Course description
Graduate Preparation Diploma
British Council accredited
Prepare for postgraduate study
The Graduate Preparation Diploma (Pre-Master’s Diploma) has been designed to fully prepare you for your future master's course. It gives you the opportunity to specialise in a subject of your choice through modules from the Oxford Brookes portfolio of subjects. You will also improve your study skills and use of academic English - the essential skills you will need for your master’s course.
Your chosen subject specialism modules will improve your knowledge of the area you wish to study in the future, and allow you to gain experience of studying at a UK university. You can choose your modules from a range of subjects that include business, tourism, hospitality and leisure, law, social sciences, arts, humanities, computing and technology.
You should choose this course if:
* your undergraduate qualifications do not meet the level required for postgraduate study
* you wish to take a master's in a subject that is different from your undergraduate degree
* you wish to improve your study skills and use of academic English.
The Graduate Preparation Diploma is a recognised qualification in its own right. Many students who complete the course go on to study a master's degree at Oxford Brookes or other universities. If you choose to start this course in the January semester you will continue your studies during the University's summer vacation.
Course content
The course consists of six compulsory language and study skills modules, together with two subject specialism modules in an area chosen by you.
Compulsory modules:
* Reading and Research (Semester 1) - designed to raise your reading comprehension level. The module includes extensive reading and text organisation, analysis of the genres, evaluative reports, and persuasive essays. It also covers the appropriate micro-skills: note taking, summaries, anticipating main ideas from headings, skimming for main ideas, scanning for specific information and grammar and vocabulary practice.
* Academic Writing (Semester 1) - designed to enable you to write reports and persuasive essays, to summarise and evaluate secondary sources, and to apply your reading to a specific issue or question in an essay. You will learn to employ correct citation techniques, and the methods for producing a coherent argument. The module is also designed to enable you to widen your library research skills, and to develop the micro-skills necessary for writing at this level, including pre-writing, planning, brainstorming, editing, text organisation and rewriting.
* Basic Seminar Skills (Semester 1) - aims to promote your proficiency in listening and speaking skills in English to a level that will prepare you for postgraduate study. The listening skills work will focus on understanding and taking notes on recorded lectures, and on reconstructing a clear summary of main ideas. You will understand the conceptual framework and rhetorical organisation that underpins lectures. Peer-presented papers will introduce you to the concept of critical feedback and group collaboration. Speaking skills will be developed through individual practice in giving individual and group presentations, focusing on awareness of a range of presentation techniques. In addition, group debate and seminar paper practice will focus on how to construct a clear argument and techniques for rational persuasion.
* Advanced Research and Reading Skills (Semester 2 or summer teaching period) - designed to raise your reading comprehension to an advanced level and to improve research skills. It includes extensive reading and text organisation, analysis of the genres, a research paper, and persuasive essays. It also covers the appropriate micro-skills: note taking, summaries, anticipating main ideas from headings, skimming for main ideas, scanning for specific information and grammar and vocabulary practice.
* Extended Writing Project (Semester 2 or summer teaching period) - designed to allow students to gain experience in writing a supervised individual research project. Guidance will be given through the stages and processes of planning, producing and evaluating a document on a topic selected by the student. Students will extend their critical awareness of reader expectations and of style appropriate to purpose and genre of the written product. In addition to the research project, students will present a short seminar talk on their project objectives and findings, as well as producing a working logbook reflecting self-awareness of strategies and processes involved in the set task.
* Advanced Seminar Skills (Semester 2 or summer teaching period) - builds on Basic Seminar Skills taught in Semester 1 and is designed to take your listening and speaking ability to a more advanced level in preparation for postgraduate study.
Subject specialism modules:
You are free to choose your subject modules from a wide range of options from the University's modular programme. Your choice will normally be made based on your interests and future field of study. Here are some of the more popular choices.
Business (including e-Business, International Management, International Business Law, Hospitality and Tourism, Accountancy, Marketing, and Economics)
Social Sciences and Law (including Politics, International Relations, Law, International Human Rights, Sociology, Psychology, and Anthropology)
Education (including Communication and Media, Language and Linguistics, Sports and Coaching, Philosophy, and Religion, Culture and Ethics)
Built Environment (including Architecture, Construction, Real Estate, Planning, Environmental Sustainability)
Technology (including Computing, Mathematics, Electronic and Mechanical Engineering)
Life Sciences (including Biotechnology, Microbiology, Nutrition, Sports Science)
Health and Social Care
Please note: the choice of subject modules depends on availability and may change without notice.
If you start your course in the January semester, during the summer teaching period of your course you will take an independent study module instead of a subject module.
Teaching, learning and assessment
Learning methods include:
* lectures, seminars and tutorials
* group and individual project work and presentations
* supervised independent learning
* critical thinking tasks.
Teaching consists of 15 hours of in-class teaching per week, together with supervised individual study over two semesters. In total, approximately 36 hours of student effort is required each week.
Assessment is by means of a range of coursework, including essays and papers, in-class writing tasks, project work and presentations, listening and summary assignments, and the compilation of reflective portfolios.
