Regulations for the Degree of Bachelor of Science in the Social Sciences
  1. The degrees of Bachelor of Science in the Social Sciences and the Bachelor of Science in Psychology are awarded by the Senate on the recommendation of the Board of the Faculty of Social Sciences. They may be awarded with honours or as pass degrees.

  2. For admission to any course leading to the degree of Bachelor of Science in the Social Sciences candidates must have:
    1. satisfied the regulations for admission to degree courses as specified in Section IV of the General Regulations for Students;
    2. passed the General Certificate of Education, or equivalent examination, in Mathematics;
    3. satisfied the course requirements appertaining to the relevant School.

  3. On registration every candidate shall enter one of the following Schools: Accounting and Economics
    Accounting and Finance
    Economics
    Economics with Actuarial Studies
    Economics and Econometrics
    Economics and Economic History
    Economics and Finance
    Economics and Management Sciences
    Economics and Mathematics
    Economics and Modern Languages
    Economics and Politics
    Management
    Management Sciences
    Management Sciences & Accounting
    Management Sciences & Modern Languages
    Politics
    Politics and Economic History
    Politics and International Relations
    Politics and Law
    Politics with Law
    Politics and Sociology
    Population Sciences
    Public and Social Administration
    Psychology
    Sociology
    Sociology and Social Policy
    Social Policy and Administration
    Social Work

  4. Degree schools are based on a common unit structure: the first part extends over 1 year full-time and comprises eight units, each of which is worth 15 credit points: the second part extends over 2 years full-time and students are required to study eight units in each year, each of which is worth 15 credit points. (For further details of the Credit Accumulation and Transfer Scheme (CATS) see Section IV of the General Regulations in the Calendar.) The content of each part is prescribed in the separate regulations for each School. Details of the assessment procedure for each School shall be as provided in the regulations for the School.

  5. Where the regulations for any School provide for a choice of subject, such choice shall be subject to the requirements and limitations set out in the list of Unit Courses unless regulations specifically provide otherwise. Choices may nevertheless be amended by the Board of the Faculty on the recommendation of the appropriate Head or Heads of Department.

    1. In order to progress to Part II of the degree programme, students must achieve honours -equivalent standard in the Part I examinations. For an individual unit this requires a mark of 40%. In assessing overall performance in Part I, one mark below 40% will be condoned provided it is not in a core unit for the student's degree programme, and provided the aggregate across 8 units is at least 315. Core units for each programme are as specified in the Faculty Part I booklet. Some Departments may designate all Part I units as being 'core'.
    2. Students failing to satisfy the examiners will be required to retake all units in which they have secured less than 40%.
    3. Students failing to satisfy the examiners after the supplementary examinations may retake the units in which they have secured less than 40% on one further occasion only, in January/June of the following academic year, as an external student. Students retaking examinations in this way are deemed to have used their right to a full resit, and will have no other right to a full resit during their degree programme.

  7. The Part II examination shall be conducted by examination papers and such other methods of assessment as may be approved by the Faculty Board.

  8. Where assessed work, dissertations and project reports are prepared as part of the final examination they shall be submitted in accordance with departmental requirements.

  9. In order to qualify to proceed from one year of a degree course to the next, candidates must reach a standard in the examinations deemed satisfactory by the Board of the Faculty, including practical examinations and course assessments where these are prescribed. A satisfactory standard similarly must be obtained in the final year of the course to qualify for the award of Bachelor of Science in the Social Sciences.

    1. Each candidate shall in the case of failure have one right to resit her/his undergraduate course and shall not be allowed a further resit unless the Faculty Board in exceptional circumstances so permits.
    2. Candidates resitting an examination in the academic year following initial failure will normally be required to take the papers set for that year irrespective of any syllabus change. It is the responsibility of the candidate to ascertain from his/her department whether any such changes have been made.
    3. Candidates who fail 5 or more units in year 2 will be deemed to have failed to satisfy the examiners. Provided they have not exercised their right of resit in Part 1, such candidates will be required to resit the failed units; a maximum mark of 35% may be carried forward into the final degree calculations.
    4. Candidates who fail to satisfy the examiners in the final examination may sit the failed units, provided they have not previously exercised their right to resit. A maximum mark of 35% will be attainable in these resit examinations.

  10. In re-examining students the method of assessment used originally will be repeated.

  11. A list of successful candidates within each School will be issued with the names arranged in the following classes: first class honours, second class honours (in two divisions), third class honours and pass; within each class the names will be arranged in alphabetical order.

  12. A candidate may transfer from one School to another, normally not later than the end of the first year of the course, subject to:
    1. the Heads of the Departments concerned being satisfied that the candidate's Part I subjects are appropriate for the School she/he wishes to enter;
    2. the agreement of the Heads of Departments concerned; and
    3. the approval of the Faculty Board.

  13. All students are required to follow and be examined in approved units in Quantitative Methods. The approved units are as follows:

    ProgrammeRequired QM Units
    Single and Joint Honours PsychologyST109 and ST108
    Single or Joint Honours Politics, Sociology, Social Policy, Social Work Studies, Population Sciences (except Economics and Politics)ST107 and ST222
    Economics with Actuarial StudiesMA181, ST106 and ST111
    Economics and EconometricsEC107, EC108 and EC110 or equivalent
    Other single and joint honours Economics* (including Accounting and Economics and Economics and Management Sciences)Either EC105 and EC106 or EC107 and EC108
    Single and Joint Honours Accounting, Management and Management Sciences (where not elsewhere specified)AM109 and AM210 (students with A-level Maths may choose EC107 and EC108 in year 1)

    *Students following Economics Single Honours or joint honours in Economics and Finance who do not qualify to take EC107 must take EC105, EC106 and EC108.

  14. All students registered for Economics Single Honours, Management Sciences, or Joint Honours with Accounting, Economics, Econometrics or Management Sciences are required to follow and be examined in an approved programme in Economics, according to the rules set out in the Faculty First Year Booklet.

  15. Any of the following degree programmes may be followed as a 'with French' , 'with German' or 'with Spanish' degree. Students wishing to take such a course must take at least two appropriate language units in each of years 1 and 2, together with a further unit in the second semester of year 3, in place of stated options. Students would also be required to participate in the SOCRATES exchange programme in the first semester of their third year:
    Economics
    Economics with Actuarial Studies
    Economics and Econometrics
    Economics and Economic History
    Economics and Finance
    Economics and Politics

    Note: Students registered on degree programmes in the Department of Economics who wish to study a language will be advised to register on the appropriate 'with language' degree programme and take double language units as specified under the regulations for these programmes. Single unit language options will be available.

  16. With the permission of the Head of the relevant Department students who are not registered on degree programmes 'with' a modern language, or on a joint honours programme including a language may nevertheless be permitted to spend one semester studying at a University in Europe under the SOCRATES scheme, in either their second or third years, where an approved link exists between the Department and the European institution concerned.

  17. Where regulations allow students to take only a single unit of language as an option, this must be taken in semester 1. These students will register for units designated FR16-, GE16-, or SP16-. Students will not normally be permitted to continue with that language in the following year. However, where number of options, and prerequisites allow, and with the agreement of the relevant department and the language centre, a single unit option in a different language may be taken in subsequent years.

    Where regulations provide for students to take a language option in each of semester 1 and semester 2 students may choose: either to take a single language unit in semester 1, in which case they register as above, and take a further non-language option in semester 2, as specified in regulations; or they take a double Language unit (one unit in each semester), in which case they register for units designated FR19-, GE19- or SP19-. Where individual programme regulations allow, students taking a double unit may be permitted (but are not required) to continue with that language in the following year, either as a single or a double unit, but will not normally be permitted to take optional units in a different language. Students registering for a double unit may change to a single semester 1 language unit up to the end of week three of semester 1, but after this point they may not normally transfer to a single unit.

  18. It is not possible to guarantee that every subject on the lists of unit courses in the Faculty will be available every year.