During your time at university, you may hear some terminology you’re not familiar with, or be unsure about what certain terms mean. Our glossary will help you get to grips with the BCU jargon in no time!
Academic year: The university year which runs from September to June and is divided into three terms.
ADM: Our Faculty of Arts, Design and Media.
Alumni: The community of former students who have since graduated.
Assessment: This is how your academic work is marked. This could include exams, essays, presentations and more.
Bachelor degree: The name of the degree awarded to someone who has completed and passed their undergraduate course, usually lasting three to four years.
BLSS: Our Faculty of Business, Law and Social Sciences.
BUCS: British Universities and Colleges Sport. The majority of our sports teams compete against other universities as part of the BUCS leagues.
CEBE: Our Faculty of Computing, Engineering and the Built Environment.
Chancellor: The Chancellor of the university is seen as a ‘non-resident’ ceremonial head. At many Universities it’s the city’s lord mayor or a local figure head. Here at Birmingham City University Sir Lenny Henry is our Chancellor.
Credit: All modules are given a ‘credit’ value to indicate the contribution towards your final grade. To progress to the next academic year, you will usually be required to accumulate a certain number of credits.
Current student: A student that is currently studying at the university.
Dean: The school Dean oversees the academic and administrative duties of their school or faculty. Similar (although not entirely the same) to a head of subject at high school.
Dissertation: An extended piece of academic writing on a particular subject done in order to receive your degree. It is the product of a piece of personal research and can vary from 5,000 words to 15,000 words for undergraduate and master’s students.
DVC: The Deputy Vice-Chancellor is a deputy to the Vice-Chancellor of the University. Our DVC (Academic) is Professor Peter Francis.
Faculty: A division within the University covering a number of related subject areas. We have four Faculties: ADM, BLSS, CEBE and HELS.
Gap year / Deferred study: A gap year is a period, typically an academic year, taken by a student as a break between school and university or college education. Deferred study is when a student accepts the offer of a place in that course, but does not plan on starting straight away.
Graduand: A person who is about to receive an academic degree.
Graduate: A student who has successfully completed a course and is awarded an undergraduate or first academic degree.
Graduation: A ceremony at which degrees or diplomas are awarded to students who have successfully completed their studies.
Halls of residence: A building provided by the university where students live. BCU has seven halls of residence positioned throughout the city.
Harvard Referencing system: A citation style used by universities which attributes work, quotes and theories to their authors. This will be explained in detail during the first few weeks of your classes and is something most students wrestle with for the duration of university.
HELS: Our Faculty of Health, Education and Life Sciences.
Honours degree: All of our undergraduate degrees are ‘with Honours’, which means they are instantly recognisable as being of a high standard.
Lecture: An educational talk to a class; an oral presentation providing information or teaching students about a particular subject.
Level: The level of education you are currently studying. In England, Wales and Northern Ireland there are eight different levels. These are particularly useful for undergraduates to identify which year of study you are in e.g first year undergraduate is level 4, second year is level 5 and final year is level 6.
Mahara: The University’s standard ePortfolio tool that provides users with a structured way of recording their learning experiences and work history. It is a learner-driven collection of digital content demonstrating skills and experiences to teachers, trainers, peers and employers.
Master’s: A degree for students who have completed their Bachelor’s degree and want to take up further study – known as postgraduate study. The two main types of degree are the Master of Arts (MA), and Master of Science (MSc). These may be course or research-based, or a mixture of the two.
Mature student: Students that were aged 21 or over when they started their courses.
Moodle: The University’s standard virtual learning environment. This provides a web-based system to support students in their learning. Information and resources can be uploaded to course topics as well a variety of other activities including the e-submission of coursework, discussion groups, and online tests.
Personal Tutor: A suitably qualified member of academic staff whose key responsibility is to be the first point of contact for designated students, providing them with ongoing support and retaining an interest in their personal, academic, professional and practice development throughout their programme of study.
Plagiarism: The practice of taking someone else’s work and passing it off as your own.
Postgraduate: Anyone who is studying a postgraduate course, including a master’s course, an MPhil and a PhD, that requires an undergraduate degree as part of the entry requirements.
Professor: A faculty member of the highest academic rank at University.
Prospective student: A person who is considering attending a particular university but has not yet officially enrolled.
REF: Research Excellence Framework, the system for assessing the quality of research in UK higher education institutions.
Sabbatical: A period of paid leave granted to a university teacher or other worker for study or travel.
School: A part of the university specialising in a particular subject or group of subjects. At BCU, we have several Schools under each Faculty.
Semester: Some universities divide the academic year into two blocks of studies which are named semesters. Similar to ‘terms’ at high school. The first one usually stretches from September to Christmas and the second from January till May, although these do vary.
Seminar: Group teaching where you’ll spend time with your lecturer and other students discussing work and topics, quite often occurring after a lecture to help talk the topic through in more detail. They are similar to regular classes in high school.
Tutor: Tutors provide you with first-hand and up-to-date knowledge. They can answer any questions you may have about your course, and advise on career prospects after graduation.
Undergraduate: A student who has not yet taken a first degree.
Vice Chancellor: Similar to a headteacher. The Vice Chancellor oversees the university, and is the person in charge. Our Vice Chancellor is Professor David Mba.
