Teaching is organised around two semesters in the academic year that run, broadly, from October to February, and February to June. Modules can run across both semesters, or just one. Find our term and semester dates for the next few years here.
The course is made up of modules where you'll explore subjects in increasing depth as you progress through the degree. Most modules count for 20 academic credits, although some like the dissertation or final year project have a higher credit value. Full-time students complete 120 credits per academic year. The average amount of time spent on each module depends on the number of credits, for example you can expect to spend around 200 hours studying on a 20-credit module, including scheduled teaching, independent study and assessments.
Each stage of the course has a number of modules that must be passed before you can progress to the next stage of the course. Full-time students normally require 120 credits in each academic year to be able to progress. Part-time students progress through the stages over a longer period of time.
Your degree result, or classification, is normally based on second and final year modules at a ratio of 25:75. Exceptions to this rule are some arts degrees that are classified on the final year only, four-year and integrated masters degrees that are subject to separate classification rules, and part-time students who study at a different pace to full-time students.