It seems like I’ve been in London for a month, but I finally had my first week of school. I have class Monday through Wednesdays which is pretty great. Monday I have Diplomacy Old and New. Tuesday I have Education and Religion and Wednesday I have Politics and Government and Theatre in London.
University works a bit different in London. First of all, most classes have seminars attached to lectures. So if there is a big lecture for 2 hrs it then splits up into smaller classes for the last hour. (Back home we only do this for science classes). Also here professors are called tutors and classes are called modules or tutorials. The way the education system approaches specialization is also different. In America, everyone needs to have core requirements, where they take a variety of classes in different disciplines. Here, students start specializing during sixth form, or their last years of high school. Once they enter college students have one ‘major’ and study that throughout their three years.
The work here is also a lot more independent. For my classes I have one essay due for the entire semester (The most I have is 2 assignments in one class). I am in class with British students and most of their classes are a year long as opposed to a semester. Reading lists and textbooks are not assigned, rather there is one long suggested reading list, and students are told to pick and choose. Additionally, professors or tutors, don’t mark students’ assignments. Students submit their assignments online to have them evaluated by different people (Until this year students had to hand in their paper in person at a center in the school). Hopefully this new system wont make me procrastinate too much.
Cheers!
