Download ACs - Birkbeck, University of London

Proposal attached. I would be grateful for any views.
Thanks
Ron
NOTE NEW ADDRESS
Prof Ron P Smith,
Department of Economics,
Birkbeck College,
Malet Street,
London WC1E 7HX
Tel 44 (0)20 7631 6413
Fax
6416
Graduate Diploma
It is suggested that the present Postgraduate certificates be changed to a one year full
time or two year part time programme. The Full Time programme would be all by
evening teaching so that strong students could do it in one year, while working.
Part Time Route
Year 1.
Quantitative Techniques, QT (mathematics), 1 course unit
Applied Statistics and Econometrics, ASE, 1 course unit
Empirical Project, 1 course unit.
There would be non-assessed introductory economics lectures available to the
students, but there are already quite a lot of economic related examples in the QT and
ASE.
At the end of the year they could either stop with a Graduate Certificate in
Quantitative Methods for Economics and Finance or proceed to one of Graduate
Diploma.
Year 2. Grad Dip Economics
Microeconomics 1 course unit
Macroeconomics 1 course unit
Mathematical Economics 1 course unit
Year 2 Grad Dip Finance
Microeconomics 1 course unit
Financial Markets 1 course unit
Mathematical Finance 1 course unit
There would be non-assessed revision classes in QT available to the students.
Students taking the Full time route would do 6 course units in one year. This would be
the same workload as the present Postgraduate Certificate in Economics. The only
difference is that instead of being aggregated with ASE, the project is counted as a
separated course unit.
A proposal that was floated at the meeting today is attached. It seems
to have advantages for the School and College. Steve, Brad, Sandeep: Do
you think it is feasible?
Ron
NOTE NEW ADDRESS
Prof Ron P Smith,
Department of Economics,
Birkbeck College,
Malet Street,
London WC1E 7HX
Tel 44 (0)20 7631 6413
Fax
6416
>>> Martin Ingrouille <[email protected]> 08/12/2005 17:09:11 >>>
Dear Ron,
You are correct in saying it is quite complicated. I may have got the
following wrong and perhaps it might be quicker if we organise a short
meeting to sort this out.
I am not clear how "unexamined" courses can be "counted" unless in
some
way you record that they have made a serious attempt at these courses
(i.e. assess them even if it is just for attendance though they might
then score 100% and how this might be included in an overall average
becomes problematic).
For a PT student coming in 6-9 pm three nights a week over two terms
is
a normal attendance for completing 3 cus but if they also attend also
for a full summer term that might add up to more cus.
If students are assessed in 4.0 cu (or more) in a year they are taking
a
full-time programme (even if it is taken by evening classes) - and
they
should be valued as being worth 1.0 FTE rather than the normal
undergraduate tariff of 0.75 FTE - they also should pay full-time
fees.
Is there a possibility of calling it a Diploma rather than an
Advanced
Certificate - I think a college diploma currently requires 5.0 cus
though that might change in any new college-wide scheme. You might
then
be able to include the "non-examined" elements depending at what level
C, I or H are these all taught?
Martin
-----Original Message----From: Ron Smith [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: 07 December 2005 17:30
To: b.baxter; Shona Brown
Cc: a.garratt; Diana Driscoll; F.atkins; Martin Ingrouille; s.wright
Subject: Re: AdvCert Financial Engineering
Dear Shona
Brad passed your email to me. A reply is attached. I am afraid that it
is quite complicated because of the implications for all the
Postgraduate/advanced Certs.
Many thanks
Ron
NOTE NEW ADDRESS
Prof Ron P Smith,
Department of Economics,
Birkbeck College,
Malet Street,
London WC1E 7HX
Tel 44 (0)20 7631 6413
Fax
6416
>>> Shona Brown <[email protected]> 21/11/2005 17:14:39 >>>
Brad
The proposal for a new Advanced Cert in Financial Engineering was
considered at the Science and Social Sciences Degrees Committee this
afternoon. I reported that I had already contacted you regarding the
total value (4 modules) and that you had confirmed that the higher
value
was needed to prepare students for the MSc. Normally an Advanced Cert
comprises 3 cu's/modules at H level. The Committee expressed concern
that the total value proposed exceeds the normal part-time load and is
in effect a full-time programme. This has implications for fees and
funding.
Could you review and clarify the values of the term 2 modules? One way
forward could be to re-designate Applied Stats and Econometrics and
Financial Markets as 0.5 H-level modules. This would then reduce the
total value to 3. I've also looked at the soon-to-be AdvCerts in
Economics/Finance/Econ&Finance and it could be that such an amendment
would be advantageous for these programmes too: each 1-term compulsory
module valued at 0.5, the term 3 option at 1.0 to give a total valuie
of
3.0 for each award. Just a suggestion - perhaps you could discuss
this,
and any alternative suggestions there may be, with Stephen and Ron
Smith. The Chair of the Degrees Committee, Martin Ingrouille, would
also
be happy to discuss the proposal with you. Once a way forward is
agreed,
the proposal can be re-considered at the next Degrees Committee
meeting
in March. Proposals for any re-designated modules can be submitted to
this meeting also.
Hope this makes sense
Regards
Shona
--------------------------------------------
Shona Brown
Assistant Registrar
Birkbeck College
Malet Street
London WC1E 7HX
tel 020 7631 6562
fax 020 7631 6303
[email protected]
ACs
Shona Brown, Diana Driscoll, Martin Ingrouille and Ron Smith met 20 December.
It was proposed that subject to consultation (a) the Advanced Certificate in Financial
Engineering would proceed on a transitional basis for 2006-7 (b) all the Advanced
Certificates would be restructured to make them compatible with the Common
Awards Structure from 2007 onwards.
The present part-time Postgraduate/Advanced Certificates (ACE and ACF) and the
proposed AC in Financial Engineering all require graduate entry. They have 5 units,
but they also involve an empirical project in ASE, which could be counted as a unit,
making the total 6.
The new structure would have two awards for each.
Graduate Certificate, 1 year part-time, 3 units.
Graduate Diploma, 1 year full-time or 2 years part-time, 6 units.
The present PCEF would be dropped, it would just be a graduate diploma.
The Graduate Diploma could be done by evening study, so strong candidates could do
it in one year while working (exactly as they do the present PC/ACs) but they would
have to recognise that they are doing the equivalent of a full time course.
The important practical issues are whether:
(a) the present programmes could be reworked so that they could be done either in
sequence for the two year part-time route or in parallel for the one year full
time route;
(b) we could design the marketing so that we did not lose good students who want
to do the conversion course for the MSc in one year.