Info about courses in UL

I can probably write something about Comp Sys......not like I have much else to do in Cairo at the moment

kaimera wrote: »

it's old comp sys at this stage rory

A lot of the modules are the same though so perhaps what you and I know is still relavent.....anyway tomorrow when I'm not so drunk.

LM046 History, Politics, Sociology & Social Studies

Don't let the title confuddle you as you have a wide range of subject choices. Be warned it's considered the doss course of the entire university (boasting the fewest contact hours - 12 or less per week); commonly called HPSS or History & Politics (even if you don't do either of those subjects)..or HPiSS (class parties = HPiSSups )

In first year you choose four from six subjects: History, Politics, Sociology, Economics, Public Administration or Geography.

In second year you choose two majors or one major and two minor options to carry forth for the rest of your degree. History, politics and sociology are available are as majors (i.e. doing two modules of that subject per semester) while the others are only available as minors (i.e. one module per semester).

In the second semester of 2nd year you go on work placement, or 'co-op' as it's known in UL. For humanities students placements range from civil service positions in Government departments and county/city councils to customer care at Hertz car rental to teaching English at teenage camps in Spain and even further afield. I worked on the Joint Committee for European Affairs in the Houses of the Oireachtas, but I'm aware that some of the public servant co-op positions are drying up due to tightening of expenditure in the public service.

Straight after co-op, in the first semester of 3rd year, there is external academic placement: either Erasmus (Europe) or Socrates (N. America). There is a wide variety of places and institutions to go to. I went to Collegium Civitas in Warsaw, Poland.

From the second semester of 3rd year you're back on campus for the remainder of your time at UL. You only have three taught modules this semester (= 9 hours :pac:) but technically you're supposed to be laying the foundations for your Final Year Project (a mini-dissertation/thesis researching a particular area that interests you). I don't know many who actually did, though!

First semester of 4th year, still cracking on that FYP so only have three taught modules. Might do a bit of work on it this semester as it's due early in semester 2 of 4th year.

Second semester of 4th year: FYP was due in week 4 in my day, but I think they've changed it to week 1 now. Full on four modules again so 12 hours!!1one! :eek:

I'll give a quick run down on my personal experience and subjects etc.
I did History, Politics, Economics & Public Admin in 1st Year
Then I chose History major and minors in Economics and Public Admin

History: They completely overhauled the course in 2008, now teaching it in chronological format from first year through to fourth. Seeing as I was taught the old course I won't dwell on individual modules that no longer exist. Overall, history is tough to do well in. It requires a lot of reading for essays and suchlike. Unlike LC history, it is not about facts and figures, but about analysis and interpretation. Of course you need to know the facts to be able to interpret them, but you get my drift! One module to be aware of is Tools & Methods in Historical Research, which under the new course is broken into two modules: Sources for History and Historiography. I think the first is compulsory for anyone taking history (first year) and the second only compulsory for history majors (second year). The Tools & Methods module I did was notoriously difficult, full of advanced concepts (taught Sem I of 2nd year) and just generally hard to grasp and uninteresting. The Sources module I suspect will deal with things like objectivity/subjectivity etc while historiography is basically how history is written and what influences how it is written. *shudder* Other than that particular module, I thoroughly enjoyed history. I'd say anyone choosing history at this level would have to be very enthusiastic about the subject as well as a relatively capable command of the English language (for both reading sources - some of which can be old and tedious - and writing essays, of which a certain percentage goes for language).

Economics: I loved this for LC and decided to keep it on. It was actually a sort of pick-me-up subject after the heavy reading and workload of history. It also did my QCA wonders as I found it easy to achieve high grades in it (the answers were either right or wrong and not open to subjective interpretation by the reader like history essays!). As it's only available as a minor, you could only ever have one module of it per semester. You're not in with the BBS economics class group, but in an Arts group with people from Int'l Insurance & European Studies, Euro Studies, and a few others. I suppose it's because the Arts students wouldn't be up to the same mathematical standards as the BBS so its fairer to segregate. I dunno. Anyway, the modules are interesting; if you put the study in for the exams you'll do well if you 'get' economics. Having done economics for LC, you'd have most of the 1st year course covered and it's a good advantage as things like markets and the laws are hammered into you at LC level and they come in handy in later modules when you see them indirectly in practice. Fourth year module, Public Finance, is a b!tch, though. It's in Sem II of 4th Year and it's the one time that we're put in with the BBS crowd. Lecturer is possibly one of the best lecturers in UL but he has no shame of his hatred of the handful (literally) of HPSS and Public Admin students in his class. In fact, I believe he opened his module warning us that we were 'probably going to fail' and went on for a few minutes about how shite HPSS/PA students are at economics. Although sarcastic, he's a very effective lecturer, very clear and would have no problem answering anyone's questions. I think gives that outburst to scare HPSS/PA students into coming to class because in general we're pretty crap at attendance (despite having so few hours anyway).

Public Admin: This is what you might expect 'Politics' to be about. Again, only available as a minor option. Pretty interesting course, even if some of it seems a bit general knowledge/common sense. Goes through topics like the structure of the public service and public bodies, origins and development of sub-national govt & local govt, the welfare state, public policy and where the administration of govt is going in the future. For me, this was about half-way between Economics and History in terms of difficulty. It was an easy enough subject to waffle on in if you knew a bit about the topic and current affairs if you got stuck in an exam Not that I ever did, of course...ahem.

Pros of HPSS:
Really broad nature of the course; a lot of room for self development; excellent opportunities to develop skills in critical thinking, research, analysis, argument, writing; co-op & Erasmus are brilliant experiences and both have influenced my future path.

Cons:
Well, you're not really qualified as anything...sometimes the only prospect for HPSS graduates is further study...which is sort of a pro because most HPSSers are that way inclined anyway so it suits. Other than that, depending on your field of interest, the public service is a good option...but they're not hiring right now. Ahem. Moving swiftly onwards. Depending on your personality, you may find it difficult to motivate yourself to do work, but it's a course that relies on self-discipline.

The Library
The library is to the HPSS student what DNA is to living organisms: pretty damn hard to tell apart. Well, perhaps not for first/second year (although you will still need to spend some time there) but by your return to campus in second semester of third year, you need to get to the stage that you have a specific seat and that's where you sit and no one else is allowed sit there. If they do, sit as close as you can possibly get and start doing things that would annoy other library users (eat sweets wrapped in papers, munch loudly, have in-depth conversations with people, let your phone go off, glare at them and make them feel generally uncomfortable). This is your seat. It should only be vacant when you're ill or out of the country. In which case you should undoubtedly get text messages from people asking if you're ok because 'your seat is empty'. Get to know the Special Collections folk and the library staff; they're very helpful people and great sources of wisdom and advice; also, they might sort you out the odd time to check out an extra book or, especially, an extra short loans book at weekends.

If anyone would like to know anything about Science Education (LM092 i think... Biology education with physics or chemistry) I can help as I am a graduate of the brilliant course!!!

Hi!

I'm considering doing journalism and new media. Anyone got any insights into the course??

just wondering is there any course in ul that would be good for a career in trading?