NOTE REGARDING THE CREDIT SYSTEM IN THE FACULTY OF SCIENCE

The School of Geosciences is part of the Faculty of Science and the structure of the degree programme in the School is guided by Faculty of Science policies and rules. The Faculty of Science offers a three-year undergraduate programme leading to a BSc degree, followed by a one-year postgraduate programme leading to a BSc (Honours) degree. In addition, MSc by Coursework and Research Report (MScCWRR), MSc by Research and PhD programmes are offered.

To complete the BSc programme, a student has to follow a minimum number of courses at each year of study. To assess the relative weighting of courses, Faculty allocates credits to each course in the BSc structure. At present 36 credits are awarded for a full first-year level course, 48 for a second-year level course and 72 for a third-year level course. In some courses credit allocations have been broken down to smaller units of 9, 12 or 18 credits that constitute the course (e.g. GEOL2019A, GEOL2021A). This allows greater flexibility in curriculum design and the possibility of doing only a portion of a larger course. Since 2018 the School has been following the new national HEQSF-aligned BSc structure that requires students to complete coursework totaling 144 credits each year. This is the equivalent of 4 First Year, 3 Second Year and two Third Year courses, giving a total of 432 credits. (Students who registered before 2018 require 396 credits, of which 144 must be at Third Year level and only 156 can be at First Year level.) In order to meet the national requirements, a new Second Year course, Applied Geology II (GEOL2026A) is now available, allowing students to complete 96 credits in the School of Geosciences. The remaining 48 credits must be selected from another School (usually GAES, CHEM or APES), depending on the student’s original First Year course selection.

Although the Second and Third Year courses for the full year, they are made up of component courses that have their own course codes; e.g., GEOL2025A (Geology II) consists of 4 component courses (GEOL2020A/2023A/2023A/2024A). Full details of all courses in the School of Geosciences will be found in this booklet. This allows smaller units to be taken as standalones, but only with the permission of the Head of School.