Professor Peter Cox, Professor in Climate Systems Dynamics, explains how his research feeds directly into his teaching.
A research- and practice-led culture
We believe every student benefits from being taught by experts active in research and practice. You will discuss the very latest ideas, research discoveries and new technologies in seminars and in the field and you will become actively involved in a research project yourself. All our academic staff are active in internationally-recognised scientific research across a wide range of topics. You will also be taught by leading industry practitioners.
All our degrees involve a combination of teaching methods, including lectures, seminars, workshops and tutorials. Most modules in mathematics involve three one-hour lectures per week, so you would typically have 12 lectures per week. In the first year there are tutorial classes for each module every week and example classes every fortnight, except for modules involving computing or project work. Thus in the first year you would typically have around 16 contact hours per week.
In addition to this, you are expected to spend about 20 hours per week in private study. The tutorials and exercise classes enable you to discuss the lecture material and coursework problems. Further support is available at lunchtime mathematics surgeries run by postgraduate students. You are encouraged to discuss any mathematical problems or questions that may arise with the lecturer. All lecturers have advertised office hours when they are available to provide help. Working through examples and solving problems is a vital part of learning mathematics so coursework is set in each module.
Assessment
Assessment for all degrees is through a combination of examinations and coursework. Examinations are the more important part of the process, but the assessed coursework will help you to work steadily throughout your degree. This is particularly important in Mathematics where the subject matter develops logically from fairly simple beginnings. Written examinations for mathematics modules are held in January and May/June of the first and second years and in May/June of each subsequent year. Most modules also have either a mid-term test or coursework contributing to the assessment.
Coursework typically contributes 20 per cent to the assessment of all modules except in the final year of the MMath and MSci programmes. In the third and fourth years several modules allow you to undertake further coursework to contribute to your overall degree classification.
You must pass your first year assessment in order to progress to the second year, but the results do not count towards your final degree classification.
