SEMESTER/YEAR LONG PROGRAMS

University of Essex, UK
Course Selection and Transfer Credit Process

The academic year at Essex is divided into 3 terms of 10 weeks:

• Autumn (AU): October through December
• Spring (SP): January through March
• Summer (SU): April through June/July

*Full-Year (FY) students would attend all 3 terms
*Fall students would attend AU only
*Spring students would attend SP/SU

Credit designations for most classes at Essex are as follows:

• Full-Year: 8 credits
• Autumn: 3 credits
• Spring/Summer: 5 credits

You may see an "ECTS" value assigned to classes found on the webpage. Ignore this!

All courses taken abroad should be pre-approved by the appropriate academic department at Old Dominion. The chief departmental advisor in each department at ODU has the authorization to approve classes. Students should begin this process with their assigned academic advisor, but may need to visit several chief departmental advisors before the pre-approval process is finalized.

When meeting with the chief departmental advisor, students should bring a Transfer Credit Evaluation form for Study Abroad (available in the Office of Study Abroad) as well as descriptions of all classes they plan on taking abroad (along with several "back up" classes pre-approved as well).

Exchange students are expected to register for a courseload of 12 - 15 credits per semester at Essex. There are two resources for accessing information on classes available at Essex:

1. Course Directory (available in Office of Study Abroad). Please ask someone in the office to copy the pages you need - do not take the directory out of the office!
2. Essex Online Course Catalog: http://www2.essex.ac.uk/courses/

• Select Department
• Check the box that says "Include only Undergraduate modules" if you are an undergraduate student.  
• Click on "go" and then click on the courses that are of interest to you
• Print descriptions (these can be used when seeking transfer credit approval from the ODU chief departmental advisors)

Academic Terminology in the United Kingdom

• Module - The basic unit of teaching (equivalent to one course/class in the U.S.)
• Course - A students' course of study (equivalent to an academic major in the U.S.)

Students may notice that many of the Essex materials which are designed for international students use the U.S. terminology.

Most undergraduate degrees in the U.K. are 3-year (rather than 4 year) programs. Level One modules are often equivalent to either 100 or 200-level classes here, Level Two modules to 300-level classes, and Level Three modules to 400-level classes. Therefore, many Level Two and Level Three classes will require prerequisite study in the field. Degree-seeking students in the U.K. generally take modules only in their major course of study - there is no such thing as general education requirements. Although exchange students from the U.S. are permitted to take modules in a variety of areas, timetable clashes may occur. As semester schedules are not published in advance, it is very important that students select between 2 - 6 "back-up" classes in case of scheduling conflict.

Assessment in the United Kingdom
Students from the U.S. who study in the United Kingdom often find the standard of assessment to be quite high. Grades are awarded on a percentage basis, with a rough conversion to U.S. grades as follows:

UK Grade 70% and above 60 - 69% 50 - 59% 40 - 49% lower than 40% unacceptable for transfer credit

U.S. Equivalent A A-/B+ C+/B-/B C

Grades of 75% or above are very rarely awarded.

Credit for study abroad is loaded as transfer credit - therefore, the foreign grade is not factored into students' grade point average at ODU. However, students need to earn a minimum grade equivalent to a "C" or better for the transfer credit to be accepted.