Here you find general information about your studies and courses.
The Academic Year
Each academic year is divided into two semesters: autumn and spring, and each semester is, in turn, divided into two study periods. The exact start and end dates of these study periods varies between from year to year, but the approximate times for these are:
Autumn Semester
Study Period 1: End of August/Beginning of September – End of October/beginning of November.
Study Period 2: End of October/Beginning of November – End of January.
Spring Semester
Study Period 3: End of January – Beginning of March.
Study Period 4: Beginning of March – Beginning of June.
For the exact dates of the current and upcoming academic years, please consult the academic calendar (see link at the end of this page).
General Course Information
Most of our advanced level courses are 7.5 credits and are given at half-pace over one study period. This means that you should usually study two courses in parallel over each study period. Exceptions to this are when studying project courses and the thesis course as these are more flexible.
Note that some of our courses are not given every year. In case you are interested in studying one of these courses, it is important that you plan your studies in advance to make this possible. You can find out which courses this applies to in the Course Offering Schedule linked below.
For all our advanced courses, the schedules are coordinated so that no collisions between lectures, labs etc. should occur. If you are studying courses given by other departments in parallel with our courses, there is a risk that they will collide. If the number of collisions is small, then this is usually not a problem. However, please keep in mind that it is your responsibility to catch up on what you have missed e.g., by asking a fellow student to copy their lecture notes. It is also important to make sure that you will not miss any mandatory or examination. Also keep in mind that you usually do not need to attend all scheduled laboratory sessions for the physics courses (see below under Schedule).
Course structure
Our courses comprise of one or more parts. For the majority of our courses, the theory part is the largest one. In addition to this, there is an experimental and/or computer laboratory part. Each part of the course is usually assessed and graded separately. In order to pass the course, you need to pass all parts. The course grade is commonly determined by the grade of the theory parts, but for some courses it is determined by e.g., averaging over the different parts. You can find the exact information that applies to your courses by consulting the courses’ syllabi.
Teaching
The teaching on the course can be given in the form of lectures, problem solving sessions, supervisions during labs, group exercises etc.
Registering to the course
To start a course to which you have been admitted, you must register. This is done via the Student Web. In case you run into any problems or have any questions regarding this, please contact the study administrator of the department. You can find links to the Student Web and contact information in the links below.
Course homepage
All of our courses have a course home page on one of the two learning platforms Canvas and Cambro. As soon as you are registered to a course, you will gain access to the course page. There you will find all information needed to follow the course, e.g., schedules, lecture planning, course materials, etc. You will also be able to contact the teachers of the course and other students via a messaging system within the learning platform.
Schedules
Each course has a schedule where you can find the time, date and place of each lecture, problem solving sessions, labs, and so on. There are various ways to find your schedules:
By logging in to the Student web you will find the schedule of each course for which you are registered to.
By searching for the schedule in our scheduling system Time Edit. This system also allows you to sync the schedules of your courses to your calendar application on your computer and phone
Usually you can also find the schedule on the course page.
In the course schedule you will find a number of laboratory sessions. These are the total number or lab sessions for the course but note that you usually do not have to attend all of these. Instead, you will be given a separate lab schedule by the lab supervisors where you can see exactly which of the sessions you need to attend. If you have questions regarding this, please contact the supervisors of the course.
Exams
The theory part of a course is usually examined in a written exam in the end of the course. The exams are usually 6 hours long and consists of a number of problems which you need to solve. The material you are allowed to bring to the exam varies from course to course. You will receive information about what you can bring by the course’s teacher.
It can take up to three weeks before the exams have been graded. When this is done you will be able to see your course grade by logging into the Student web. You can also ask the teacher to get the corrected exam back to see which problems you managed to solve and which errors you made.
The laboratory parts of the course are usually assessed via written and oral reports.
Registering to the exam
A really important thing to notice is that you need to register to the exam in advance! For the first exam of a course, you can register already at the start of the course, but not later than ten days in before the exam. Each course usually also has one or two re-exams each year. You can register for the re-exams at earliest one month in advance and at latest ten days. It is not possible to take the reexam for a higher grade if you have already passed the course. The registration is done via the Student web. Please contact the study administrator in case you run into any problems with registering.
You can find more information about the exams in the links below.
Course literature
A majority of our courses follows one or more course books which you should acquire. Information about the course literature for each course can be found in the end of the syllabus or the course. It is recommended to get the books before the course starts. If you have questions, e.g., to what extent each book is used, please contact the course teacher.
In addition to books some courses also have own-produced and copied materials, e.g. lecture notes, and laboratory instructions. This material is usually handed out in the beginning of the course or distributed via the course’s homepage.
