Degree Course Structure

Awards | Course Structure | Modular Structure | Joint Honours | Part-time Students | Three-year Degree Route | Thick-Sandwich Degree Route | Thin-Sandwich Degree Route | Finding a Placement | Grant, Salary and Sponsorship | Professional Accreditation

Awards

The University awards the following first degrees: Bachelor of Engineering (BEng), Bachelor of Science (BSc), Bachelor of Arts (BA), Bachelor of Music (BMus) and Bachelor of Laws (LLB). ‘Enhanced’ first degrees, such as the MEng available in some engineering and technology degrees, are also offered.

First degrees are usually awarded with honours, classified into first class, second class (with upper and lower divisions) or third class. You are admitted on the assumption that you will proceed to an honours degree. A pass degree may be awarded if you complete an honours degree course but fail to reach honours standard. Some Schools offer a less demanding ordinary degree course if your performance proves not to be of honours standard before the final year.

The Course Structure

The academic elements of each undergraduate course, both three- and four-year, are normally taught in six university-based periods of 12 weeks. The first period each year runs from September to December with a two-week break for Christmas.

The second runs from January to Easter. There is then an extended revision and examination period to mid-May. Students taking a four-year sandwich course spend a further two periods – either as one continuous year for the thick-sandwich or as two separate periods if taking the thin-sandwich – in work placements.

Thus a full-time degree course lasts three years while a sandwich degree course lasts four years.

The Three-Part Year

The Brunel course structure is based on three periods of study a year: two teaching terms of 12 weeks each and a third, shorter, examinations and assessment term. The period between May and September may then be spent undertaking work placements if taking a sandwich degree or as vacation if taking a three-year full-time course. This allows three-year full-time and four-year sandwich (thin or thick) courses to run side by side.

Exceptions to Usual Structure

Education: courses leading to qualified teacher status have a different structure.

Physiotherapy, Occupational Therapy and Community Health (Specialist Practitioners): Students taking these BSc courses may have some periods of clinical work experience during part of some vacations.

Social Work: Students taking the BA spend a proportion of each year in the field.

The Modular Structure

All Brunel courses are designed so that they are made up of self-contained modules. This modular structure should allow you, within the scheme of studies for your course, either to broaden the range of topics you study or to specialise in one particular area. In addition, because each module has a credit value, Brunel is able to participate in national and international Credit Accumulation and Transfer schemes.

How Does the Modular Structure Work?

An honours degree is equivalent to at least 360 credits, 120 at each of three progressively more challenging levels. Each module will normally be worth 20 credits (a few are worth 10, some are worth 30) and you will usually take modules to the value of 60 credits each 12-week study period, so you should complete each level in one full-time academic year.

Periods of work experience that form an integral part of your degree programme may attract up to 120 further credits and may lead to a separate award (this doesn’t apply to Education).

Level 3 work culminates in a major research project which is normally worth 40 credits. Level 4 modules – if you are undertaking an MEng qualification – also contain advanced group projects.

If you do not complete your first degree programme, you may be eligible to receive a Certificate of Higher Education (CertHE) with 120 credits or a Diploma of Higher Education (DipHE) with 240 credits.

Most degree courses contain core modules in order to meet the requirements of, for example, the professional institutions or to maintain the coherence of the course. However, you will normally also be able to select other modules from a range of subject areas offered by your School. You may also be able to select modules from outside your immediate area of study.

Modules in French and German are available at all levels (including Level 0 – Foundation) if you have an A-level or GCSE in one of those languages. Beginners’ modules in German, Italian and Spanish may also be credited, subject to the permission of your School.

You select your modules at the beginning of each level. Your tutor will advise you about the choice available to you, and there are, of course, some academic constraints on the system to ensure that you do not try to follow a module for which you do not have the proper grounding. Sometimes, your main course timetable will also limit your choice.

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Joint Honours Degrees

Some subjects may be combined as a joint honours programme, and these are listed in the Courses Index inside the back cover. The proportion of credits you will be expected to attain in each subject will vary according to your chosen scheme of studies but, for a joint honours course rated at 360 credits, you must take a minimum of 160 credits in each of the two subjects.

Part-Time Students

A few degree programmes are available on a part-time basis (and these are shown under each course description in this prospectus). As a part-time student, you will normally take up to 80 credits in an academic year, though you can vary this according to your personal circumstances. A part-time degree can last between four-and-a-half and six years.

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Three-year degree route

Students following a three-year full-time degree programme take the six academic terms with the standard Summer vacation (see table A).

Table A

Four-year thick-sandwich

There is also the option of taking a four-year thick-sandwich route (see table B), in which students spend the whole of Year 3 gaining work experience. The rest of your academic study follows the same pattern as the three-year, full-time route.

Table B

Four-year thin-sandwich

Students following a four-year thin-sandwich course spend two periods on work placements, one in Year 2 and another in Year 3 (see table C). Students and their employers are likely to extend the work experience through the Summer vacation so that up to 30 weeks can be spent in each placement. This is particularly important if you are taking a course that is approved by a professional institution, since some of the time spent in work experience may give exemptions, after graduation, from membership requirements of individual institutions.

If you are following a degree course with a substantial foreign language component, you may undertake part of your work experience in an overseas placement appropriate to your language study.

Table C

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Finding the right placement

The University collaborates closely with its students' employers and works to ensure that the academic study and professional experience complement each other - both are part of a continuous learning process.

Although we have Work Placement Officers to help you in your search for suitable placements, the responsibility for finding a placement is yours. They will also give you guidance in selecting the kind of experience best suited to your needs. A placement should take account of your knowledge and previous experience and the demands of your particular degree course.

We try to ensure that you are engaged in work which is appropriate to your level of ability and the stage you have reached in your course, and that you are given as much variety of experience as practicable. Your Academic Tutor will guide you in deciding on the appropriate work placement for you and will remain in touch with you during your placement.

If you are registered for a course that includes work experience but have problems in obtaining suitable placements, you may have to transfer to a different mode of study (if one is available in your degree course).

For example, you may wish to switch to a thick-sandwich mode from a thin-sandwich if you have not obtained a placement by the end of Level 1 (your first year) and have the further option of transferring to the three-year mode at the end of Level 2. Options vary from department to department, depending on the availability of different modes. You should therefore check the scheme of studies for your course when you register.

The University has contacts with several thousand employing organisations (industry in both public and private sectors, government departments, research laboratories, local authorities, business and commerce). You will usually be supervised by a senior person in the establishment where you are employed for placements.

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Grant, salary and sponsorship

You will normally be paid a salary by the firm during the training periods. Although you are unlikely to earn enough to finance yourself fully through the academic study periods, you may be able to offset a significant part of the costs of living whilst actually in the University. This in turn could go some way to reducing any student loans you take out.

Sponsored students usually have an established relationship with one company during their course, so they become familiar with the entire range of activities of that company or business. Many sponsoring companies pay a bursary to their students during the university-based periods so there can be a financial advantage from sponsorship, and there is often the opportunity to remain with the sponsoring company as a graduate.

Some of Brunel's degree programmes encourage applicants to look for a sponsor prior to, or soon after, joining their course. Individual admissions tutors should be able to advise you on how to go about this.

Some of the degree programmes in the Department of Health and Social Care also incorporate periods of work experience outside the University.

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Accreditation by Professional Institutions

A Brunel degree may bring you particular advantages if you are contemplating a career in certain professions. The professional bodies accredit degree courses which they deem suitable for gaining admission to their ranks. A large number of Brunel's courses are validated by these bodies. Other requirements for membership of the professional institutions normally include a period of training in the relevant discipline.

For Brunel students on sandwich courses, periods of work experience can contribute between six and 16 months towards such training requirements, giving you accelerated entry to your chosen profession.

Each course or departmental entry shows whether it has accreditation. For example, almost all of our engineering-based courses are accredited by their relevant professional body, as are all our degrees in Community Nursing, Occupational Therapy, Law (single honours), Psychology and Physiotherapy.

If your course includes a work placement, your department will help to ensure that your work experience is registered towards accreditation if necessary. You can check with your Admissions Tutor about requirements in your particular subject area.

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