From your first lecture through to graduation: essential information on teaching and learning in Computer Science. 

All our degree programmes are full time, so you are expected to attend UCL for all timetabled events and be contactable throughout term. Our modules are pretty intensive and fast-paced, so don't make the mistake of slacking off and falling behind. If you miss lectures your absence might not be noticed, but you will have to take responsibility for catching up on the material you miss. If you make a habit of missing lectures you might not be deemed eligible for assessment on that module.

The department uses a variety of methods to check student engagement, including monitoring signature sheets for coursework hand-ins, monitoring logins to online resources such as Moodle, and taking occasional class registers. There are several points in the academic year when the department is required to report formally to the Registry that all their students are engaging with their studies. This is partly because of UK legislation (UCL has a 'Highly Trusted Sponsor' status with the UK Border Agency and is required to monitor the engagement of it's Tier 4 visa students), however, UCL has decided that all its students should be treated equitably and therefore undertakes attendance checks on all students.

The monitoring periods for 2012 are:

1-19 October 2012 (reporting point 22 October - 2 November 2012)

5-30 November 2012 (reporting point 3-14 December 2012)

7-25 January 2013 (reporting point 28 January - 8 February 2013)

11 February - 15 March 2013 (reporting point 18 March - 5 April 2013)

22 April - 2 June 2013 (reporting point 11 June - 31 July 2013)

We will normally email a class in advance of when a register is to be taken. It is important that if you miss a lecture where a register is taken, that you respond promptly to any email follow-up to confirm that you are attending and engaging with your studies. If you are struggling, then please do seek help (see section 7, illness, absence and extenuating circumstances for further details.)

The deadline for selecting optional modules in Portico is typically the end of the first week of teaching. To make or change a module selection after this time you will need to Request a Module Amendment via Moodle. (Please ask your Programme Administrator for the enrolment key for your degree programme). 

Students will have the opportunity to discuss their choices with academic staff, however arrangements vary according to programme, so do take note of any information given by your Programme Administrator/ Programme Director in induction week. Changes to second term options can be requested until 18 January 2013, as long as all relevant permissions are sought.

Students are able to transfer between the MEng and BSc Computer Science programmes, (subject to approval and completion of the necessary paperwork).  

Please see our dedicated information page for further details. 

Quick links:

Coursework Coversheet

Coursework Deadlines Timetable

Penalties for late submission

Most modules you will be taking have coursework. Typically you will be given sets of questions to answer, often requiring significant study and research to do properly. Each coursework will have a deadline and submission instructions. 

If you are an undergraduate or MSc student then coursework for CS modules is either submitted on paper to the departmental office or electronically via Moodle. For coursework handed in to the departmental office the deadline is 12 noon on the day of submission. For electronic submission, the deadline is 11.55 pm on submission day. When work is submitted to the departmental office a coversheet must be printed out, filled-in, signed and attached to the work. 

Note that arrangements for coursework submission for modules run by other departments might be different - make sure you check in advance.

The department publishes coursework timetables on the departmental website to allow students to see when work is due and to avoid coursework hand-in clashes.  When choosing options and when planning your time management, please look at the relevant coursework timetable. If your coursework does not appear on the timetable then please encourage the lecturer to get the timetable updated. 

If you envisage problems completing the coursework by the deadline then speak to the lecturer, who under certain circumstances may be able to grant you an extension. For the majority of Computer Science modules, coursework that is handed in late without explanation will be subject to the following penalty for late submission. For coursework handed to the departmental office, a 'working day' runs from 12 noon (i.e. work handed in after 12 noon on the date of submission but before noon the next day is a day late). 

You should assume that the standard penalties for late submission apply, unless you have been specifically told that there are other arrangements by the module tutor.

See below for information on the following:

• Academic Progress and Examinations   
• Academic Regulations for Students [Section 3: Examination Regulations]
• Assessment guide for undergraduate Computer Science students (currently being updated for 12/13)
• Deferral of Examination Element - Graduates only
• Deferred Assessment - Undergraduates only
• Exam Results
• Examination Re-Entry Fees   
• Examination Guide for Candidates [PDF File] (not available until term 2/ spring term)
• Examination Venues [PDF File] (not availalbe until term 2/ spring term)
• Past Examination Papers   
• Regulations for Boards of Examiners 
• Schemes of Award for Computer Science Taught Programmes
• Transcripts
• UCL Exams and Assessment Pages
• Withdrawal from Examinations   

In the past, we have found that some UCL graduands (those who have recently finished and waiting to receive their degree) have not been fully aware of the procedures involved for Graduation Ceremonies, so don't miss out when your turn comes! Applications are sent to eligible graduates to their registered home addresses in February.  Eligible graduates are asked to complete an application form if they wish to attend a Graduation Ceremony and return it before the deadline. 

We do not wish to exclude anyone from attending their Graduation Ceremony at UCL but unfortunately if you do not apply to attend early enough in the year, this could be the case.

Quick Links:

UCL policy for Extenuating Circumstances

Form for reporting Extenuating Circumstances

If your ability to study is seriously affected by illness, bereavement, personal problems or other difficulties, you must ensure that the appropriate tutor or programme director is informed as soon as possible. You will be required to provide written evidence of your problem and how serious it has been and submit this evidence, (E.g. a Doctor's note or other document or letter), along with an Extenuating Circumstances Form to your Programme Tutor/Director.  

The examiners can take serious problems into account when assessing your examination results, but they can only do this if written evidence exists.  A problem reported weeks or months after it occurred cannot be taken into account, even if it seriously affects your exam results.

UCL has a number of libraries, each specialising in particular subject areas. You have access to most of them but you must show your ID card in order to gain entrance. The Science Library is situated in the DMS Watson Building (next door) and is labelled "DMS Watson Library".  Mathematics, computer science and electrical and electronic engineering texts are to be found on the 3rd and 4th floors.  You can access the library catalogue online to find out if the library has a particular book and where it is. With you user ID you can reserve and renew books saving you a visit as well.  The librarians are very helpful, so ask them if you cannot find what you are looking for.  There is an enquiry desk on the ground floor of the DMS Watson Library, and the Library publishes lots of helpful information on their web pages.

If you need a place to work, most libraries, including the Science Library, provide many work spaces for you to use. 

When you do more demanding coursework or projects, you will probably need access to a variety of specialised texts, journals and other publications.  Your project supervisor can often give the best advice on where to find these but, in general, if what you require is not available in UCL, you should use the science reference libraries.  The Science Reference Information Service (part of the British Library) at Holborn and Aldwych, and the Science Museum Library on the museum site, near Imperial College are usually most useful.  UCL library staff can tell you more about these facilities.

However, your biggest and best library is often the World-Wide Web, as many research papers and reports are now available over the web and, in addition, you can find useful software, test data and examples that you can port to UCL.  In many cases it is thus now possible to avoid "reinventing the wheel" but be sure to test any software that you obtain this way, and under no circumstances should you present the work as if it were your own (see the guidelines on Plagiarism).  Again, consult your project supervisor for advice.
 
Waterstones, on Gower Street just a few yards away from CS, is a large bookshop with a full range of departments.  If you have problems finding technical books, good places to try are Foyles and other large book shops in Charing Cross road and Skoob, a second-hand bookshop, http://www.skoob.com/. For online book shopping Amazon at http://www.amazon.co.uk.

Moodle is UCL's e-learning environment. Each taught module in Computer Science has an accompanying Moodle page, and it is your responsibility to make sure you are signed up for each module you are taking. Moodle will be used by your lecturers to communicate with you, so it is very important that you listen out for instructions during your first lectures (some lecturers will give out an 'enrolment key' to enable you to sign up). Check out the 'quick start guide' for an introduction.

Every undergraduate student will be allocated a personal tutor at the start of their studies, and in the vast majority of cases will keep this tutor throughout their studies with us. The Departmental Teaching Committee has set out some guidelines to help you understand what you can expect from this relationship. 

Taught master's students may instead have a tutorial group which meets collectively. See the pages for your programme for further details, and make sure you take a careful note of arrangements given at the start of term.

See also information on attendance and engagement, and illness, absence and extenuating circumstances below.

You will be asked to sign a declaration at the start of your programme that you have read and understood the UCL guidelines on plagiarism. Please do take this seriously as the penalties for students who are proved to have plagiarised can potentially be very serious. CS students are perhaps especially vulnerable since much of the material they deal with is electronic and hence easy to copy. For example, if you find information or software on the WWW, which helps you with a piece of coursework, you must acknowledge your source. The acknowledgement must be precise, indicating exactly what the course was and which sections of your work are affected. If it turns out that an almost complete solution to the problem is available on the WWW you should report that fact - it then becomes a problem for the lecturer rather than you! You should avoid looking at other students solutions or allowing others to look at yours; once you have seen someone else's solution it is almost impossible to erase it from your memory and produce your own independent work.

Note that we do not wish to discourage students from discussing their work with fellow students and collaborating in solving problems. However, you should avoid allowing the collaborative phase to approach too close to a final solution, which might make it impossible for you to make your own distinctive intellectual contribution. The key point is that you must not present the results of another person's work "as though it was your own". 

The Departmental Teaching Committee has produced some guidelines to help clarify some of the issues around coursework and plagiarism.

The Student Information Portal, 'Portico', should be your first port of call for all student record related issues such as selecting your module options, amending your personal details and viewing your exam results.  It is particularly important that you ensure your contact details are always up-to-date. That way important documents like provisional results don't go astray!

Here you can find information on potential topics and supervisors. For more detailed instructions on choosing, completing and submitting projects, see the pages for each individual programme.

You can find syllabus/ curriculum information by clicking on the link to your programme on the left hand side of this page. We make every effort to keep syllabus and curriculum information correct, however if you are in doubt about the assessment or the prerequisites for a particular module, or the options available on a particular programme, you should check with the lecturer or your Programme Director.

You can find links to the UCL Term Calendar and Closure Dates via your Portico account, however a general summary can also be found on the UCL staff pages. 

Here you will find information on how to access and interpret your personal timetable; how to use the 'custom timetable' tool; links to degree programme timetables, and a journey planner to help you find your lectures.

If you can't find the information you are looking for here please email the 
Departmental Administrator (Academic Policy & Operations).