DEGREE PROGRAMMEANDCOURSEINFORMATION:ASTUDENT’SGUIDETODRPS

Thisguideexplains howto usetheUniversity’sDRPS(we’llexplain the acronymin amoment) to helpyouunderstand yourDegreeprogrammeand courserequirementsfor theacademicyearahead.

It’slikely that someonefrom theUniversityhassuggestedthatyoushouldlookat theDRPSifyouhaveaskedquestionsaboutwhich coursesyou areexpectedto doforyourDegree,or whatoptionsyoumighthave.Or,you may have foundtheDRPS foryourselfwhendoingsomeresearchinto theDegree programmesofferedbytheUniversity. Ifyouhaven’talready doneso,itmaybehelpfultohave alookat yourSchool’swebsiteso that youhave some contextforwhatyouwill seeonDRPS.

Whetheryou’vefoundit foryourselfor someonehas suggestedyoulookatit,DRPScan appear quitecomplicatedso pleasetakeafewminutesto reviewthisguidebefore usingit.

Sowhat is DRPS?

DRPS standsforDegreeRegulationsand Programmesof Study. DRPSisan online, completelistingofallthe DegreeProgrammesat theUniversity ofEdinburghand alloftheCoursesofstudy,and providesa descriptionofthecontentandrequirementsforeach DegreeProgramme andCourse.It alsocontainsinformationontheregulationsgoverningtheUniversity’sacademicprocedures.Wedon’t coverthe Regulationsinthisguide,but youshouldmakeyourself familiarwiththesepageson DRPS.

WhatisPath?

TheUniversity alsoprovidesa visualcourseselectionandprogrammebuildertoolcalled Path. Pathisnot part ofthe academicregulatoryframeworkbut usesinformationfrom the DRPStosupportstudentsconsider theirdegreepathway,reviewoutsidecoursechoices,understandco-requisitesandpre-requisitesandgenerate a timetable. ThePATHtool canbeaccessed viaMyEdor:

Personal Tutor

All taught students have a Personal Tutor (PT) who provides academic guidance and will either be able to advise on course choice or refer you to a member of staff who can.

You haveprobablyfoundthe DRPShomepage alreadybut,incase youhaven’t,DRPSisaccessedonlinevia: pagelookslikethis:

HINT:Theinformationisupdatedeachyear,andholdsanarchive ofpreviousyears,soanytimeyouareusing DRPS,makesure youarelookingat a pagefortheright academicyear!Eachpageshould have the academicyear towhich itrefersonit somewhere,usually atthetop.Previousyearsoften have a brightredtitlebar at thetop, rather than theusual blue, andmayalsohave some helpful textlike‘THISPAGE ISOUT OFDATE’!

Whatis DRPS for?

We’lltakeyouthroughtheprocessofusingDRPSin a moment, butbeforewe do,let’sexplainwhyyouneedit,because thiswill helpyouuseit.

Atthe UniversityofEdinburgh,allDegree Programmes–BSc,MAetc– aremade up of groupsof Courses.Thisis truefor bothundergraduateand postgraduate taughtdegrees. (NOTE:PhDsare different,andyouwillnot findinformationaboutPhDsin DRPS,apartfrom the regulations). EachDegreeProgrammerequiresstudentsto complete a setamount ofwork,of anappropriate academicstandard.To helptheUniversity andstudentsmanagethose requirements,eachCourseisthereforegiven a numberofCreditsataparticularLevel. Eachyear,studentsare requiredtocomplete anyspecifiedCompulsory Courses and mayalsohave to completea number ofCourseOptions thatthestudent maychoose themselves.DRPSdescribes therequirements foralloftheUniversity’sDegreeProgrammesanddescribesthecontent,CreditsandLevelforall Courses.

So,asa student, you can use DRPS tofindoutthedetailed requirementsforyourDegreeProgramme,seewhichCompulsory Courses that you arerequiredtocompletethisyear,andseewhatCourseOptions areavailable to you,usingtheCreditsandLevelforeachcourseas aguideto help youbuildanappropriateDegreeProgramme. SomeDegreesdonotofferCourse Options,at leastinthefirst coupleofyears, buttheirCompulsory Coursesare stilllistedinDRPS,so you canseethecontent.

NOTE:DRPS is nota selectiontool sofindinga combinationthatworks onthe DRPS is not enough onitsown!Yourchoicewill onlybe official onceyouhave toldyourSchoolwhatyouhaveselected(theywill tellyouhowtodothis).

Thisguidewillshowyou:

  • WheretofindtheDRPS homepage
  • Someof thekey wordsyouneedtomakesense ofthematerialonDRPS
  • Howto select thecurrent academic year from thehomepage
  • Howtofind the overalllistofDegreeProgrammeTables(DPTs)
  • Howtofind therangeof DegreeProgrammesoffered byeach oftheUniversity’sindividual Schools
  • Howtofind thelist ofCompulsoryCoursesandCourseOptionsforeach Programme
  • Howtofind the Course Contentpagefor a Course, from theDegree Programmepage
  • Howtofind the Course Cataloguefor each School,from theDegreeProgramme page,sothat you canfinda widerange ofpossibleCourseOptionstochoosefrom
  • Someof theother usefulfeatures ofDRPS

KeyWords andPhrases

Asyouwillhaverealisedalready,thereare a lotofspecific wordsandphrasesusedinDRPS,withvery particularmeanings.ThereisafullGlossaryof Terms availablevia the DRPShomepage,but to saveyousometime,afewkey wordsand phrasesthatyoushouldunderstandaredetailedbelow:

DegreeProgramme / Sometimescalledyour‘programme ofstudy’,thismeansthe completesetofallCoursesand otherelementsthatyouarerequiredto completeto achieveyourchosenDegree.
Course / Each yearofstudy ofundergraduateandtaughtpostgraduateProgrammesiscomposed ofCourses.ACourseisaunitofteachingandlearningformallyofferedwithin the University,whichcarriescredit expressedinCredit pointsandwhich maycontributetoa University award–forexample,a Degreeor Diploma.
CompulsoryCourse / CompulsoryCoursesare thoseCourses which astudentMUSTtakeas partoftheirDegree Programme,andarespecified onDRPS.
CourseOption / CourseOptionsare Courseswhichstudentsmaychoose toformpartoftheirDegreeProgramme.NotallDegreeProgrammesoffer CourseOptionsevery year.
‘Outsidecourse’ / Thisisatermyou may see or hear whentalkingtostaffintheSchools,butisnotatermusedvery often onDRPS.Itgenerallymeans aCourseOptionofferedbya different School/subject areatothemainsubject area(s)youarestudyingaspartofyourchosenDegreeProgramme.
Module / A subdivision ofaCourse,coveringapartoftheCourse’scontent.Courses mayhave one ormoreModules.
Credits / TheUniversity adheresto anational qualifications framework(SCQF toquantifythelearningachieved.
Level / TheSCQFCreditLevel identifiestheacademiclevel ofaCourse.
CourseCode / Theuniquecode assigned toeachCourse.TheCourseCodeislistedintheindividualcourseentryonDRPS,besidethe coursetitle.Itmay be agood way ofbeingspecificabout whichCourseyoumeanwhentalking totheSchoolaboutyour Options.
School / TheUniversity ofEdinburghoffersitsDegreeProgrammesthrough alargenumberofsubjectSchools, forexamplethe School ofGeosciencesor theBusinessSchool.
College / TheUniversity ofEdinburgh’sSchoolsareorganisedinto threeColleges: Arts, HumanitiesSocial Sciences;Sciences Engineering; and Medicine and Vet Medicine.
Engineering; MedicineVeterinary Medicine.

GettingStarted

HavingexplainedwhatDRPSisandwhatit’sfor,let’slookatsome ofthedifferentfeatures. First,let’slookatthe informationforDegreeProgrammes. Clickthelink to ‘DegreeRegulationsProgrammesofStudy’forthecorrectyear–thecurrentyearislistedseparately,abovethe Archivelist.

You willthen seethispage:

Don’tworryabout the linksintheNavigationboxon theright just now,we’ll comebacktothemlater.

Under‘DegreeProgrammes’ ontheleft handside,click‘BrowseDegreeProgrammeTables(DPTs)’:

You’ll see thispage:

Each linkwilltakeyou totheavailableDegreeProgrammesforthatSchool –forexample,ifyouclickon‘School of Geosciences’,youwillsee:

Asyou can see, thereare a widevarietyofDegreeProgrammeswithin eachschool,at bothundergraduateand postgraduatelevel.

Clickononeof theDegreeProgramme links,for example ‘Geography andPolitics(MAHons)’,andyouwill see a pagelikethis:

You can scrolldownthis pagetoseedetailsofalltheCompulsoryCoursesandtheavailableCourseOptionsfor eachyearoftheDegreeProgramme.

Also notethelinkstoinformationabout thecontentofeachCourse(circled inblue,topleft) andthe linkdescribingvalidOptionCourses(circledinred, bottomcentre). You’llnoticethat thelink totheCoursecontent istheCourseCode,whichwementionedabove.

Tryclickingonthefirst oftheCourselinks,circled inblueatthetop leftofthepage. Youwill seea pagelikethis:

You can scrolldownthis pagetosee alloftheavailableinformationontheCourse,including: thenumber ofCredits,whichLevel;a link tothewebtimetable;howtheCoursewillbe deliveredandassessed; someofthekey content;andwho isorganising theCourse.

You shouldlookat theinformationpagesforanyOptionCourseyouareconsideringBEFOREselectingit, to make sureit meetstherequirementsforyourDegreeProgramme and that you willbeabletofitit into yourtimetable.

Go ‘back’inyourbrowser tothe previousDRPSpage, the DegreeProgrammeTablefor GeographyandPolitics(MAHons). Ifyouscroll downa bit, youwill see thesection onOptionCoursesforYear 1:

You will see that,for this DegreeProgramme,twosetsofOptionCoursesareavailableinYear1, to makeup40 Creditstogoalongsidethe80CreditsofCompulsory Coursesspecifiedatthetopofthepage. Ifyouwished to take languagesthen thelist (circledinblue) givesyoutheavailable OptionCourses. Youcould simplyselect twoCourses totalling40Creditsfrom thelist.

Alternatively,youmaywish todosomething completely different,in whichcase youwouldclickonthelinktothepermittedOptionCourses(circledinred). Unfortunately,thatiswhere itgetsabit morecomplicated…

Ifyouclickonthelinkcircled in red,youwill see a pagewithalistlikethis:

Whilethislookslikea page yousawearlierinthisguide,it’sa littlebit different:noticethe ‘Schedule’ details(whichwe’veunderlinedin yellow).Ifyouclick‘back’ tothe previousDRPSpage, youwillsee thatthelinkwe circledinred onthis guidespecifiesthatyoushould choose between0and40Creditsfrom ‘Level 8 courses inSchedules AtoQ, T andW’.Inthiscase, that meansyoucouldchooseanycoursefromtheSchedulesmarkedwitha redlineinthepictureabove.

Ifyouclickonone ofthoselinks,youwillthenbeoffered aCourseCataloguefor thatSchool, with alistofalltheCoursescurrently offeredbythe School, withtheir CreditLevel and linkstotheCourse content.For example,clickonthe ‘School ofEconomics(ScheduleW)’linkand youwillsee:

You can see that theCatalogueisorganisedby SCQFLevel.Stickingwith our previous‘GeographyPolitics(MAHons)’example,whichspecified that OptionCoursesinYear1must befrom Level8 courses, youwould choosefrom thefirstgrouponthispage.You can clickontheCourse nameto seetheCoursecontent page. ThelistalsoshowswhichsemesterthatCourseswillbeavailable and the numberofCredits theyoffer. Finally,the ‘Availability’columnnoteswhetherornotCoursesareavailable to ‘Visiting’students.

NOTE:Ifyoulookcarefullyatthe ‘Period’ columnin the illustration, youwillseethatquitea lot oftheCourseslistedare shown as‘Notdeliveredthisyear’.Thiscan happenbecauseacoursewasavailablethepreviousyearbut circumstanceshavechangedand so thecourseisnotbeingofferedthisyear. ALWAYS checkcarefullyto makesureaCourseis available for thecoming academic yearbeforeyoufinaliseyourCoursechoices.

HINT:When consideringCourseOptions,itmaybeworthhavinga lookat theOptions that willbeavailable inyourDegreeProgrammeinYear2,to see ifthereareanyCoursesthatyouthinkthatyouwillwantto takeinfuture.SomeYear2 Coursesmayonlybe availableifyouhavedone theappropriate introductoryCoursein Year1, sothismayhelpyou choosewhichOptionsyouwanttoselectfor eachYear.

ThepreviouspageshaveshownyouhowtofindandnavigateallofthekeypagesontheDRPS.If youhavebeenthroughtheguide sofar, youshould nowhaveanideaof:

  • WheretofindtheDRPS homepage
  • Someof thekey wordsyouneedtomakesense ofthematerialonDRPS
  • Howto select thecurrent academic year from thehomepage
  • Howtofind the overalllistofDegreeProgrammeTables(DPTs)
  • Howtofind the rangeof DegreeProgrammes offeredbyeach oftheUniversity’sindividual Schools
  • Howtofind thelist ofCompulsoryCoursesandCourseOptionsforeach Programme
  • Howtofind the Course Contentpagefor aCourse, fromtheDegree Programmepage
  • Howtofind the Course Cataloguefor each School,from theDegreeProgramme page,sothat you canfinda widerange ofpossibleCourseOptionstochoosefrom

Tomake sure you’veunderstoodthe guidanceabove, we’d suggestyounowtryto identifythe CompulsoryCoursesandCourseOptions available for aDegreeProgrammethatyouareinterestedinstudying.

OtherDRPSFeatures

GobacktotheDRPShomepageat ifyou’realreadyin theDRPSyou cangettheredirectlybyclicking the ‘DRPSHomepage’ link at thetopright handcorner ofevery pageontheDRPS.Thenclickonthe DRPSforthecurrent academic year.Youwillsee a‘NavigationBox’on the righthandsideofthe DRPSIndexPage–thisisalso shownonmany ofthepagesthroughout the DRPS,to help younavigatequicklytothepages youneed.The Index pageoffersmany differentfunctions to allowyou tosearchDRPSindifferentways.

Thefirst thing to noteisthatwehavecircledin redthetwowaystoget totheDRPSSearchfunction,whichletsyousearchforDegreeProgrammesandCourses. Thisisonewayto speedupasearchfora particular topic–ifyousearch onasubjectkeyword,such as‘French’or‘Chemistry’,this willbring up allofthe CourseandDegreeProgrammeentriesthat containthat word.However,thiscanoften bringupa lotofdifferentresults, somightnotbeashelpful ifyou’retryingtonarrowyoursearch.

Anotherway tofind individual Coursesyoumightbeinterestedinis tobrowseCoursesvia the relevantCollege andSchool, or bySubject Area.Thelinkstothesefunctionsarecircledinblueintheillustration.These are quiteself-explanatory– ifyouclickontheCollegelinksontherighthand side,youwill see a listofCourseCataloguesforallthe SchoolsinthatCollege,whichyou can then exploreforCoursesintheway that wesetout in theguidanceearlierinthisdocument.

Alternatively,ifyouclickon ‘Browse bySubject Area’ onthe left handside ofthehomepage, you will be offeredan expanded breakdownoftheCourse CatalogueforeachSchool,whichlistsvariousSubjectheadingstohelpyouexploreparticularareas ofinterest:

Finally,theDRPSalsohaslinkstotheCourseTimetableBrowsercircledinyellow. Thisis available at: