Information for New Students

As Director of Teaching and Learning for the School of Systems Engineering, I am very happy to congratulate you on being accepted to come to our School, at the University of Reading. We hope you have a successful and enjoyable time here, and look forward to meeting you during Freshers' Week.

Our welcome to new students in Freshers' week comprises two welcoming events, as detailed below. We have also decided to give out relevant handbooks when you come here, rather than posting them in advance - as we believe you are sent enough information by the University! But for those of you wanting some extra information, we have set up this page, telling you about our welcomes and saying more on the modules you will take in Part 1.

Eur Ing Dr R Simon Sherratt

Welcomes and registration - events you must attend

First welcome, 11:00 on the Tuesday of Freshers' Week, October 4th, in the Palmer Building theatre, G10. The Palmer Building is near the Students Union / Carrington Building. Here we will talk about aspects of the School and so prepare you for registration.

Registration: on the afternoon of October 4th, in School Common Room, Systems Engineering, at a time specified in a letter sent to you by the Faculty office. Here you will meet a programme advisor who will give you key information and advice. Although you could read the information below to make some informed choices.

Second welcome, 10:00 on Thursday October 6th - details about this will be announced in the First welcome - here we will discuss other aspects of the School, how to learn and introduce you to the staff most relevant to your degree. You will also be given the opportunity to fill in the About Me document and email it to your tutor, to introduce yourself in preparation for your first tutor meeting.

Note the Palmer Building is Building 26 and Systems Engineering is Building 38, on the Campus Map.

On-line enrolment

To access some sites you need your University Username and Password. These will be sent to you when you enrol, which you can do in advance of coming to Reading: please see www.reading.ac.uk/freshers.

We would like to encourage you to enrol if possible and then access our site: when you first get in post a little information about yourself and put some more detail in your profile. Log in over the next few weeks to meet others and find out what is happening..

Useful website on transition to University Life

The University Study Advisers have developed a very useful web site for new undergraduates which is published on their site (www.reading.ac.uk/studyadvice) : there is a direct link: http://www.reading.ac.uk/internal/studyadvice/NewtoUniversity/sta-newtouniversity.aspx.

This resource can be used as a complete pre-entry training course by new undergraduates, or dipped into as needed. It is arranged by four key areas for transition:

1. the difference between school/college and higher education
2. becoming an independent thinker
3. writing academically
4. managing workloads.

The website includes advice on how to use references, what we mean by independent learning and critical thinking, and tips on clear communication. Each page is fully navigable and has extensive guidance on expectations including explicit explanations of how HE study in different areas builds on existing skills and practices and activities to put the ideas into practice. You may well find these pages useful - and so we recommend them to you. 

Registering and Choosing Modules in Part 1

During Freshers week you will meet with one of your Programme Advisors (afternoon of 4th October) where you will discuss and select the modules you will be taking in Part 1 (think of it as year 1). While students want to do a degree we call these degrees Programmes. Each Programme is made of Modules where you study the relevant material. Each Programme has some compulsory modules, and many also have optional modules. You can select modules which cover the compulsory modules for more than one degree. Hence, at the end of Part 1, assuming you pass, you will be able to continue to study the degree you entered to do, or change to another degree whose compulsory modules you have done. For degrees with no choice of module, usually you can choose one of many degrees to study after Part 1!

The table below demonstrates these choices. IT refers to the Information Technology programme, Likewise, CS is Computer Science, AI is Artificial Intelligence, ROB is Robotics, CYB is Cybernetics and EE is Electronic Engineering. In Part 1 there is no difference between the BSc/BEng or MEng variants and also the with or without the Industrial Year. The table shows Compulsory (C) and Optional (O) modules for all School degrees. Ca means you have to do one of the two modules marked thus - if you have A level Maths at C or above or equivalent you do SE1EM11 otherwise you do MA116. Oa means you can opt to do one of the two modules, but not both.

Module Code and Title	IT	CS	AI	ROB	CYB	EE
SE1PR11 Programming	C	C	C	C	C	C
SE1SE11 Software Engineering	C	C	C	C	C	C
SE1CA11 Computer Applications	O	C	C	C	C	C
SE1EM11 Engineering Maths		Oa	Ca	C	C	C
SE1CC11 Cybernetics and Circuits		O	C	C	C	C
SE1FC11 Fundamentals of Computing	C	C	C	C	O	O
MA116 Mathematics for Computer Scientists	O	Oa	Ca
SE1EA11 Enterprise, Architecture and eBusiness Systems	C	O
MA115 Codes and Code Breaking		O
MM1F10 Student Enterprise	O	O
MM1F12 Markets, Marketing and Strategy	O
LAXXX Institution Wide Language Programme (IWLP)		O			O	O

Details on each module is at: www.reading.ac.uk/module/1112/school.asp?school=SSE

The IWLP website is www.reading.ac.uk/iwlp

Consequences of Module Choice

The following indicates how the choice of any optional module affects the degrees to which a student is able to change after Part 1 if they pass! Note, other choices are possible, which do not affect the degrees to which a student can change.

IT	By choosing SE1CA11, you will also be able to do the CS programme
CS	By choosing SE1CC11 and either SE1EM11 or MA116, you will also be able to do a AI, ROB, CYB or EE programme. By choosing SE1EA11, you will also be able to do a IT programme
AI and ROB	There is no choice, but you will also be able to do a CS, CYB or EE programme
CYB and EE	By choosing to do SE1FC11, you will also be able to do a AI, ROB or CS programme

Full details of our degrees can be found in the formal programme specifications at: www.reading.ac.uk/progspecs/2011/prog-ugschool2011.asp?school=SSE