Statistics 2 is mathematics at level 1. Statistics 1Y/1Z are strongly recommended along with mathematics if you are intending honours.
2. At least one subject will be prescribed by your intended honours degree but in some cases two, or exceptionally three, subjects are necessities. For example, mathematics  must be taken by students studying degrees in astronomy,  physics or statistics. Mathematics is also strongly recommended for students studying computing science and software engineering. 
3. Science Fundamentals 1X/1Y are intended primarily for those who have not achieved a previous qualification in chemistry at Higher, A-level or equivalent. It may also be appropriate for those with a grade C in Higher or D at A-level, particularly at the second attempt.
4. If you think that you might want to take part in a study abroad year (in your second or third year), then you may take an appropriate language course from the Arts list. Even if the teaching occurs in English, knowing some basics of the language of the country you wish to go may turn really useful and help you with making friends and embrace the culture.

In some cases, the choice of the third subject may prove difficult. Not all courses are available to all students. If you would like to take a popular course that is not core for your degree, you may need to wait to see if space becomes available for that course.

If a subject new to you seems attractive and is one that you might wish to study, please consult the online course catalogue in ‘MyCampus’ for further information (using ‘Browse Catalogue’).

The University course catalogue might also be helpful to see what level 1 courses are on offer. You may find the below helpful to see what courses are typically taken for each BSc programme in addition to enrolment guidelines.

• Student Enrolment user guide
• Course Enrolment Suggestions. Here, you can find degree names on each tab at the bottom and these are given alphabetically.  Within each tab, courses are listed by popularity.  In all cases, the first one or two courses are core courses for that degree (but you should check that you have enrolled on the correct core courses for your degree). Courses highlighted in yellow are considered science courses. You can find all courses in the University course catalogue, if you would like more information.

A full year of study normally consists of courses amounting to 120 credits. In first year, subjects normally consist of courses that acount for 40, 20, or 10 credits.  Some courses run in semester 1 or semester 2 and some course run throughout semester 1 and 2.

In level 1, full-time students must enrol for 80 credits of Science courses.

A typical 40 credit course will typically require attendance for roughly five to seven hours per week. Attendance will be made up of lectures, laboratories and, maybe, workshops or tutorials. Your personal timetable will be available to you in ‘MyCampus’ once you select courses.

This means that you will have specific commitments for approximately 20 hours every week. In order to keep up with your work it is extremely important that you attend all of your lectures, laboratories and tutorials. The remaining time is NOT entirely free. You should aim to spend a further 15 to 20 hours or so in private study – six hours per subject. When you are not in a scheduled class, you are likely to be undertaking private study to go over lecture notes, read the course textbook, or to prepare assignments which will be handed in and will often contribute to your final grade for the particular course. Coursework can account for as much as 50 % of the final assessment in some courses. Treat your studies as you would paid employment and aim to 'work' a 35-40 hour week.

Lecture and lab hours for all level-1 science subjects are included in the details of class selection. When you select courses in ‘MyCampus’ you will then select lectures and laboratories. Try to select all your lectures in the morning and labs in the afternoon – or vice versa.

Within Science, we make every effort to accommodate your choice of subjects within the timetable. For this reason, and because of the large number of students in some courses, lectures and laboratories may be repeated throughout the day and week to ensure that you are able to attend all essential elements of your three subjects. Not all chemistry students will have a 10:00 lecture, for example, since it is repeated at 15:00.

In addition to timetabled classes on campus, in some subjects (archaeology, earth science and geography) there may be occasional field trips at weekends.

Some lectures take place at 17:00. We regard the normal working day as 09:00 to 18:00.

Lectures start at 5 minutes after the hour and stop at 5 minutes to the hour. If you have consecutive lectures, this allows you 10 minutes to get to your next lecture that may be in a different building.

On completion of a course, a grade is awarded on a scale ranging from A1 to H with A1 being the highest and H the lowest. In assessing course performance, students are awarded grades, which carry a specified number of grade points as follows:

In assessing progress towards your degree, both the number of credits gained from each course completed and the grade points accumulated will be taken into account. Your Grade Point Average (GPA) and the number of credits at grade D3 or better are critical in determining your achievement. If you find yourself awarded CR, CW or 07 then please seek advice from your Adviser of Studies.

Your GPA is calculated by multiplying the number of credits gained from each course (usually 20 or 40 in first year) by the grade points awarded for that course, totalling the results and dividing this by your total number of credits.

Thus a student who has taken the following courses and gained the grades specified:

will have a GPA of 12.67 on 120 credits, calculated as follows, 1520/120=12.67.

We do not have a pass/fail system. The grade required to allow you to take the next year of a course varies from B to D grades depending on the course and your progamme.

You will only be allowed to continue studying from first to second year and onwards if you have met the appropriate course requirements for each subject and met the general College of Science and Engineering requirements. 

Each School will publish its course and programme requirements, that is what assessments you have to complete and what standard is required before students are allowed to progress to the next stage of study. 

Most courses are assessed through different components of assessment, which are usually a combination of coursework (or continuous assessment) and exams (or degree exams).   Coursework usually takes place during the semester and may be based on tutorials, laboratory reports, essays, class tests and even class exams. Exams take place during exam diets, usually in December and/or April/May.  Your course will specify how the course will be assessed (and when) and the weighting of each component of assessment.

You must meet the following minimum College requirements to be allowed to progress in your studies.  Please note that this does not necessarily mean that you will be allowed to advance to the next level of your programme, merely that you will be allowed to return as a student with the aim to complete/progress in your studies.  Failure to meet these minimum standards will result in a student being referred to the Science Progress Committee.   The minimum requirements to progress in your studies are:

Achieving only this minimal standard will not guarantee progression to the next stage of your degree programme. Some programmes may require a minimum grade in order to be admitted to their Honours programme. Your Adviser of Studies will guide you on all of these matters.

Please do not overlook requests to make an appointment with your Adviser of Studies. You will be asked to meet with your Adviser of Studies at the beginning of each semester at least in level 1 and 2 and may take only 10-15 minutes but they are an essential part of university life.

Please give your Adviser of Studies an opportunity to get to know you so that you can make use of this valuable source of help should the need arise.

Common worries affecting students might include:

• Wrong choice of course and Study Habits

If you feel you have made the wrong choice of subjects, do not withdraw without discussing options with your adviser; either your own Adviser, your School’s Senior Adviser, or the Chief Adviser. You may be judging matters too early without being fully aware of how your courses develop. Or you may indeed have identified an alternative, more attractive degree. In some cases, it is easier to transfer after even partial completion of your existing curriculum than to give up entirely and achieve nothing from your first year of undergraduate study.

If you are experiencing difficulty with study habits, you may find it helpful to consult one of our advisers in the Student Learning and Development service.

• Finance

If you find yourself with serious financial problems, please consult your Adviser of Studies, or your School’s Student Support Officer, who may be able to direct you towards possible sources of help in the university. Further details of the financial aid is available.

• Part-time employment

Quite reasonably, students often choose to work part-time to supplement their income. The Student Opportunities Hub provides a range of internships throughout the year, all of which are exclusive to UofG students.

The Glasgow University Students' Representative Council (SRC) exists to promote the interests of students to the University and beyond, alongside providing a range of support services as well as social and personal development opportunities.

The SRC offer an extensive Advice Centre, which offers information and representation services provided by the SRC for all Glasgow University students. The Advice Centre offer free and confidential advice on wide range of subjects.

If you have any questions, and don't know who you ask, please email science-chief-adviser@glasgow.ac.uk