How are courses delivered?
If you are studying for an undergraduate Honours degree course, you can reasonably expect it to be delivered over a three or four year period on a full-time basis.
You may be surprised to discover that the experience is quite different from schooldays. A key feature is that you take responsibility for your own learning. University courses are delivered through a combination of lectures, practical and placement work and private study. In addition you will also attend thought-provoking seminars, tutorials, debates and discussions.
Lectures follow a more formal arrangement where a tutor delivers a presentation to large groups of students who listen and take notes. This is changing however and lectures are becoming increasingly interactive with students being encouraged to actively contribute.
Seminars and tutorials are much smaller discussion groups. In a tutorial students have the opportunity to discuss course issues or sometimes tackle pre-set problems. A seminar is a discussion group, usually led by a student, who has researched a particular subject and gives a short presentation. A group discussion then follows.
