Information for new and returning undergraduate students
Essential information for 21/22 academic year.
We are very much looking forward to welcoming you, or welcoming you back, to the Deanery of Biomedical Sciences in September.
The FAQs below aim to provide you with information about learning and teaching and student support arrangements for the forthcoming year.
We have scheduled a number of live Question and Answer session to answer any further questions you may have as you start to prepare for the coming academic year:
Click here for dates/times and meeting links.
What are the plans for the delivery of undergraduate teaching in 2021/22?
The University expects that some Covid-19 restrictions will have to continue, such as physical distancing, face coverings and hand hygiene measures. The extent of these requirements will be determined by Scottish Government guidance. The University is in continual dialogue with the Scottish Government towards getting clarity on these issues. Updates will be provided on this webpage as soon as further details have been confirmed.
Learning and Teaching
The Deanery of Biomedical Sciences is planning that all UG students will receive a combination of on-campus, in-person and online learning and teaching in academic year 2021-22. Essentially, this means delivering a blend of digitally accessible teaching and integrating this with in-person activities where these are possible, working within the restrictions directed by the Scottish Government to keep us all safe. In person, on-campus, teaching will be delivered in UK time as will many elements of online teaching. We will, nevertheless, where good practice dictates, continue to use pre-recorded materials alongside other learning materials to support student learning.
In person class sizes will be capped at 50 so there will be no large group in-person on campus teaching. The amount of in-person teaching will vary from course to course, and will be influenced by our teaching estate capacity and of course by the latest Covid-19 restrictions. We will keep our students updated over the coming weeks but we are committed to offering you as much in-person teaching as we can safely deliver within the guidance we must work to.
Laboratories
The ongoing restrictions mean that practical work must also be delivered through a combination of digital and in-person activities. We have redesigned our practical material in a digital format and will deliver this using the new AD Instruments Lt platform. The core learning objectives associated with practical work including experimental design, data acquisition and analysis, and the interpretation and presentation of data will be delivered online within courses using this approach.
Nevertheless, we appreciate this approach does not replicate the ‘hands on’ practical experience of being physically present in a laboratory. To address this we plan to run lab-based experience opportunities for all undergraduate students and we hope that with increased relaxation of restrictions we can return to a situation that allows in-person laboratory teaching to be scaled up in Semester 2, not least in the final year where we hope that opportunities will be available for students to engage with in-person laboratory-based capstone projects.
Do I need to be here in Edinburgh?
The University wrote to all students in May to confirm that all students are expected to be here in Edinburgh in the 21/22 academic year to ensure that all students can have a much more normal university experience than in the past year.
How will assessments work this year?
All Semester 1 assessments will be delivered remotely again in 21/22 whether they be in-course assessment throughout the semester, or end of course assessments including time-limited online exams. A decision on running an on-campus end of Semester 2 assessment diet will be made in October.
Information on assessment criteria and methods of assessment will be detailed in the course information at the start of each course.
Academic support
All students are assigned a Personal Tutor who is an academic member of staff in the Deanery of Biomedical Sciences. They can provide tailored academic advice and pastoral support to you during your studies.
The Biomedical Teaching Organisation also has a dedicated Student Support Team to provide students with help and guidance on a number of areas such as extension requests; special circumstances; support and advice relating to health and wellbeing.
In addition all new undergraduate students are automatically allocated to an Academic Family. Each family is led by two to three trained senior students in Biomedical Sciences. New students will be allocated to their Academic Family during welcome week and will meet their family leaders and student family members during the year.
Academic Families
Most meetings with our Personal Tutors, Student Support team and Academic Families are taking place digitally through the Microsoft Teams platform at the moment and our plan is to delivery a mix of in-person and digital student support meetings in Academic Year 21-22, if government restrictions allow. We will update this webpage with more information on plans for student support over the summer.
Campus Safety
Please be assured that your safety and that of our staff remain paramount and are central to our planning. We continue to monitor government guidance on Covid-19 prevention measures and will adjust our 2021-22 plans in response to any relevant changes.