Princeton Program: University College London
Academic Program
Donaldson Library (located in the Wilkins Building), one of 19 separate UCL library sites that house in total over two million printed volumes alongside subject journals, multi-media materials, and special collections. Photo Courtesy of Steve Cadman
For specific course offerings, please consult the Study Abroad Guide, published by UCL, in the Office of International Programs and available online at http://www.ucl.ac.uk/prospective-students/international-students/study-abroad/overseas-students-at-ucl/sag.
Each course has one or more “convenors.” The course convenor is responsible for designing and managing the course. Almost all courses consist of lectures and seminars, though the proportion between these, and their distribution over the period of the courses, is at the convenor’s discretion.
It should be noted that all lectures at UCL are open to all UCL students, unless specifically designated otherwise. Seminars, however, are restricted to those taking the particular course to which the seminar belongs. Credit for the course is given only to those who have attended the complete program of lectures and seminars.
Courses usually consist of weekly lectures that cover key texts. Lectures do not necessarily follow one consecutive theme. Instead, each lecture is a complete entity, covering one topic of the course. Each lecture is usually given by a different lecturer, who is a specialist in his/her topic. There is no set reading list, and so students should be prepared to read relevant texts. Each lecture course is intended to give a series of critical perspectives, rather than complete coverage.
Lecture courses normally include a seminar, which meets every two weeks for two hours. Topics for discussion do not depend on the lecture topic, but are chosen to provide for more detailed textual work on areas within the course. For these seminars, a bibliography or handouts of required reading are provided in advance.
Each student is assigned a personal tutor in the course, whom s/he sees for one hour usually twice a month. At these tutorials, a topic for an essay is chosen by joint consultation between tutor and student. It is then marked by the tutor and discussed at the ensuing tutorial, at which time the next topic is selected. Two papers are normally required for each English literature course per term.