Academics

Students choose three courses from the over 45 on offer. All courses are worth the same number of credits and consist of 12 lectures and 8 seminars, with each teaching session lasting 1¼ hours. Some courses take place over four weeks (Module 1 in July, and Module 2 in August) while others are spread over eight weeks (Module 3).

Course Combinations

Students are free to mix and match the courses organised in the following subject groups: Writing; Sciences; Economics and Finance; Business and Management; History; English Literature and Linguistics; Law, Education and Anthropology; Philosophy; History of Art, Architecture and Film; Art; International Relations.

Students must take three courses and may choose any one of the following course combinations:

• One Module 3 course, one Module 1 course and one Module 2 course
• Two Module 3 courses and one Module 1 or Module 2 course
• Two Module 1 courses and one Module 2 course
• One Module 1 course and two Module 2 courses

Supervision

It is possible to substitute a supervision (independent study) in the student’s major area of study for one of the taught courses. Supervisions may be selected in combination with one Module 1 course and one Module 2 course, or one Module 3 course and one Module 1 or 2 course.

Reading

Students are advised of materials they need to read in advance. In Cambridge students have access to the Pembroke and King’s College libraries, are granted access to faculty libraries and the University Library on request, and are often provided with course readers.

Assessment and Credit

Assessment is usually based upon the final paper, final exam and student participation. Students will receive both a Cambridge grade and a US grade for each course, and transcripts will be provided to assist in arranging credit at their home universities.

While it is ultimately for students’ home institutions to determine final credit conversion, students at the University of California applying through the UCEAP system will normally qualify for five quarter-units of credit per course and students at other US universities usually receive 3-4 credits per course.

The Pembroke-King’s Programme does not operate the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) however, as an approximation, completion of the programme can be considered as equivalent to completing a full Cambridge term and thus to 20 ECTS credits.

Plenary Lectures

There are a number of plenary lectures in the evenings which supplement and enhance the academic experience. These talks are followed by drinks and an informal question and answer session, and are open to all students on the programme. In 2011 the following talks were given:

• Why Cambridge is unique (Professor Jonathan Steinberg)
• A 21st century view of national security (Sir Richard Dearlove)
• Lost in translation? Kazuo Ishiguro stays at home and goes to the movies (Dr Mark Wormald)
• Language and the law: tales from the witness stand (Professor John Hawkins)
• The state of the (European) Union? (Dr Antonio Missiroli)
• Western intelligence and Colonel Gaddafi (Professor Christopher Andrew)
• Is the internet dumbing us down? (Professor Jonathan Steinberg)
• Wagner and the total work of art (Mr Patrick Carnegy)