Course Aims
The University's stated aims are "to foster and develop academic excellence across a wide range of subjects and at all levels of study". Furthermore, the University aims "to provide an education of the highest calibre at both undergraduate and postgraduate level, and so produce graduates of the calibre sought by industry, the professions, and the public service, as well as providing academic teachers and researchers for the future".
In addition, the specific aims of the Institute of Astronomy are:
- to encourage and pursue research of the highest quality in astronomy and maintain Cambridge's position as one of the world's leading centres in the field,
- to continue to attract outstanding students from all backgrounds,
- to provide an intellectually stimulating environment in which students have the opportunity to develop their skills and enthusiasms to the best of their potential,
- and to maintain the highest academic standards in undergraduate and graduate teaching and to develop new areas of teaching and research in response to the advance of scholarship.
Learning Outcomes
After completing the year's work, you should have:
- obtained an introduction from the course as a whole to astronomy, astrophysics and cosmology, emphasising the very wide range of applicability of concepts from many areas in physics,
- obtained experience of independent investigation, either through reading for and preparing the essay or through completion of the computational projects,
- developed their appreciation of general reasoning in the physical sciences, and
- developed transferable skills