Academic credit gained through a SLICC
Information about signing up for a SLICC alongside other courses, when grades are released, Tier 4 restrictions, and how academic credit gained through a SLICC can be used.
Students successfully completing a summer SLICC will receive 20 academic credits at SCQF Level 8. This is the level of a typical first or second year course. Generally, undergraduate students are required to sign-up for 120 credits every year of study.
The University views the SLICC credit as equivalent to any other non-core credit of the same level, meaning that students will be able to count it as elective credit towards their degree programmes where this is allowed.
Regardless of whether or not they plan to undertake a SLICC in the coming summer, students must still sign-up for the required number of credits at the start of the academic year, as it would be uncertain that they will develop an academically viable proposal for their SLICC.
When SLICC grades are released
SLICCs completed during the summer typically go to a Board of Examiners at the end of August/early September, at which point each student's grades will be agreed. This means students should know their SLICC grade before starting their courses in September.
The only exception to this is where a student has applied for a discretionary dispensation to submit late and therefore miss the late August/early September Board of Examiners.
Where this happens, the SLICC grade will only be confirmed later in the academic year (likely at a January Board of Examiners) and the student will not be able to use these credits to inform their elective course choices for that year of study.
Restrictions for Tier 4 student/Student route Students:
- Tier 4/Student route students are required to be studying on a full-time basis. The only exception to this is outlined under the ‘Resits and Repeats’ section on the Student Immigration pages.
- If a Tier 4/Student route student wishes to participate in SLICC between year 1 and year 2, then they can do so but are not permitted to choose to create a lighter workload during the academic year as a result of the credits gained over the summer. They must continue to be studying on a full-time basis.
How credit gained through a SLICC can be used
For first- or second-year undergraduate students, credit gained through a summer SLICC can be used in different ways. It can either be used as elective credit in place of a non-core elective course, or it can be used as additional credit, that is over and above the number of credits required for that level of study.
At the start of the year, students must still sign-up for a full credit-load regardless of whether or not they intend to do a SLICC in the coming summer. This is because places on the summer SLICCs are only granted once an academically viable proposal is submitted and approved during late Semester 2.
The boxes below give further information on how first- and second-year undergraduate students can use the 20 credits gained through a SLICC.
Elective credit
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Where the student's degree programme allows elective credit from outside subjects, credit received from a SLICC completed between first year and second year can be used as elective credit in two different ways.
- If the student fails a 20-credit SCQF Level 8 course in first year and then also fails the resit for that course during the following summer, the student can choose to substitute the 20 credits from their summer SLICC for that failed credit. The student would therefore start second year without any credit deficit, that is they would start with 120 credits.
- If the student passes all their first year courses and also their SLICC in the summer between first year and second year, they can choose to create a lighter workload for themselves during second year by using the 20 credits gained from their SLICC instead of taking a 20-credit elective course from an outside subject (where their degree programme allows this).
Additional credit
- Students who passed all their courses in first year, who successfully complete a SLICC in the summer between their first and second year, and who choose to take and pass a full set of courses in second year, will hold the 20 credits for their SLICC as additional credit - that is it is in excess of the credit they required for first and second year.
Elective credit
- Where the student's degree programme allows elective credit from outside subjects, credit received from a summer SLICC completed between second year and third year can be used as elective credit only if the student has failed a second year outside elective course and its summer resit. In such a situation, the student can choose to substitute the 20 credits from their summer SLICC for that failed credit. The student would therefore start third year without any credit deficit.
Additional credit
- Students who have passed all their courses in first and second year, and who successfully complete a SLICC in the summer between their second and third year, will hold the 20 credits for their SLICC as additional credit - that is it is in excess of the credit they required for first and second year.