Dear all,

A few things have come up over the past week or so that are worth commenting on (please read, especially 1C which there has been some very odd comments made to me lately):

Firstly, the Pro Gradu work and thesis.

A)      You should have study plan approved BEFORE you start work. The study plan should be submitted at least 1 week before and preferably 2 weeks before you plan to start. It is a free format, but is typically 2 sides of A4 and MUST include the name of your supervisor(s), location of the work and start date

B)      Under our rules you are only allowed to include in the main body of your thesis work from the first 6 months after your start date. You are allowed (if you want) to  include an appendix that includes work after the 6 months, but it will not be considered by the examiners in marking the thesis.

C)      The final written thesis must be submitted with 1 year of the start date of the lab work i.e. for most people within 6 months of finishing the normal lab period. The current departmental rules are that there is a mark penalty applied for any thesis submitted after the 1 year deadline. Do NOT take longer “to make it better”, you will get a worst mark.

D)      Any extension to the lab work period granted automatically extends the write up period by the same amount i.e. you still  get “6 months” to write up.

E)      There has been a faculty change of rules such that the thesis work is now graded 0-5, rather than the old latin names. The average mark in the old system was (and should have been) Magna cum laude, the average mark in the new system should be 3. If you look at the old and new marking schemes, an average Magna grade = 3. Under the current university rules the thesis grade is NOT included in the grades used to generate your average final grade.

Secondly, there has been some confusion  regarding courses which can be accepted and what cannot. Please see me or Jari if you are unclear, but:

A)      Students who join us at the MSc level cannot include our BSc level courses as part of the 120op they need for their MSc. If you take BSc level courses to increase your background knowledge they will appear on your transcript, but do not count towards the 120op.

B)      The 12op of optional courses from any university cannot include any course which is too similar to one which we teach in our department. Please check with Jari or me if in doubt.

C)      There is very considerable overlap between “Protein production and analysis” and “Protein Chemistry II” (they are timetabled against each other so that people cannot do both) and you cannot claim both as part of your MSc . Similarly there is considerable overlap between “Protein production and analysis” and “Protein chemistry I” and you cannot claim PCI on your 180op BSc and PPA on your 120op MSc.

If in doubt about things please ask.

Best wishes,

Lloyd