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Informatics Fourth Year Honours Course Guide
Degree specific information

Degrees are specified via Degree Programme Tables. This is the

• complete list of degrees involving Informatics .

Click on a degree title to see a document describing the degree (the Degree Programme Specification). Near the top you will see a link to the Degree Programme Table which gives the courses required for the degree. Each table has the following format (in this example the entries for years 1, 2, 3 are left blank while the entry for year 4 is the one for the Computer Science degree):

Degree Programme Table Format

NYT	Course	S	L	CT
1
2
3
4	Honours Project (Informatics)	O	10	40
	Further courses in any of ...	O	10	60
	Further course	O	10	10
	Further course	A-Q	10	10

The significance of the columns is as follows:

• NYT (Normal Year Taken): self explanatory (the word "normal" is to allow for some variations, e.g., some year 1 courses can be taken in year 2).
• Course: a brief description of the types of courses allowed. Note that "course" does not necessarily mean a taught course, e.g., the project counts as a course. Note also that each UG4 course is allocated to various areas. This is indicated in a separate column in the complete list of Informatics courses .
• S (Schedules): the courses delivered by the various Schools are given a single (upper case) letter code. Informatics courses are indicated with "O". This is the complete list of schedules (the actual tables have links for each schedulle entry).
• L (Level): in order to help to produce broad consistency across the many educational institutions the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework classified educational provision into 12 levels with level 1 representing the most basic access and level 12 doctorates. Level 10 corresponds to honours degree study.
• CT (Credit Total): each course is allocated a number of points (10, 20 or 40 in this university). Roughly speaking 1 point corresponds to 10 hours of effort (naturally this is a guide only). Note that the points (and implied effort) cover all aspects of a course including practicals, private study, revision and even exam time. Our final year taught courses are all rated at 10 points; the project by contrast is rated at 40 points. The credit total is simply the sum of the points of the courses taken. The total number of points you must take adds up to 120 (this applies to all degrees). Thus a typical final year student will take 8 courses each at 10 points and the project (giving 8×10+40=120 points).

Clearly the entry of interest to you as a final year student is the one under year 4.

Interpretation of the entries.  This is fairly straightforward. Taking the table as above, a student on the Computer Science degree is required to undertake a project worth 40 points. Such a student must also take at least 60 points worth of courses as specified by the words following "courses in any of". The remaining points (if any) can be made up by taking any other Informatics courses at level 10 together with any other course offered at this university at level 10 and rated at 10 points. Note however that this does not mean you have the right to enrol in courses offered by other Schools. Should you wish to follow this option it is your responsibility (with advice from your Director of Studies) to check with the other School if you are qualified to take the course and they are willing to allow you to enrol on it. You must also inform the ITO if this happens so that your marks can be obtained at the appropriate time.

For some degrees there is a choice between two or more possibilities. This is indicated by the phrase ONE OF: on a line by itself with the choices shown indented on subsequent lines.

Finally some entries have footnotes, make sure you read these.

Compulsory courses.  Each degree requires you to undertake a project (or equivalent for some combined degrees). A few degrees have additional compulsory courses and these are given in the Degree Programme Table. For combined degrees take care to consult any additional documentation from the partner School since some compulsory elements might be specified there.

Forbidden courses.  A few courses have restricted numbers due to resource limitations (those that do state this in their course descriptor).

Level 11 courses.  UG4 students are allowed to take 10 points of study at Level 11 in place of 10 points of study at Level 10 without seeking any special permission to do so. Directors of Studies may give permission to substitute a further 10 points of study at Level 11, if presented with a reasonable case outlining why this is of educational benefit. To substitute any further points of study at Level 11 requires the permission of the Director of Teaching .