Academics at the Univeristy of Sussex

Even though the study abroad pre departure orientation touched on what to expect from academics in England, it was really quite an adjustment when I got here. Here's some of the main things I've learned so far :)

Lectures- Firstly, lectures are not mandatory and attendance is not graded. Personally, I found this really different from the US, because I feel that most of my learning is accomplished during lectures at NAU. Missing a lecture in the US is a bigger deal because you are missing out on important content and possibly hurting your grade. At Sussex, lecture attendance is not as important because all lectures are recorded, and most teachers expect the lectures to function as a guide for individual learning on your own time. This makes it possible to miss a lecture (say on a Friday when you don’t feel like going to class) and just rewatch it when you have time.

Reading- All classes (or modules as they are called here) at Sussex also come with a very large reading list. Most students I talked to say that they do not do the readings because they get all the information from the lecture. However, most professors strongly encourage the readings, although they are not mandatory. I also experienced some miscommunication from my instructors about the importance of the readings. In particular, one of my courses has two instructors and both told us completely opposite views on the importance of the weekly readings.

Workshops/Seminars- Another structural difference from school in the US is that most courses at Sussex have supplemental learning sessions called workshops or seminars where students are broken into smaller groups to work on problem sets or discussions. According to school policy, these workshops are mandatory, but there is not an attendance portion for grading in any classes that I'm in. I found that these workshops were very helpful, especially for my biology classes. The teachers offered a lot of guidance on what to expect from the exam at the end of the course regarding format, grading, and course material to focus on when studying.

Strikes- Another thing to note about academics at Sussex is the possibility of strikes. Many teachers are part of the union and this semester there were many strikes. In one of my classes almost half of the teaching sessions, including workshops, were canceled because of the strikes. I found that this made it hard to take the class seriously and focus on it.

Overall, I would say that if you are a self-paced learner, academics at Sussex wil be great for you. You’re largely responsible for managing your own time, there are little to no homework assignments, and your grade is completely based on an exam or paper at the end of the semester. However, if you’re like me and prefer to have a structured schedule with more assignments and exams throughout the semester, Sussex will be an adjustment. I found that teachers are very helpful if you have nay questions or concers so don't be afraid to bring these up at the seminar/workshop or via email. One of my teachers even set up an in-person meeting for us to ask questions about our final assignment.

This is the library at Sussex. It is very similar to the NAU library because there are 3 levels and the top floor is for silent study. The librarians are very helpful if you need to check out any textbooks for your modules.

One of the buildings at Sussex where you might have lectures or seminars. Most of the buildings look very similar to this. You can use GoogleMaps or AppleMaps to find any of the buildings if you are confused when you first arrive.