Affiliate students

We welcome the opportunity to share our teaching and research with students registered for a degree programme abroad who wish to study with us for a year or a term.

Information about the Affiliate/Study Abroad programme

The UCL Division of Psychology and Language Sciences carries out research across the whole breadth of the field, and teaches at both undergraduate and graduate level. We very much welcome the opportunity to share our teaching and research with affiliate students, i.e. students registered for a degree programme abroad who wish to study with us for a year or a term. The modules you study at UCL can usually be counted for credit at your home university, for instance under a 'Junior Year Abroad' scheme. Affiliate students are accepted for the full year or for the fall or spring term alone.

Affiliate programmes are available in:

 

Structure of the Programme

Undergraduate modules are taught by lectures and seminars, and affiliate students can choose from a range of modules.

The UCL 'Teaching Hour' is 50 minutes long, beginning on the hour and finishing at 10 minutes to the hour. You may find that the terminology used to describe your modules at UCL is different from what you are used to at your home university. Below is a breakdown of commonly used words:

Term (often referred to in the U.S as 'semester')
At UCL the academic year is divided into one '12-week' and one '11-week' teaching term (Autumn and Spring Terms respectively) and a 7-week revision and examination term after the Easter break (Summer Term). The first week of first term is set aside for Induction activities.

Module Credits 
Module credits denote the value and length of each module. Generally, a single module that runs for one term has a credit value of 15 credits, whereas a module that runs throughout the year (so for terms 1 and 2) has a credit value of 30 credits. You are expected to take 120 credits over the year, which is roughly equivalent to 32 credits in the U.S. or 60 ECTS.

If you are staying for one term only, you are expected to take 60 credits, equivalent to 16 credits in the U.S. or 30 ECTS.

Affiliate Tutor 
The Affiliate Tutor is the person who registers you and can advise you on your choice of modules at the beginning of the year. You can consult this tutor on general academic matters. The Affiliate Tutor has overall responsibility for affiliate students and makes final decisions as appropriate. If you experience medical or personal problems or face circumstances which could affect your attendance, coursework or exam performance, you should inform the Affiliate Tutor as soon as you feel able. If we are aware of your difficulties we can help or at the very least guide you to sources of further assistance. A medical certificate is required in cases of illness lasting more than one week.

Reading Week 
This is a week during each of Term 1 and 2 in which there are no lectures or tutorial classes in most subjects. Students may use this week as an opportunity to research their subject on their own in order to broaden their knowledge of the material covered in each module.

 

Assessment

Examinations and Essays 
A range of assessment methods are used, depending on the module. Please refer to the individual affiliate programme information pages for further details (links at the top of this page).

Grading 
UCL grades are unlikely to be calculated on the same scale as that used in students' home universities. Students are sometimes unnecessarily alarmed at the apparently low numerical grades received because of a failure to understand this. Exam percentages will be converted to US grades according to a standard scheme - details can be found in literature circulated by UCL International Office at the beginning of term. Both the UCL percentage and the US grade will appear on the transcript sent to each student's home university.

Honour Code 
Students will be trusted to conduct themselves honourably in examinations and in preparing coursework. Particular attention is drawn to the UCL guidelines on plagiarism.

 

What current students say

I chose UCL on recommendation from my academic advisor at UWA. At first it was quite stressful trying to get into a different system of teaching, let alone a whole new continent. Now that I’ve found my feet though, I think it will help in making me more independent when it comes to increasing my knowledge in any particular subject I choose. Studying abroad will demonstrate to future employers that I am flexible and can adapt well to new situations.

Andrew Cheah, University of Western Australia.

 

Please select the links below for further information

 

Fees, Costs and Funding

For information on fees and living costs, please refer to Information for Prospective Students.

 

Applying for the Affiliate Programmes

Please refer to the Linguistics, Psychology and Psychology and Language Sciences affiliate programme information for further details.

To apply as an affiliate student in the UCL Division of Psychology and Language Sciences, please visit the UCL international student pages for more information. There you can download an application form and find out about application deadlines.