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Science and Engineering Doctoral Academy

Mathematics 100 Hours

All Mathematics PhD students must complete and pass 100 hours of taught course units during their first two years of study. At least 60 hours of courses must be completed in year 1, and the remaining hours in year 2. 

The taught component is designed to give you training in areas relevant to your research while also broadening your mathematical knowledge beyond the focus of your PhD. For this reason, we encourage you to take some courses outside your immediate research area.

The detailed requirements are given in section 2 of this document.

Only department-approved courses count towards the 100 hours. These are:

  • MSc (level 6) course units in Mathematics.
  • MAGIC units (Applied and Pure mathematics).
  • APTS courses (Statistics).

With permission, you may also take:

  • MSc (level 6) course units outside of Mathematics.
  • A self-study ‘reading course’ or reading group.
  • External courses (e.g. a summer school).

Choosing suitable courses for the first year or first semester of the PhD should be one of the first things you discuss with your supervisor when you arrive in Manchester.

1. Available courses

1.1 MSc level 6 course units

  • Credit and hours: All 15-credit MSc units count as 33.3 hours towards your taught component.
  • Availability: You may take any unit offered as part of the Department’s MSc programmes. You can view the full list on the Master's programme descriptions page.
    • Undergraduate units: If a relevant area is not covered by MSc units, you may take undergraduate courses with your supervisor’s approval. To browse available units, visit the Undergraduate courses page. On the page, select a course title, then choose course details, then scroll to the table of units.
    • Units from other departments: If you need a course from another discipline (e.g. mathematical medical imaging in FBMH), discuss this with your supervisor. Once agreed, email fse.doctoralacademy.progression@manchester.ac.uk with details. The Doctoral Academy will contact the unit coordinator; if approved, you will be enrolled (approval is not guaranteed). 
  • Auditing: You may take units on an audit-only basis (attending lectures without coursework/exam). Audit units do not count towards your 100 hours. Auditing may also be permitted in other departments, with unit coordinator approval. 

How to enrol

Once you have agreed on suitable units with your supervisor, email fse.doctoralacademy.progression@manchester.ac.uk with: 

  • Your student ID.
  • Course unit code(s).
  • Whether you are auditing or counting the course towards your 100 hours.

The Doctoral Academy will then enrol you. If the course is full or requires approval, you will be informed. 

Coursework

Many MSc units include coursework, with penalties for late submission. The course lecturer will provide details for each unit. 

Examinations

First Semester units are normally examined in January, Semester 2 in May/June. You are advised to check for potential clashes with conferences before choosing units. 

Exam timetables are posted in advance. Each student is allocated an individual seat number for each exam, and you must sit in the seat which has been assigned to you. You can obtain your own individual copy of the timetable from the Student Portal via My Manchester. 

If you start your PhD mid-year (e.g. January), you may need to manually enrol for some exams. Contact fse.doctoralacademy.progression@manchester.ac.uk if this applies.

1.2 MAGIC units

What is MAGIC?

The Mathematics Access Grid: Instruction and Collaboration is a network of UK mathematics departments offering postgraduate-level courses taught via live video broadcast.

MAGIC units are identified as ‘10 hour’ or ‘20 hours’, depending on number of teaching hours. In Manchester, these units count as 15 hours or 30 hours towards the 100 hours, to account for additional study time required.

You can register for MAGIC units via the website Maths MAGIC: 

  • Navigate to the website and click the '‘Log in" icon. 
  • Click ‘Forgot your password?’ and enter your university email address. 
  • You will receive an email giving details of your password. 
  • Once logged in, you can register for a course by clicking on 'Edit my course registration'.

Assessment 

Each MAGIC unit will normally have a written examination that is set and marked by the lecturer. Each unit is normally assessed by a written “open book” take-home exam. 

  • Exam duration: 
    • 10-hour unit → 2 hours 
    • 20-hour unit → 3 hours 

The exam should be taken during a two-week exam period after the end of the MAGIC semester. This period will not include major public holidays and will be publicised clearly on the Assessment tab for each course. You will need to devise your own schedule for completing the examinations.    

The examination will be made available via the Assessment tab during the exam period. 

You submit your exam work by uploading a legible script to the MAGIC course site. It must be clearly labelled with your name and MAGIC course number. 

Results are graded as pass or fail, and marked scripts will be made available to you via the MAGIC website.

1.3 APTS courses

Each residential APTS week is worth 33.3 hours. 

What is APTS?

The Academy for PhD Training in Statistics offers residential courses run by leading UK statistics research groups. These take the form of four residential weeks, and you will study two intensive course modules per week. 

Information on APTS, including details of course modules is available at the Academy for PhD Training in Statistics website. 

If you are interested in attending one or more APTS weeks, you will need to discuss this with your supervisor and the UoM APTS coordinator.  

Funding from the Department is often available for students to pay for fees, subsistence, and travel costs for APTS, but you will need to apply for this from the Travel Fund (apply by emailing maths-ops@manchester.ac.uk). 

Requirements

  • You must complete preparatory work before each residential week.
  • After attending, you must pass the assessment (pass mark: 50%).

1.4 External courses 

External courses, such as summer schools or graduate modelling camps may contribute to the 100 hours. 

  • To count towards the 100 hours, the content of the course and format of the teaching must be approved by the department Head of PGR prior to the student attending. 
  • The content of the course will often relate directly to the PhD, but may be on a topic that broadens a student’s mathematical knowledge, or provides training in some other area of academic activity, such as outreach, science policy, or impact. 
  • The default allocation of hours is 33.3 hours per week of full-time course. 
  • If the external course includes an assessment component, then that may, at the discretion of the department Head of PGR, be used to assess students on a pass/fail basis. 
  • Otherwise, the default assessment will be a written report, summarising the area covered the course and what the student learned.
    • The length of the report will vary depending on the content, but will usually be around one page per two hours credit (around 16 pages for a week-long course).
    • The report will initially be assessed as pass or fail by the PhD supervisor.
    • The recommendation, and the report, will be sent on to the group PGR lead for approval.

1.5 Reading courses

  • A guided reading course consisting largely of self-study will be able to contribute to the 100 hours. 
  • Students will be permitted to take at most one ‘reading course’ that contributes towards their 100 hours. 
  • This will largely consist of self-study, but will be guided by an academic supervisor in the Department of Mathematics – often, but not necessarily, the PhD supervisor. 
  • Such courses could be arranged as reading groups, with more than one student studying the same material. 
  • Such a reading course will be worth either 20 or 33.3 hours of the 100 hours, in the latter case covering material roughly equivalent to a 15-credit MSc course. 
  • For a student to take such a course, the reading course supervisor must send a brief (2–3 sentence) description of the project and the material to be studied (books/papers) to the group PGR lead for approval. 
  • The assessment of this course will be through a written report. 
  • The length of the report may will typically be 20–25 pages (20 hour version) or 35–40 pages (33.3 hour version). 
  • The report will be initially assessed as pass or fail by the reading course supervisor. 
  • This recommendation, and the report, will be sent on to the group PGR lead for approval.

2. Requirements

2.1 Mitigating circumstances

If unexpected events (such as illness or bereavement) affect your performance in a taught course assessment, you can apply for mitigating circumstances.

  • This process is separate from applying for an interruption of studies (which applies to your PhD research). 
  • It is your responsibility to inform the University as soon as possible if mitigating circumstances apply. 

Please view this webpage for more guidance on mitigating circumstances.

You are encouraged to discuss your situation with your supervisor and the Doctoral Academy before submitting a request.

2.2 Academic malpractice

All taught courses undertaken as part of the PhD are subject to the University’s Academic Malpractice Policy. 

Academic malpractice includes: plagiarism, collusion, falsification or fabrication of results, and cheating in examinations. 

The University takes malpractice very seriously. Offences will be investigated, and penalties applied. Ignorance of the regulations is not accepted as a defence. 

You are responsible for ensuring the originality of your own work. Allowing others to copy your work is also considered malpractice, and the same penalties normally apply to both parties. 

If you believe another student has gained access to your coursework, you should report this immediately to your supervisor or the Head of Postgraduate Research.

2.3 Progression through the taught component 

Your performance in the taught component is an important part of annual progression decisions. 

There are normally three assessment periods each year: January, May/June, and August/September. 

Failure or incomplete hours:

  • If you fail one or more units, or if you have not completed enough hours, the Department will usually require you to resit the unit(s) or take an alternative course at the next opportunity. 
  • To arrange a resit, contact the Doctoral Academy as early as possible. Be aware that there are cut-off dates for registering resits; if you miss the deadline, you will not be able to take the exam that year. 

Poor performance in taught courses may be considered evidence that you are not ready to progress. This will be discussed with your independent assessors and supervisory team during your annual progression review.

If you have any questions, please contact the Doctoral Academy or your main supervisor for further information. 

2.4 Details of the taught course requirement 

The requirement to do 100 hours of taught courses applies to students on PhD programmes run by the department of Mathematics (e.g. PhDs in Mathematics, Mathematical Sciences, Applied Mathematics, Numerical Analysis, Financial Mathematics, Mathematical Logic, Pure Mathematics, Mathematics in Actuarial Science, Probability, Statistics). It does not apply to students taking other PhD programmes or on CDT, even if their main supervisor is based in mathematics. 

The requirement to pass 100 hours of taught courses may be adapted by agreement with the department Head of PGR. Such cases may include students:

  • On dual-award PhDs who may spend a significant fraction of their time outside of Manchester.
  • Whose PhDs have other mandatory training requirements.
  • For whom part-time study or other factors restrict their ability to take courses. 

2.5 Calculation of the 100 hours

  • Any student completing strictly more than 95 hours will have their hours ‘rounded up’ and be deemed to have completed the requirement.
  • A passing grade is required in the assessment of the course in order for it to contribute towards the 100 hours. 
    • Students who fail a course must contact the doctoral academy immediately, for advice on whether they can resit the assessment (for University of Manchester MSc courses only) or to notify the doctoral academy of which course(s) they will be taking instead, to make up the 100 hours. 
  • Students must complete 60 hours of courses by the end of their first year and all 100 hours by the end of their second year.
    • Where the teaching of a course occurs in one year of the PhD and assessment in the following year, the deadlines apply to the teaching part only.
    • These deadlines are extended proportionally for students on part-time programmes (that is, ‘first year’ and ‘second year’ are full time equivalent years).