BSc (Hons) UCLan vs. MSc Swinburne/SAO

[StarLord]

Hi everyone!

I'm a bit of a long-time lurker but since I have an actual question for a change, I just got myself an account

The very short version is actually already in the title.

In 2014/15 I will take UCLan's Astrobiology Certificate course to get a taste of the whole distance learning thing with a subject I'm at least partially familiar with (current grad student in biology).
While looking at their further study options, I thought the BSc (Hons) would be great to take for fun over the next... many... years.

Then I started googling other degree options and institutions and came across Swinburne Astronomy Online (SAO).
They offer a Masters by coursework and by comparing their module offerings, SAO's MSc kind of looks like a truncated version of UCLan's BSc (Hons).
On the forum I found some old threads mentioning SAO, but not that particular program I think?
(not even sure if I qualify to enrol, but one at a time )

Has anyone looked into UCLan's BSc and/or SAO's MSc? Are they worth their money?
If you have ever taken any courses by them, how would you describe your experience? A lot of work? Unsatisfactory? Amazing? Eye-opening? I read good things on here about UCLan already.

Just so there's no confusion: I don't want to become a professional astronomer, but I'd like to have a degree upon completion of the course.

If anyone has any input on it I'd appreciate it!

Thanks!

[ronin]

The UCLAN seems a reasonable course, although most I know of have done items from the BSc, not actually aware of anyone that has done the actual full course.

Cannot say if it is worth going to any events as you have no location, UCLAN often attend events but no idea of where you are as it could well be outside the UK. They have an Open Day soon.

One of their certificate cousres is not the same as the whole BSc. It may be that you start on a "first year" module, these are different to the "third year" ones. In effect do not think that they stay at the same level throughout. How good is your maths? In anything lkike this you will need it. equally any good at computing and writing software, I assume there is some sort of time limit on completing it.

SAO are good, you will need the BSc to do the MSc with them, I think they want proof not just you saying you have done it. Also when I looked they were a fair cost for non-Australian people/residents.

Also budget in the cost of the UCLAN modules over time, they add up. You have mentioned Astrobiology, that is 1 module £470 and from UCLAN site the first year is 8 compulsary modules = £3760, The BSc is 18 modules so realistically you will have to consider 2 or 3 each year in order to complete in a realistic period.

Question the 18 modules as on the web site UCLAN specify the "Compulsary" modules, and there are 19 of them not 18. So a mismatch in numbers immediatly.

[StarLord]

Hey ronin,

Thanks for your reply and sorry for not answering sooner.

So I'll do UCLan to see if distance learning works for me. I'm not that afraid about the difficulty (quality), I'm more worried about the workload itself (quantity), as I'm already a fulltime student on my research MSc right now, most likely going PhD next year.

As I'm studying on-campus with a large university, getting proof of my academic achievements (BSc, soon MSc) will not be a problem.

I also realised the discrepancy between the number of modules listed vs the number needed for a BSc Hons. In their syllabus, they also listed another astrobio module that's not found on the website - maybe that's the 19th? I'd definitly look into that if I decide on going down that road, but thanks for pointing it out.

I was mostly asking about the programs because I'm not familiar with the BSc *Hons* and MSc *by coursework* system. I'm in central Europe and here we only have a "normal" BSc (that may or may not include a final thesis) and MSc by research (we don't have plain taught MSc programs).

[szymon]

I wouldn't worry about the "hons" part -- in England, the vast majority of degrees issued are "with honours".  Honours degrees in the UK are always granted at bachelors level and the grades are 1 (first class honours), 2:1 (upper second class honours), 2:2 (lower second class honours) and 3 (third class honours).  In the rare case that someone only just scrapes a passing grade, they may be granted the degree without honours which I think is called a "plain" or "ordinary" degree, but this is rare.  The grades are usually used as an entry point to further education courses, for example some Masters courses will only accept students with second class honours or higher.  I know that the system in Scotland is slightly different, you can actually enrol for an "Ordinary" degree course which is a shorter course, although I don't know much about the system there.

As for the MSc by coursework, this is basically a written Masters degree as opposed to a taught Masters; you would do self-learning or remote classes on a series of subjects and provide a number of pieces or coursework to demonstrate your understanding of the topics.  This is usually in conjunction with rather than instead of a final dissertation.

-simon

[ollypenrice]

Ive done several modules from the UCLAN course plus the Jodrell Bank radio module and a shorter one from Liverpool John Moore's on galaxies. They were all good, well thought-out courses and the staff were great. The whole thing was a positive experience.

Olly

[LeeB]

While its not quite what you asked, I have recently completed an Open University natural science degree, and the courses by and large have been very good, they have included, astrobiology, astrophysics, astronomy, planetary science, a project(collimated bi-polar outflows from yso's) and afew others (including other interests of mine oceanography and evolutionary theory) the OU allows you to link quite diverse courses to form the BSc , infact I'm studying extra this year (Maxwells / electromagnetism). The level of degree depends on grades on each module, but you can take a plain degree after 300 points I believe.

[Roy Challen]

Hi StarLord, I did the UCLan Introduction to Astronomy course at the same time as I started my BEng with the OU. In terms of workload, it was easily manageable as I chose to not be working at the time. However I now work, with the OU (this has the priority) I decided not to continue with the astro study. The course itself was very good, plenty of interesting content, a little bit of (not very difficult) trigonometry involved. It can take some time to get results back from assignments which could potentially cause an issue. Overall, I considered it a worthwhile thing to do and would like to continue it after my degree.

HTH

Roy

[gooseholla]

Actually you can do a degree without honours if you get 300 points.

The UCLAN degree is 6 x 3, i.e. 18 modules, one of them is a compulsory dissertation at level 3 I believe. That is like any uni. The courses are 20 points each, so you can work out how many you need for 360 points, 18 - which is what they offer. I believe there are a number of options to take at level 1 as they added some in for certificates, which can count in the degree - but you still choose 6 of them. Take out the first year of doing 1 or 2 modules, at 3 a year that is 6 -7 years total, which is average for part time studying.

I am starting at UClan distance learning this year with Astronomy and Cosmology certificates. I hope to continue on and do the degree, but as it is for nothing more than personal learning and enjoyment, I am not really fussed how long it takes.