Understanding the course list

In order to understand the set-up of the course list, you need to understand

• how our academic year is structured at University West
• what study pace means and how it works

Two semesters - two study periods per semester

The academic year at University West is divided into two semesters:

Autumn semester Spring semester

Each semester is 20 weeks long.

Each semester is then divided into two study periods (SP) running over 10 weeks each:

Autumn semester is divided into study period 1 and 2 (SP 1 and SP 2) Spring semester is divided into study period 3 and 4 (SP 3 and SP 4)

Study period 1 runs during the first 10 weeks of the autumn semester and study period 2 runs over the remaining 10 weeks of the same semester.

Study period 3 runs during the first 10 weeks of the spring semester and study period 4 runs over the remaining 10 weeks of the same semester.

Study period and study pace

Each course runs in a certain study period over a certain period of time (at a certain pace).

Some courses are given as full-time studies (100%) and some as part-time (50% or 25%).

If I choose a 7,5 credit course given at full-time, this means that it will run for five weeks (including examination).

But not all courses run as full-time. Many of our courses run at half-time (50%), which means that you study two courses simultaneously for ten weeks, for example during the first study period of the semester. This means that during these ten weeks you will also do the examination of the same two courses. When you go on to study the second part of the semester (the second study period), you will then start participating in two new courses for the last ten weeks.

More information and examples on study period and study pace

Study pace, examples

Full-time (100%) Study pace is full-time, which means that a course on 7,5 credits will run for five weeks during the semester, and a 15 credit course will run for a full study period (10 weeks).

Full-time, examples

Below, we have listed two examples of full-time courses - one at 7,5 credits and one at 15 credits.

Example 1
The course International Economics (7,5 credits) runs at full-time. You can see this in the course list by looking at the column pace of study, where it says 100%.

If you click on the course in the course list and select the section Study path, you can see that it runs in study period 4 (section a). This means that the course starts in study period 4 and runs full-time during the first five weeks of this study period (SP4a)

Example 2
The course Power, Gender, Ethnicity and Other Inequalities (15 credits) also runs at full-time.

If you click on the course in the course list and select the section Study path, you can see that it runs in study period 3 (section a and b both). This means that the course starts in study period 3 - at the start of the spring semester - and runs full-time during the whole of study period 3 (ten weeks)

Part-time
Not all courses run at full time. Many of our course run at half-time (50%) and some less than that (25%).

If I take a course on 7,5 credits running at half-time (50%), it means that it does not run for five weeks (as a full-time course would have done) - but at 10 weeks. In other words, a half-time course at 7,5 credits will run for a whole study period. That is why many students take two courses per study period as they will in total amount to full-time studies.

Half-time, examples

Below, we have listed two examples of half-time courses.

Example 1
The course CAD (7,5 credits) runs at half-time. You can see this in the course list by looking at the column pace of study, where it says 50 (for 50%).

If you click on the course in the course list and select the section Study path, you can see that it runs in study period 3 (section a and b). This means that the course starts in study period 3 - at the start of the spring semester - and runs at half-time pace during the whole of the study period.

Example 2
The course Quality Project (7,5 credits) also runs at half-time.

If you click on the course in the course list and select the section Study path, you can see that it runs in study period 4 (section a and b). This means that the course starts in study period 4 and runs at half-time pace during the whole of the study period.

Most part time courses run at 50%, but some courses also run at 25%. This means that a 7,5 credit course running at 25% will run during the whole semester (20 weeks).