Academics

Reading before the programme
Some courses do have required pre-course readings and where this is the case it will be stated in the course descriptions. See the Academics link on the side bar for further information.

Reading during the programme
For all courses, several copies of the books on your reading lists will be available in the King's College and Pembroke College Libraries. Sharing copies of library books is the standard practice at UK universities, so make sure you plan your reading in advance and share with your coursemates accordingly. In many courses students will be given Course Readers (targetted readings related to the course). In most courses therefore you will not be required to purchase books.

Students in some courses, and those taking supervisions, may find that they are assigned books that are not available in the King's College or Pembroke libraries. Access to the Faculty libraries and the University Library can be arranged through the PKP office.

Courses
Courses are mostly upper division but students should read the syllabi to find out. Check thoroughly with your university (or relevant department) in order to make sure that they will accept the courses taken on PKP for academic credit.

Course numbers are updated in real-time, so if another student decides to drop a course, a place will become available on the registration tool. If a course you really want to take is full, we recommend logging into your account frequently to see if any places have become available.

Taking courses for pass/fail
The Cambridge and US grades for all three courses you take will appear on your Pembroke-King's Programme transcript (i.e. a letter grade and a percentage grade). If you wish therefore to take certain courses for pass/fail credit you will need to arrange this with your home university.

Changing courses
Before arrival you can change your courses through the online course registration tool up until 10 June 2012. At this point we will need to fix student schedules in order to be able to provide final course schedules and attendance registers for lecturers.

Though we strongly encourage students to remain in their courses, after the start of each module you will have a limited window of three days in which to change courses, provided there is a sufficiently compelling academic reason to support such a change. This will need to be done in writing at the programme office. All course change applications will have to be justified and are subject to places being available in the requested courses.

Syllabi
Once accepted on the programme you will have access to detailed syllabi for all our courses through the online application system.

Missing lectures or seminars
The only valid excuse for missing a lecture or seminar is illness. If you are ill and unable to attend a lecture or a seminar, you will need to send an email to your lecturer before the scheduled class. Absence for any other reason will not be excused and will be reflected in your final grade.

Length and number of courses
Students take three courses over the summer. 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 the full eight weeks of the programme (Module 3).

Timetabling conflicts
Once accepted on the programme you will be able to choose your courses online. Because of timetabling conflicts it may not be possible to take the three courses of your choice. Once you choose your first course from the list, course options in subsequent lists will be limited to those courses on the timetable which do not conflict with your previous choices.