Courses at UGent

Courses

VTK Wiki

Check out the Engineering Fraternities VTK Wiki for information on the courses at UGent for M1 and M2. A little bit of Dutch, or some luck with Google translate, will provide you not just with information on many courses, but also scans of previous exams and questions that have been asked so that you have practice material.

Courses M1

The first year in Gent consists of the following mandatory courses (list from 2016):

• Applied Electromagnetism
  
• Atomic and Molecular Physics
  
• Computational Solutions of Wave Problems
  
• Continuum Mechanics
  
• Cross Course Project
  
• Plasma Physics (UGent)
  
• Nederlands
  
• Belgian Culture
  
• Nuclear Instrumentation
  

Electives M1

Besides the mandatory courses listed above, you can also choose a few elective courses (list from 2016).

• Plasma and Fusion Technology
  
• Statistical Physics 2
  
• Semiconductors
  
• Photonics
  
• Advanced Electromagnetism
  
• Physical Chemistry
  
• Nuclear Methods in Material Research
  

Courses M2

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Course Layout

Courses are given one to two times a week with the possibility of an additional recitation from a PhD Student. Many courses have two professors who will handle different sections of the course, they may even request you come to different buildings during different sections of the course. With the exception of the language and culture course, each course lasts a full semester, For fall semester this means starting mid-September, ending before Christmas, and with examinations during the full month of January.

Courses are long, usually about 3 hours but sometimes even longer. There will almost always be a short 10 minute break half-way through the lecture. Bringing a snack is encouraged.

In general, courses will consist of a lecturer presenting slides from a slideshow. This means they will cover the material too quickly to be written down from scratch, and you should follow along with a printed set of slides. You will quickly learn which professors read from the slides and which professors do not, and you are allowed to skip the lectures in which you feel a professor is simply reading the slides.

Exams

One of the most important things when enrolling in a new university, is knowing the exam system in time. In Belgium exams start in the first week of January and end around the first week of February. This is a whole month for only 5-8 exams meaning you have 4-7 days to prepare each exam. However, don't underestimate this, Ghent has the most difficult exams of all universities in the master and it is very important to keep your courses up-to-date throughout the year!

Many students show up in suits to exams, while this is not necessary you should be prepared to present yourself professionally. Oral exams consist of a short period (30 minutes) of written preparation, often involving calculations or careful reading of course notes, followed by the actual Oral part of the exam. This can range from simply being a review of what you wrote down, to a barrage of new questions. It is particularly important to note that sometimes the Belgian professors expect you to bring your course notes to the exam, and almost all of them will ask you to flip to certain topics contained within their slides during the oral exam and to essentially read the course notes aloud, explaining them as you go. To some extent you are being graded on how familiar you are with where the material is. A small set of colored sticky-note bookmarks and some practice finding topics within your own notes can significantly increase your grade.

Retakes

If you fail an examination, retakes take place in August and early September. Since you must be at your next location in September, it is common practice for professors to make special examination dates for the Fusion students. These dates are decided between you and the professor, while keeping your local coordinator informed. The local coordinator will recommend you to take 1st semester retakes in April, May, or June. Although this is suitable, most of your 2nd semester courses are project orientated and have due dates in May and June so chose your retake dates wisely. You can also chose to take the retakes during their normal dates in August and September.

Keep in mind, the special re-take organization for us is exceptional. Normally, students only can have re-takes in August-September. Professors are showing their good-will to support us, so be very respectful and courteous. Be sure to stick to your appointments or inform the professors well in advance if you can not make the agreed date. A No-show for a re-take in May or June without any notice means you will get a FAIL and you loose your re-take chance in August. If you inform the professor in advance that you cannot come in May or June your re-take will be organized in August following the normal schedule for all other students.

University systems

Webmail

Webmail is the mailbox of UGent.

Oasis

Oasis and Minerva will be your primary websites for communication with the University. Oasis is for administrative purposes such as enrolling at the university, registering for classes, finding your grades, and applying for housing. Under the 'My Calendar' link you can also find your course and finals schedules, although these are not always the most up to date.

Adding Classes: 'Edit Curriculum' -> check the box on the next to your student number and name -> 'Curriculum' under the actions heading -> 'Edit Curriculum'. Note: you are expected to enroll in 60 credits (classes for both semesters). Do not worry too much about the 2nd semester classes. You can change those classes later in the semester. Also, do not click 'submit for approval' until you are absolutely sure about your classes. Once you click that button, your account will be locked and you will be unable to change your classes. As this will inevitably happen to one of you, if you need to unlock your account, you can go to the administrative desk in the Plateau Building, around the corner from the UFO building. You will also probably have your applied electromagnetism course in this building.

Minerva

Minerva is the primary communication between teachers and students. Your individual classes will be added one you subscribe to courses on Oasis. Unfortunately, it is slow to update and all of your courses are labelled in Dutch. It is recommended to add courses manually (see below). The Minerva course sites contain the most up to date information on the course and communications from the professors. Also, once you add a course to your Minerva, (I believe) you are automatically included in the course email list. So if the professor sends an email, you will be a recipient.

Manually adding course sites on Minerva: After logging in, click on 'Study offer [school year]' along the top of the screen. Then click on the 'Coursesites' tab. From here you can add or delete your Minerva subscriptions. Scroll to the bottom to add other course sites. When considering electives it is useful to go to the minerva page to find the actual meeting times. The times and locations on the program catalogue are often outdated.

Athena

Athena is a virtual computer system set up by the university. You can log on and have remote access to any program the university offers. This is particularly useful for accessing Matlab if your computer does not have it installed. You can also access any saved files you have on the university system.

If you are connected to the universities internet, you can log onto Athena here Note: You do not have to be logged into your vpn to access athena! This is very useful when you go over your internet limit in the dormitories. Simply log onto athena and open one of the available web browsers. If you are off campus you must log onto Athena here. More information and installation instructions are found here.

Choosing Classes

The program catalogue for our degree is located here. These contain the required and recommended elective courses. Obviously the required courses are mandatory to take. The electives, however, can be chosen at your propagative in any amount or distribution as long as your total year units are at least 60. Note: to find schedules and locations of the classes, it may be useful to click on the 'course schedule ## semester' link in the upper right corner. Be warned, these are not always up to date. The minerva page is preferred.

You can take elective courses outside of the Fusion program catalogue, however it is not encouraged and you must get approval from Frank and Prof. Noterdaeme. If the current electives do not appeal to you or there are course conflicts, it is recommended to explore the program catalogues for Engineering Physics or Physics and Astronomy