3. The Mathematics Courses

 

3.1 Background

Oxford University is a large collegiate university, with over 26, 000 students including nearly 13,000 undergraduates over 13,000 postgraduates.

3.2 Mathematical, Physical & Life Sciences Division

The Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science Departments are all part of the Mathematical, Physical & Life Sciences Division. These departments provide most of the rooms and resources for the mathematics courses.

3.2.1 The Departments

The Mathematical Institute
The Mathematical Institute is a focus for mathematical activity in Oxford. The members of the Mathematical Institute include over 200 graduate students as well as professors, associate professors, other members of staff and academic visitors. There are currently 15 statutory chairs held in the department, though many other academics hold the title of Professor. The Mathematical Institute, as the mathematics department is known, incorporates the Oxford Centre for Industrial and Applied Mathematics, as well as the Wolfson Centre for Mathematical Biology and the Oxford Centre for Nonlinear PDE. Whilst it is usual for mathematics departments in Britain to be split into departments of Pure and Applied Mathematics, the unitary Oxford structure, which encourages numerous strong interactions between the different groups, is regarded as a major factor in the continued high reputation enjoyed by Oxford Mathematics. 

Research is carried out in a wide variety of fields including algebraic, differential and general topology, group theory, representation theory and other branches of algebra, number theory, mathematical logic, functional analysis, harmonic analysis, algebraic and differential geometry, differential equations, probability theory and its applications, combinatorial theory, cryptography, global analysis, mathematical modelling, financial mathematics, stochastic analysis, mathematical biology, ecology and epidemiology, continuum mechanics, elasticity, applied and fluid mechanics, magnetohydrodynamics and plasmas, geoscience, atomic and molecular structure, quantum theory and field theory, relativity and mathematical physics, applied analysis, materials science and numerical analysis.

The Department of Statistics
The Department of Statistics provides a focus for Statistics within the University, and has numerous links with outside scientific and industrial concerns, especially in the area of genetics.

Department of Computer Science
The Department of Computer Science is a leading centre for the study, development and exploitation of computing technology.

3.3 The Courses

The University offers two single-subject courses in Mathematics, and seven joint courses:
MMath Mathematics 4-year
BA Mathematics 3-year
MMathCompSci Mathematics & Computer Science 4-year
BA Mathematics & Computer Science 3-year
MMathPhil Mathematics & Philosophy 4-year
BA Mathematics & Philosophy 3-year
MMath Mathematics & Statistics 4-year
BA Mathematics & Statistics 3-year
MMathPhys Mathematical & Theoretical Physics 4-year

3.3.1 Overall Course Structure

The degree programmes listed in 3.3 are structured so as to share certain lectures and supporting classes, and to share certain examination papers. The first-year courses, in particular, have been constructed so that it is sometimes possible to move from one course to another. Such a change needs the permission of your college, and if you think you may want to change course you should consult your college tutor as soon as possible (see 6.3 Exit Points). There are formal University examinations at the end of the first, second and third year of the course. (As mathematics is a progressive subject, later examinations, by implication, cover earlier core work.) The examinations at the end of the first, second and third year are the same for both the 4-year and the 3-year mode of each course.

The first year examination is called the Preliminary Examination, usually just referred to as ‘Prelims’, the second-year examination is called Part A and the third-year examination is called Part B. Teaching is normally through structured lecture courses supported by classes or tutorials, and, where appropriate, practical work. In the third and fourth years, there may be some reading courses involving prescribed reading and group meetings. Assessment is normally by written examination. However, some units are assessed by coursework for which projects or extended essays are submitted. Further details can be found in the examination conventions.

3.4 Programme Specification

The Master of Mathematics (MMath) in Mathematics and the Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Mathematics may be compared to national standards for higher education qualifications through the Framework for Higher Education Qualifications (FHEQ). The University awards framework (UAF) maps the awards of the University against the levels of the FHEQ. The FHEQ level for the MMath is 7 and for the BA is 6. The relevant subject benchmark statement for the course, which sets out expectations about standards of degrees in a given subject area, is Mathematics, Statistics and Operational Research (QAA 2015). The aims of the courses and the intended learning outcomes are listed in appendix A.