Studying in Scotland

Edinburgh Napier University, Edinburgh Scotland

Academic differences:

• workload
  • As this university is so large, professors tend not to assign regular assignments. As a student, you are expected to take the initiative of practice problems and studying independently. It is not uncommon for the only grade to be from the final exam at the closing of the semester.
• classroom culture
  • This university promotes it's small class sizes, but one must take into consideration the university is home to around 17,000 students compared to Maryville College's 1,000 or so.
• flow of the semester
  • Edinburgh Napier University's year is broken into three trimesters rather than two semesters. Each trimester has it's a few weeks of break and a short break before the nest trimester begins.
• expectations of students
  • It is expected that students will have the self motivation to actively participate in class room material outside of the class room, as regular homework is not assigned.
• faculty/student relationships
  • Students are expected to take advantage of professor's office hours. Because classes tend to be larger, it is harder for instructors to take time out of lecture to answer individual questions.

Credits

• How many credits are classes normally worth?
  • Classes at Edinburgh Napier University tend to be from 2-5 credits.
• Hours a week each class will meet?
  • The number of credits a class is is directly related to the hours a week the class will meet. At this university if a class is 3 credits, the class will meet once a week for 3 hours. There are exceptions for labs.
• How will your credits transfer?
  • In my case, credit hours will transfer but because similar courses aren't offered at Maryville College the grade point credit will not.

Grades

• Are letter grades in your host country different than in the US?
  • A > 70%
  • B = 60-69%
  • C = 53-59%
  • D = 46-52%
  • E = 40-45%
  • FX = 35-39%
  • F = 0-34%

Full time status

• How many credits are considered full-time at your home institution and host institution?
  • > 21 hours a week
• What is the minimum number of classes you will have to take in order to be considered full-time?
  • Around 3 courses