MA East European History Handbook

Welcome to UCL SSEES

UCL SSEES, founded in 1915, is one of the world’s leading specialist institutions and the largest national centre in the UK for the study of Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. Over one hundred academic staff work in the School, teaching and conducting research in economics, business, politics, history, sociology, anthropology, culture, literature and language.

As part of SSEES and UCL, you will have unrivalled access to various resources, for example the excellent SSEES and UCL libraries. We also pride ourselves on the range of activities we put on outside the classroom – be it the rich programme of high-profile international speakers, conferences, and seminars or various extracurricular opportunities for UCL students. This document provides you with some of the most important information about your time at SSEES.  

Please take your time also to read the SSEES Student Handbook for more details and do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions.

Degree Structure

Module descriptions and information about the modules’ assessment can be found on the Module Catalogue.

Full-time: students must take 180 Level 7 credits, of which 120 credits are in taught modules and 60 credits are the MA Dissertation.

Part-time: students can balance the 120 taught credits by arrangement with the Programme Coordinator and are advised to take no fewer than 60 taught credits in the first year.

All module choices should be at Level 7.

The non-condonable modules for this programme are the SEES0123 MA Dissertation and SEES0052 Historical Methods and Approaches. This means that these modules are compulsory and must be passed to get the award in MA East European History.

Compulsory Modules

• SEES0052 Historical Methods and Approaches (30 credits) - non-condonable
• SEES0123 MA Dissertation: an independent research dissertation of approximately 10,000-12,000 (60 credits) - non-condonable.
• SEES0092 - Dissertation Preparation Programme (0 credits)
  
  Students registered for the part-time degree will take SEES0052 in the first year and SEES0123 in the second year.

Optional Modules

A choice from a range of optional modules (90 Credits). 

At least 45 credits should be in History subjects.

• Please see the Graduate Module Listings

Up to 45 credits of optional modules can be taken from other SSEES MA modules and from UCL History Department. Up to 30 credits can be taken from other approved UCL departments, including Level 7 MA language modules. 

Examination Procedures

The examinations period is provisionally scheduled from the start of Term 3 until the first week of June. Students must be available to attend any in-person written examinations connected to their modules throughout this entire period. 

All modules registrations must be completed on Portico by the end of the first week of teaching. From this point students must not change the registration of Term 1 modules. The registration of Term 2-only modules may be changed until the end of Reading Week of Term 1.

All students are required to reply to any request, whether from their department or from UCL Registry (via Portico) to confirm their module registration as correct.

The SSEES MA (Umbrella) Board of Examiners decides on the class of degree you receive.

Academic Misconduct

Make sure you do not plagiarise anyone elses work, even accidentally, as the consequences can be severe. Plagiarism is defined as the presentation of another person’s thoughts or words or artefacts or software as though they were your own. Any quotation from the published or unpublished works of other persons must, therefore, be clearly identified as such by being placed inside quotation marks, and you should identify your sources as accurately and fully as possible.

You can find more about plagerim and how to avoid it on the Current Student pages.

Extenuating Circumstances and Reasonable Adjustments

UCL recognises that some students can experience personal or health-related problems which affect their ability to complete an assessment by its deadline. There are two types of application you can make for a extension to coursework, or to defer an examination.
DAP or delayed assessment permits. You do not need any evidence to apply for a DAP and the maximum extension given will be 5 working days.
EC or extenuating circumstances. You will need evidence to appply for an EC and any extension that is approved is based on the severity of the circumstances. If the application is for a deferral, the Extenuating Circumstances Panel will determine the nature and timing of the deferral, which may be offered with or without tuition/ attendance. 

More information can be found in the UCL Academic Manual.

You will make DAP and EC claims through Portico. An EC request will be considered by the SSEES EC Panel, no matter which department teaches the module(s) concerned. You should attach appropriate supporting evidence. Forms of appropriate evidence are set out in the SSEES Documentary Evidence Requirements available on the Current Students website. Intial enquiries regarding your EC requests should go to the Student Support Officer and sent to the email address ssees-extenuating-circumstances@ucl.ac.uk

Grounds for Extenuating Circumstances.

Requests for extensions or other mitigations in examinations will only be considered where the circumstances meet the definition of an extenuating circumstance. Guidance is provided to help you assess whether an EC claim might be considered – you are encouraged to review this guidance before submitting your claim. You will be contacted once a decision has been made about your request. Wherever possible such requests should be submitted well before the deadline. Please note that routine computer problems such as viruses, disk corruption, printer problems, and short term network problems are not acceptable grounds for an extension. You are expected to take proper precautions and make back-up copies of your work. 

If you do not present evidence your EC claim it is likely to be rejected.

Extensions cannot be granted retrospectively or by individual Course Tutors and requests must be submitted via Portico.

Reasonable Adjustments and Special Exam Arrangements. 

If you have a longer-term or chronic condition that affects you permanently or regularly throughout the year you should apply for Reasonable Academic Adjustments. UCL will make Reasonable Adjustments to learning, teaching and assessment to ensure that students with a disability are not put at a disadvantage. UCL also provides Reasonable Adjustments for students who might not consider themselves to have a ‘disability’ but who nevertheless would benefit from additional support due to an ongoing medical or mental health condition. It is the responsibility of the student to request Reasonable Adjustments, and students are encouraged to make a request as early as possible. please see link above for more details. 

If granted, an RAA will permit you a 5-working day (10 for the Dissertation) extension without having to apply for a DAP. Longer extensions can still only be granted via the EC process. You can use a DAP or EC extension on top of an RAA extension. 

You can find further information about Reasonable Adjustments in the Academic Manual.

You should request Reasonable Adjustments via Disability Services. You can find futher information on Disability Services’ website. 

Student Support 

Starting a degree programme at a new university, possibly in a new city or a new country, can be a daunting experience for anyone, regardless of age or background. The most important thing to remember is that there are many sources of advice and support available for every aspect of your life at UCL from the moment you arrive until you graduate and beyond.

Full details of the support available to you can be found on the Support & Wellbeing pages.

You’ll also find some key links below. Your Personal Tutor will also be a key point of contact for you if you are experiencing any difficulties.

Students with physical or mental health concerns are encouraged to make contact with the available support services as early as possible so that UCL can put in place reasonable adjustments to support them throughout their studies. However there may be occasions when a student’s physical or mental health, wellbeing or behaviour is having a detrimental effect on their ability to meet the requirements of their programme, or is impacting on the wellbeing, rights, safety and security of other students and staff. In such cases UCL may need to take action under the Fitness to Study Procedure.

Further Information

• Support to Study Policy
• Student Support Framework
• Student Disability Services
• Student Psychological Services
• Student Support and Wellbeing
• UCL Union
• UCLU Advice Service
   

Calculation of the Postgraduate Masters Degree

For all the above Masters Programmes the final Award is calculated using an Overall Average Mark.  Individual Modules are weighted according to their credited value and the overall mark represents the mean average of the 180 credits undertaken. (Credit-weighted mean average rounded to two decimals.)

In a Student does not meet the above requirements they will be considered for an interim Qualification if they meet the required learning outcomes and credits. Please see the Academic Manual for more details. 

Consequences of Failure of a Module

Students who obtain a mark below the condoned mark range will be required to re-enter that examination at the next normal occasion. Students with no (EC) Extenuating Circumstances will be permitted one re-assessment opportunity.

Students awarded the degree or who have passed a module will not be permitted to repeat assessment of that module.

Programmes Administrator 

Ben Chatterley
Tel: 020 7679 8771
Email (East European History): ssees-history@ucl.ac.uk
Teams: search for Ben Chatterley to chat on Teams

• Book an appointment

SSEES Handbook 

Student Handbook