FAQs:
1. What is an elective/What is the purpose of electives?
2. What is the role of an academic advisor?
3. What to do once you have accepted your offer?
6. What will the meeting with my academic advisor involve?
7. Will I get accreditation or recognition for my elective subjects?
8. What is the total amount of elective subjects I can study?
9. How frequently will I select my electives? (How in advance of the semester)
10. How will I select my electives for study abroad semesters?
12. What is a prerequisite, corequisite, or exclusion?
13. I’m unsure which electives to choose. What should I do?
14. What are the ‘experiential’ electives?
15. Who to contact for more information?
1. What is an elective/What is the purpose of electives?
NU London has a unique structure which sets it apart from other universities. One amongst these is the scope to select ‘elective’ courses and pathways in disciplines outside of your main degree programme.
2. What is the role of an academic advisor?
The academic advising team is there to help you with every step of your academic journey, beginning with your first course selection. At NU London, every student is provided with a designated academic advisor, and they will be contacting you soon to arrange a time for this to take place.
3. What to do once you have accepted your offer?
Now that you have accepted your offer, you will be automatically enrolled onto your required courses. The academic advising department will also be in touch soon to help you discuss your elective choices for the first semester. Please familiarise yourself with the courses available and identify a range that fit your interests and needs in advance in order to make the selection process as efficient as possible. Once your course selections have been agreed with the academic advising team, you will need to self-select them using the google form they provide.
4. What is a pathway?
Students who take the equivalent of at least three courses across at least two years in a defined area outside of their main degree discipline requirements may apply to receive official recognition of this in their University documents upon graduation. Courses may not be double counted across pathways. Pathways are currently available in Art and Design, Art History, Business, Creative Writing, Computer Science, Data Science, Economics, English, History, Law, Mathematics, Philosophy, Politics and International Relations, Political Thought, Sustainability, and Technology and Ethics.
5. What is a core attribute?
A core attribute refers to the inclusion of a certain type of knowledge or skill within the contents of a course. During the course of your degree, you will need to take courses with the following core attributes:
WI Writing Intensive (x 2)
CPPC Communicating in Public and Professional Contexts
EX Integrating Knowledge and Skills through Experience
FP Demonstrating Thought and Action in a Final Project
You will also need to complete courses with four of the following eight general attributes:
ND Engaging with the Natural and Designed World
EI Exploring Creative Expression and Innovation
IC Interpreting Culture
FQ Conducting Formal and Quantitative Reasoning
SI Understanding Societies and Institutions
AD Analysing and Using Data
DD Engaging Differences and Diversity
ER Employing Ethical Reasoning
Your degree has been designed to make achieving the necessary attributes easy. Where you need to take electives to achieve certain attributes, your advisor will make this clear and offer suggestions on how to achieve it.
6. What will the meeting with my academic advisor involve?
In advance of the advising meeting, you will be provided with information regarding your degree programme and the available courses. Please study these documents carefully, and try to form some idea of the areas you wish to explore during your time here. The advisor will be able to answer any questions you may have, and will invite you to identify your first and second preferences for electives. They will then contact you before the start of the first semester to inform you whether you have been registered for these courses, or whether you need to make an additional selection.
7. Will I get accreditation or recognition for my elective subjects?
You will receive a grade and credits for elective courses in the same way as those required for your degree, and the classes themselves will appear on your transcript. If you wish for sustained focus within a particular area of study recognised, you will need to complete the requirements of a pathway.
8. What is the total amount of elective subjects I can study?
The total number of electives you can take will depend on your degree programme. You will complete 60 credits (four courses) in each semester; any slots not taken up by required courses will be free electives.
9. How frequently will I select my electives? (How in advance of the semester)
You will select your electives during the advising period, which takes place once per semester. You will be contacted first in the months preceding the start of the course (June – September) after you accept your offer to study here. The second advising period will take place midway through the first semester.
10. How will I select my electives for study abroad semesters?
During the second semester of the second year, you will have the opportunity to study at our Boston campus. If you choose to travel to Boston, you will be provided with the list of available electives and will select them in London the preceding semester.
11. Which electives should I choose if I intend to take the joint UK/US double degree, or the US Master’s pathway?
The requirements of the undergraduate double degree will be provided to you in a separate plan of study. The most significant change from the usual degree programme will be the necessity of completing additional courses, typically online during the Summer break or during a fourth year in one of our US campuses.
The requirements of the US Master’s pathway will need to be completed during an additional period of study on one of our US campuses. However, there are certain electives you can take during the third year that may provide transferable credits that can be used in lieu of Masters classes during that period. The classes which provide transferable credits will be highlighted to you during course selection during your second year of study.
12. What is a prerequisite, corequisite, or exclusion?
Certain electives require previous experience in a given subject area, so require another course to have been completed previously: these are highlighted by prerequisites on the programme specification. Some require another course to be taken either in advance or concurrently, highlighted by a corequisite. Finally, some courses contain overlapping material and so cannot be taken as part of the same degree programme, highlighted by an exclusion.
13. I’m unsure which electives to choose. What should I do?
To an extent, the advisor will be able to help guide you towards those classes that best fit your interests and future ambitions, and so we invite you to participate in the advising call without a definite idea of which course to take. However, this still requires you to articulate these interests and ambitions, so please do think carefully about what you would like to achieve in future!
14. What are the ‘experiential’ electives?
One of the core course attributes you will need to achieve to reach your degree requirements is EX, Integrating Knowledge and Skills through Experience. Though some degree programmes contain courses with this dedicated attribute, some do not, in which case you will need to take an ‘Experiential’ elective. These electives are available from the second semester in the first year, and incorporate such opportunities as an interdisciplinary group project on a sustainability theme, an internship, and participation in faculty research.
15. Who to contact for more information?
hilary.murrell@nulondon.ac.uk
alex.underwood@nulondon.ac.uk