Blog 3: Navigating a New Education System

Students attending college abroad may have trouble adjusting to their host institution's academic practices. Understanding the UK's education system, and the University of Roehampton's practices in particular, is a useful tool to prepare for the rigors of academic life while abroad (and to avoid panicking over receiving a grade of 70!). Below is a bulleted list of what an American student can expect from the British post-secondary system:

• ACADEMIC DIFFERENCES: How does the academic system in the host country compares to MC? Specifically, how are the following things different:
•  Workload (# of tests/assignments/outside of class work) 
• A common practice in the UK involves the distribution of lengthy reading lists before the semester’s start, instead of spreading out individual, shorter reading assignments throughout the semester. Students are expected to complete more individualized, outside research than may be common at American universities. Final exams and essays carry the bulk of the semester’s grade, unlike the small assignments, midterms, and unit exams that American students complete. The class that I am planning to take at Roehampton bases all its grading on two assignments.
• Classroom culture,
• Unlike in the US, where lectures are often required or at least important to understanding the material, lectures may be totally optional, and students glean much of their face-to-face instructional time in small settings with their lecturers in sessions called tutorials, or at meetings with tutors. Professors are also more concerned with teaching theories and laying a foundation of knowledge than with teaching real-world, career skills. Developing career skills is something one is expected to learn to do on the job, while school is for perfecting the knowledge that will enable you to understand the necessary career skills later on.
• Flow of the semester
• Again, the bulk of grading is done at the semester’s end. Rather than the ups and downs of an American semester based on frequent essays and assignments, the stress of a semester in the UK is centered on finals.
• Expectations of students, and 
• Students are expected to enter college with an understanding of core materials, having already taken exams to be placed into universities, so an American student can expect a first- or second-year class in the UK to be roughly equivalent to a third-year class at an American university. Additionally, post-secondary education has a much faster pace in the UK than in America; students are expected to complete a Bachelor’s degree in three years instead of four. To keep up with the level of independent work and study required for success in the British education system, students are expected to have high levels of self-efficacy and to manage their time effectively.
• Faculty/student relationships
• For Roehampton’s summer program, at least, it seems that a good deal of instruction will come from Student Assistants, a common enough practice in America, though uncommon at MC. Student assistants are listed as being the ones who guide several of the class field trips. 
• CREDITS: 
• How many credits are classes normally worth?
• Classes are referred to as “modules”; a typical international student staying for a full semester would enroll in between 3 and 4 modules. Each module is worth either 10 or 20 UK credits.
• Are credits/workload valued differently in your host country than here? 
• Yes. A British semester of 60 credits would equate to 15 American credits. For Roehampton’s summer term, each student takes one class worth either 10 or 20 UK credits, or the equivalent of a 3-4 hour class in the US. 
• Can you find information on how many hours/week each class will meet?
• Each class meets for four hours a day, four days a week, though times may be subject to change if field trips are involved.
• How will your credits transfer? (I’m not asking what your courses will substitute for, I’m asking X # of credits at your host institution = X # credits at Maryville College.)
• 1 class at Roehampton = 1 3-credit class at MC
• GRADES: 
• Are letter grades in host country equivalent to the U.S.?
• Very high grades are uncommon in the UK, but a lower grade than what one might make in the US still shows strong academic performance. An American “A” ranks between 70-100% on the UK grading scale; between 30-39% is equivalent to an American “C”.
• SUPPORT:
• What kinds of support services, academic resources, and tutoring available are available at your host institution?
• Students can’t access Roehampton’s student support page until they’ve been given a Roehampton account (something that should happen very soon!) but it promises to included student welfare, educational, and tutoring services. These may be different in the summer term than in the regular academic year, but each flat of summer students also has access to a Roehampton RA trained to help International students adjust.
•  FULL-TIME STATUS:
• How many credits do you have to enroll in to be considered full time at both your home and host institution? (You must be considered full time at both for financial aid and immigration purposes.) 
• 60 UK credits per term at Roehampton, 12 hours at MC.
•  What is the minimum number of courses you have to take to be full-time there and full-time here?
• Between 3 and 4 at either institution