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Computer Science University

Programme structure and organisation

Programmes, Years and Terms  |  Modules, Credits and Workload  |  Supervision and Tutorials  |  First and Second Year Structure  | 
First Year Strands  |  Second Year Strands  |  Timetable  |  Third and Fourth Year Structure  |  Examinations  | 

This page describes how our programmes are structured and organised. For what topics they contain, see our list of programmes.

For a more general discussion, giving reasons, see

• The York Approach to Computer Science and Engineering

• How and Why we teach what we teach

• The differences between our various programmes

Programmes, years and terms

At the University of York, and in the Department of Computer Science, undergraduate programmes last for three or four taught years. If you took a one-year placement in industry in between your second and third taught years, the total duration of your programme would then be either four or five years.

Those are nominal durations, since you would actually enter the University in the October of your first year and leave in the June of your final year.

• The academic year at York is organised in three terms: Autumn (October-November-December), Spring (January-February-March) and Summer (April-May-June). Each term lasts for 10 weeks.

  Year 1			Year 2			P	Year 3			Year 4
  Autumn term	Spring term	Summer term	Autumn term	Spring term	Summer term		Autumn term	Spring term	Summer term	Autumn term	Spring term	Summer term
  Weeks 1 - 10	Weeks 1 - 10	Weeks 1 - 10	Weeks 1 - 10	Weeks 1 - 10	Weeks 1 - 10		Weeks 1 - 10	Weeks 1 - 10	Weeks 1 - 10	Weeks 1 - 10	Weeks 1 - 10	Weeks 1 - 10

  P stands for 'optional one-year Placement in industry'.

• Examinations take place in week 1 of the Spring term, and in weeks 7 and 8 of the Summer term.

• All results for each year are announced in the Summer term, in week 10.

• There is a short vacation in December-January, another short vacation in March-April, and a long vacation from late June until early October.

• The University of York does not use semesters.

• Undergraduate students enter the University of York at the start of the Autumn Term, which is usually the second Monday in October.

  See here for exact dates of terms in the next few years.

Modules, credits and workload

Programmes are organised in modules of 10, 20 or 40 credits, where each credit represents 10 hours of your total workload.

• Your programme will contain 120 credits in each of the three or four years.

  Year 1			Year 2			P	Year 3			Year 4
  Autumn term	Spring term	Summer term	Autumn term	Spring term	Summer term		Autumn term	Spring term	Summer term	Autumn term	Spring term	Summer term
  40 credits	80 credits		40 credits	80 credits			40 credits	80 credits		40 credits	80 credits

• A credit is a unit of your workload, including time spent on learning, being taught, and being assessed (exams, projects and so on).

• Your total workload will average 40 hours per week - but that includes reading, thinking, lectures, practicals, work on projects and open and closed assessment.

Supervision and tutorials

In all years of your programme, you will receive supervision: either as an individual, or in a small group, as appropriate to the stage you have reached.

First and second year structure

ALL OUR PROGRAMMES ARE BEING COMPLETELY REVISED

SO, THIS SECTION HAS BEEN REMOVED UNTIL A NEW ONE CAN BE WRITTEN

Typical timetable

• Here is a typical example timetable for a student in the Autumn term of the first year of the Computer Systems and Software Engineering programme.

  	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
  0920 - 1010	-	Mathematics lecture	-	-	-
  1020 - 1110	Programming lecture	-	-	Tutorial	Architectures lecture
  1120 - 1210	Electronics lecture	-	Programming lecture	Mathematics problem class	Professional development seminar
  1220 - 1310	Mathematics lecture	-	Programming practical	-	-
  1320 - 1410	-	-		Architectures problem class	-
  1420 - 1510	Electronics practical	Programming lecture	-	Electronics lecture	-
  1520 - 1610		-	-	-	-
  1620 - 1710		Architectures lecture	-	-	-
  1720 - 1810	-	-	-	-	-

• This is only an example of what is typical: the first-year timetable does of course vary from calendar year to calendar year; and your timetable would change as you progressed through the terms and years of your programme.

Third and fourth year structure

• In the third year, the option modules follow a similar pattern to the first and second years; but, if this is your final year, you will also be working on a project - which is a very important part of your programme.

• The fourth year taught modules follow quite a different pattern - there is a succession of short intensive modules each of which is followed by an open examination - and, as this is your final year, you will be working on a project.

Examinations

Although there is an increasing proportion of open examination (submission of written reports, and so on) as the years progress, the first three years also involve closed (invigilated) examinations.

Closed examinations take place in early January (for Autumn term modules) and in early June (for Spring/Summer term modules). Each closed examination usually lasts either for 90 minutes or for three hours.

How to contact us | Page author Bill Freeman | Page last updated 20 Nov 2008