School of Social and Political Science

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Details on studying abroad 

Where can I study?

There are two main Study Abroad routes for Sociology students:
1. University-wide Study Abroad route
The university runs exchanges at universities in North, Central and South America, China, Singapore, Korea, Australia New Zealand, as well as Europe. 
Student Exchange information on Edinburgh Global
The competition for these places is high. The call usually opens early November and closes mid-November.
2. Sociology Study Abroad route
The Sociology Department also has separate exchange arrangements at the following universities. The closing date for this scheme is also in November (same deadline as University-wide route).
•    University of Copenhagen, Denmark (4 places)
•    Jacobs University Bremen, Germany (1 place)
Students on joint degrees who are interested in applying for Sociology subject specific exchanges are advised to do so via the Sociology route only if Sociology comes first in their degree title. Students on joint degrees (e.g. Sociology and Psychology) must make sure that the potential host university has enough suitable courses to cover the joint part of their programme. The student is solely responsible for this and must check the courses offered.
Please note, in cases where a student changes their degree, they will no longer be eligible to take part in a Sociology subject specific exchange even if they have already received their offer.
 

What languages do I need?

The University of Copenhagen has a very large number of relevant courses in English. Studies at Jacobs University Bremen are wholly in English.

On the University-wide agreements, English is often the language of tuition or many courses will be taught in English. This is not the case in Europe and Central/Latin America, and you will need proficiency in other languages to study there. Language requirements for year abroad are explained on the Student Exchange webpages coordinated by the Study and Work Abroad (SWAY) team, here.

How will I be assessed?

Your year abroad marks will be converted to pass/fail, and your Honours degree will be classified solely on the basis of your performance in your fourth and final year. However, the year abroad performance is still important. You need to achieve satisfactory completion of the approved programme of study abroad before being permitted to proceed to 4th year. (This is why it is important to keep your exchange coordinator(s) informed of any change on your programme of study during your year abroad, and have these recorded through updates on your learning agreement, as transcripts from your studies at your host university will then be compared with your learning agreement).

The College Progression Board takes place usually at the beginning of September. This is why your progression into 4th year appears as conditional during the summer between 3rd and 4th year.

How do I apply?

Applications for both the University-wide agreements exchanges and for the Sociology places are through the same Mobility portal, which usually opens at the beginning of November. You may apply both through the University-wide route and through the subject-area (Sociology) route. You can apply to up to 5 universities through the University-wide route (ranking them by order of preference), and you may apply both for Copenhagen and Bremen through Sociology.

The process is similar, in that in both cases selection depends on your academic record in first year and on your motivation statement (50/50). You write your motivation statement for your first choice university, whether in the University-wide competition, or for the application to the Sociology places.

More preliminary information here. It is especially important that you read the Application guides provided there. Both SWAY and the exchange coordinator for sociology will hold information sessions explaining things in more detail in October.

Eligibility

You cannot go on an exchange unless you have gained entry to Honours (passed all your courses). As a general rule, no re-sits are allowed. However, if you have special circumstances and need to take a resit (counting as first sit) in the summer, it may be possible for you to go on exchange if you pass the resit, but this is likely to be very difficult and may not be possible, depending on the date of the resit and the starting date of your exchange, due to visa and insurance considerations in particular.

Please note, in cases where a student changes their degree, they will no longer be eligible to take part in a Sociology subject specific exchange even if they have already received their offer.

What should I do once I am accepted?

Make sure you contact the Sociology Exchange Co-ordinator to let her know of your plans. Check the next administrative steps here.

There are several things you can begin to do early, some of them by simply perusing your host university website.

If you are studying in another language, brush up on your language skills. See the Institute for Applied Language Studies website

SWAY organises pre-departure sessions concerning the more logistical aspects of your exchanges – usually in April/May.

What can I study?

One of the most important things you need to do is choose the right courses on your year abroad. There are several things to keep in mind when making your selection, including the level at which the courses are taught, the credits you receive, and the exact subject of the courses. You will need to try and find equivalents for the compulsory 3rd year Sociology or joint honours courses, or at least to some of them; you will need to take those compulsory courses for which you have not found an equivalent when you return in 4th year.
For exchanges with European universities, the equivalent volume of credits is 60 ECTS. For other universities, please check the international exchange credit requirements on the Student Exchange webpage.
The core compulsory courses in 3rd year Sociology, Sociology and Politics, Sociology and Social Anthropology are:
-    Social Theory (check the course description in DRPS, so you can identify equivalents). 
-    Designing and Doing Social Research
-    Doing Survey Research
The core compulsory courses in 3rd year Sociology and Psychology are:
-    Social Theory 
-    Designing and Doing Social Research
-    Data Analysis for Psychology in R3
-    Qualitative Methods in Psychology
The core compulsory courses in 3rd year Sociology with Quantitative Methods are:
-    Social Theory 
-    Designing and Doing Social Research
-    Statistical Modelling
For the rest of courses you need to have a balance of courses in sociology and in your other honours subject area for joint honours – please check the Degree Programme Tables for more specific third year requirements (here). 
The point is of course not to replicate the year in Edinburgh at your host University – this would totally miss what exchanges are for, and there is some flexibility to allow you to make the most of the strengths and specialisms that attract you at your host university. 
Do not hesitate to discuss your ideas of courses with the exchange coordinator as they will have to sign your programme of study for your year abroad – this is called the learning agreement – before you leave. The learning agreement will also need to be signed by the host institution.
Please take time to familiarise yourself with the course catalogues of your host universities, check that the courses you choose are going to be offered on your year of exchange, and that you fulfil the prerequisites. 

Exchange with University of Copenhagen

See information on the process here.

Like most host universities, UCPH will ask you to formally apply for the exchange; this is a formality but nevertheless has to be done. You will then be required to enrol on courses. You must choose at least 22.5 credits out of 30 per semester from within the Faculty of Social Sciences. Make sure that you fit the prerequisites of the courses you select, otherwise you risk not being accepted on the course and having to start the whole process of course choice again, which is very cumbersome. You are allowed to take Masters courses, however they can be very difficult: for example we do not recommend taking the course entitled 'The Art of Theorising'. Students who have taken it have struggled. There might not be many other options for theory or methodology courses, but do try to limit the number of Masters level courses to the strict minimum.
Your course choices will need to be validated by both the host institution and the Sociology exchange coordinator. Make sure you plan for validation by Copenhagen with enough time, as confirmation of your programme of study can be required for applying for a visa. Bear in mind that most people in Denmark take their holiday in July, so your programme of courses should ideally have been validated before then. 

It is quite possible that only very few courses for your academic year will appear when you first look up the catalogue, as they are released quite late in the day. So you could look up the catalogue for the current year, knowing that you will have to adjust your choices. Courses currently taken by Sociology students in Copenhagen include (there may be some which are at Masters level):

SEM 1
        
Population and Society    ASOB16202U    7,50 credits           
Sociological diagnoses of our times    ASOB16203U    7,50 credits  [there is no exact equivalent for Designing and doing social research, but this course does have some research planning involved. You might find this in other courses too]            
Advanced Welfare, Inequality and Mobility    ASOK15103U    15,00        
Ethnographic perspectives on queerness, gender and sexuality    AANA18129U    7,50 credits         
Global inequality - trends and tendencies in a sociological perspective    ASOB16200U    7,50 credits    Protest movements, Culture and Social Change    ASOB16201U    7,50 credits            

SEM 2        
Consumption, Lifestyle, and the Climate    ASOK22204U    7,50 credits        
Sociological Perspectives on the Green transitions    ASOK22206U    15,00        
Introduction to the Anthropology of Islam and the Middle East    AANB05070U    7,50 credits              
Medical Anthropology, Advanced Course    AANA18106U    7,50 credits       
Contemporary Economic Sociology Frameworks and Applications    ASOK22205U    7,50 credits

Critical theory and the social sciences    AANA18130U    7,50 credits        [can be an equivalent to Social Theory]
Basic statistics ASOB16107U 7,50 credits [can be chosen as very rough equivalent to Doing survey research]     

 

Learning Agreement

Once the course selection is validated, you can key your courses in on Mobility online, making sure to indicate the semester in which they take place. Then download a pdf and send it for signing to the Sociology exchange coordinator, your joint subject area coordinator if need be, and then to your host institution. Once all of this is done, you can upload the completed document on Mobility online. It needs to be uploaded at least one month before the start of the academic year at your host institution. See SWAY’s guidance on learning agreements here.
The LA needs to be updated on the changes you might need/want to make to your learning agreement at the beginning of each semester – the Sociology exchange coordinator needs to sign a revised learning agreement if need be. This is very important, as having the right number of credits for the right type of courses will be looked into by the Study Away Progression Board before you start your 4th year.

Dissertation

You will be enrolled on the (zero credit but compulsory) Sociology project preparation course at Edinburgh and will have access to the LEARN page. You will be encouraged to think about a potential topic during semester 1 and contact a potential supervisor to discuss your idea. You will then be asked to register your project idea and supervisor name usually by the middle of December. In semester 2 you will have to prepare a research proposal, which is to be sent to your agreed supervisor normally by the end of March. You will also have to submit an ethics form (to your supervisor).

If you are a joint honours student, you will have to decide whether you do your dissertation in Sociology or in your other subject. Please contact contact PRESELECTION  SPS sps.pre-selection@ed.ac.uk to confirm which dissertation support course you wish to take before the start of the academic year.

For example, if your other subject is Social Anthropology, you will need to be enrolled in Imagining Anthropological Research, so as to follow the course through the LEARN page and submit your dissertation proposal at the end. If your other subject is Politics and you want to do your dissertation in that subject, you will receive an email in semester 2 asking you to submit an abstract and title so that PIR can do the allocation of supervisors ahead of the start of the following academic year.

 

Communication with Edinburgh during time away

As counter-intuitive as it may sound, you will need to confirm your attendance with Edinburgh for your third year as you are still a University of Edinburgh student. You will receive the link to do this like any other student in September, and you need to do this.

Your student adviser (Karen), your personal tutor and/or your exchange coordinator (Isabelle) will be in touch with you at least twice during each semester to check everything is OK. This is also for official ‘attendance’ recording purposes so it is essential you respond to these emails promptly.

You will be maintained on the 3rd year email list for Sociology so that you are aware of requests that might concern you as well (e.g. regarding dissertations) and of opportunities.

Please check your Edinburgh university email at least once a week whilst away, including in-between and after teaching terms.

Tip: The best plan might be to set up a forwarding rule so emails from your Edinburgh account automatically go to your new university email account or your personal account; this saves having to remember/spend the time to check your Edinburgh account. Setting up a forwarding rule takes only a few clicks; info on how to do it is here: https://support.office.com/en-us/article/forward-email-from-office-365-to-another-email-account-1ed4ee1e-74f8-4f53-a174-86b748ff6a0e

As said (under Learning Agreement tab), your Learning Agreement needs to be updated on the changes you might need/want to make to your learning agreement at the beginning of each semester – Isabelle needs to sign a revised learning agreement if need be. This is very important, as having the right number of credits for the right type of courses will be looked into by the Study Away Progression Board before you start your 4th year.

 

Courses in 4th year on your return

You will need to submit your course choices like your Edinburgh based peers, by the same deadline, usually the end of June.

If you have not found equivalent courses to two Sociology 3rd year core courses, you will need to take them in 4th year.